rant,

I'm in Cedar Park, and I'm looking for answers to the same questions.

Edible container grown would include Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, Raja Puri, Double Mahoi but you will need at least a 20 gallon container. These 4 should bloom at 6 to 8 feet. Ice Cream is a very nice one also but gets taller and I'm not sure it would work in a container. Logee's used to sell a Dwarf Lady Finger that they claimed would fruit at 3 feet but I haven't seen it in their catalog recently.

Steve

What happens if you plant something like an Ice Cream in a big container? I don't mind if the container is quite large.

Ice Cream blooms at 12 to 15 feet. Add 2 feet to the height for the pot and you're at 14 to 17 feet. Pretty tall to find a place to protect in the winter. But if you do have the place, go with it because I like this banana a lot.

Steve

My winter protection plan is to cover and warm the plant. It only freezes a couple of times a year here in Austin.

If it is cold but not freezing - 34F let's say - will that cause trouble?

One not about the container size.

Like Steve said, you definitely need a large container for a banana to get large enough to bloom and set fruit. The caveat is that you need start with a small pot and gradually move up pot sizes as the banana get's larger.

If you put like a small banana (6 in or 2 ft) in a huge 20 gallon container, it is a high possibility that the banana will die from root rot. Yes bananas like water but a huge container will hold moisture for too long and rot the plant.

This happened to me and now I just new bananas and planting them in a much smaller container! Hope it turns out good for both of us! :)

Zach