In the open I see bananas badly torn from winds. With your frequent thunderstorms and occasional hurricanes alot never really look good, but with good soil and fertilizer they can. If they grow quickly all the leaves damaged by a windy day can be outgrown by new leaves in a month, but its better to plant them in an extremely protected spot. Their are also some bananas that are very wind ressistant and can take 40 mph gusts with little tearing. I cant remember what type of banana that is, but their out their.

Good luck.

Also maybe considering dwarf species may be good. They seem much stonger in high winds and because they are so low lying they arent affected by severe winds.

I belong to another banana forum and there are beaucoup members from south FL that grow a wide variety of bananas including the ones you mentioned. They all grow their bananas in similar soil conditions and their harvests are fantastic. Look at www.bananas.org.

Steve

For bananas in South Florida in sandy soil, add lots of peat moss, manure, compost and MILORGANITE a natural fertilizer that bananas well, "go bananas" for and it is a slow release fertilizer. Use some kind of mulch, pine straw or Eucalyptus if it is available or Cypress mulch. this will further help hold in the moisture and keep the bananas looking well hydrated. You also could give them Miracle Gro on a regular basis too since you literally can not over fertilizer bananas. I have Musa Basjoos up here and they do get beat up by the wind, but they keep growing and I kind of like the "Island Look" that the torn fronds give you. Soil preparation prior to planting and mulching/layering/fertilizing well will really make a difference in S. FL. Let us know how it works out.

Thanks to all of you for the followups! I have a June closing date for my home in South Florida and will let you all know how the bananas come along. Currently I have the dwarf Jamaican Red (in a pot) and a superdwarf Le Petit Prince cavendish banana. I will probably have to wait till after I arrive before acquiring the Kru and the Red Iholene.

I'll definitely amend the soil pretty heavily, and do my watering and supplementing. I will let everyone how the bananas come along!

Thanks again for all the feedback,

~J.

Cattman,

Got several pups including the Kru and Red Iholene. They are still in the ground. Some are big and need to be picked up - shipping would be too expensive.
Have been a member of this forum and bananas.org for some time. Have been growing naners for 30 years. Since I live in zone 9B, Port St Lucie, Fl recently decided to replace all the reds with more cold resistant varieties. Last winter killed off all the big ones except Goldfinger and Hua Moa. After 2 years of no frost. All the pups survived though.
I invite you to drop by and save yourself the shipping and dealing with wimpy TC seedlings. As for neighbors complaining about untidy appearance all that is needed is trimming off leaves as they turn brown -- weekly during the growing season. Resending this message as a post as email from this website is iffy.
Give me a holler,
Dan