I have two unknown varieties of banana in zone 9. All of my plants were transplanted this year, some of them recently. One variety is the toughest plant I've ever seen and never stopped growing after being transplanted. The other variety however let it's leaves go limp the first day it was moved. I clipped them off and the plant continued to grow. I would pot the new plant and put it in morning sun and evening shade and give it a little water in the evening just to be safe. I have never fertilized my banana plants except for some miracle grow now and then.

I pot mine in 1 gallon, the 5, and then into the ground. Much easier to manage them in a pot when they are little.

Southtropical and Pitangadiego: thanks for the followup. I think I would do the same and watch them grow first before I transplant them into the ground.

Happy Father's Day!

I usually pot mine up for at least a little while so they can recover from shipping. The last one I got was wilted and droopy and losing leaves for at least a week or two. I was afraid I would lose it altogther, so I decided to keep it in the shade until it got its act together. After a few weeks, I gradually moved it into the sun, and now it's doing great a month later.

The directions I got for mine were to put it in morning sun / afternoon shade for the first 1-2 weeks so that they don't burn.

I would wait a week before starting to use water soluable fertilizer (or until it is clearly growing) like Miracle Gro and after a month they said it's okay to add in time-release fertilizer like Osmocote too.

I'd keep it in a pot until it's a decent size too.

Also, becareful not to overwater before it gets its root established.

Laurence