I am a reasonably experienced gardener but this is my first foray into bananas. I am in zone 9b in San Francisco bay area and have a decent sized lot but some shade. Summertime average highs are 80 degrees in July, Aug, Sep with a few 90s and 100s. Average winter lows are 38, 39 in Dec, Jan. Hardly any summer rain to speak of. Mid-May to late sep is pretty dry.

I just purchased a Mysore banana in a 8in pot. The plant is about a foot tall and it already has a pup. I am wondering if I should repot this in a bigger pot for this year or is it ready to go into ground. Ideally I would prefer to prepare the soil properly and plant into the ground. I have decent soil and can amend as necessary. I really would like a lot of big leaves sooner than later as well as fruit eventually. But if I need to bring it into the garage for winter ( we do get a handful of freeze days here), I can repot into a larger pot..