Knotz,

I am not sure what zone you are in, but if you are in 5, 6, or 7, then my suggestion is to follow the advice in the book "Bananas You Can Grow" published by Stokes Tropicals, and cut the stalks down so that they are just around 6" or less out of the ground, mulch them heavily with about a foot of straw or leaves over the top and within a foot or so around the base of the stem, and cover the pile with some landscape fabric secured with pins or stakes. When it warms up in the Spring, remove the fabric and eventually the mulch when the danger of frost has passed. Remove any additional decayed portion of the stem at that point and a new central stem should begin to appear with the presence of warmth and sun, followed by fresh leaves. Good luck.

Jim

Sorry... I see now that you are in Zone 8, Pacific NW. I am not sure that my advice would change. If El Nino has the same effect that it is expected to have here in FL this year (much wetter and colder than normal), then your pseudostems are likely to freeze and thaw over and over again and eventually turn to mush. Therefore, I am not sure that I would alter the advice. Of course, I would defer to someone in your region on this matter.

You should remove all frost damaged foliage. I personally and I live in North west Florida, So much different,I wait until the first freeze has killed all the tops backs. then take my machette and cut entire top portion of growth and remove side leaves also anything dead. Some of my stalks are 15 feet tall and they will produce fruit next year so although I hear and read on this forum about cutting them to the ground or nearly to the ground I do not. NEVER. What I do is keep them mulched When another freeze comes around which it will. I check them again, and I may have to cut them again. Come spring I check them almost daily for new growth and this is when the major cutting comes. My largest stalks always put out growth first. And I check into the stalk cutting away any frost or freeze damaged part. Sometimes the new growth will come up 6 to 8 feet inside the stalk sometimes it splits through the side wherever it starts this is where I remove the old growth at. Then fertilize. This year I had 5 bearing stalks one is still on plant. Next year it looks as if there is gonna be about 20 stalks bearing size. I have about six really large clumps I love the tropical look the fruit is all extra. I hope this helped and was not too confusing.
James Maloy

Thank you for your suggestions...I went ahead and cut all the leaves off and left it to about 4' tall...It's been mulched around the base already...Now we just wait to see what happens.

knotz