If you still have some that are healthy i would seperate them from mama and pot them up if it was me.

The pups are so small that I'm afraid they may not make it if I were to separate them. In any case, I don't have much to lose. As it is, they really look more dead than alive to me, but I think I'll go ahead to separate them and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion.

If the pups are drying up and turning black, I would not separate now. You didn't mention how tall they are but the taller they are, the better the chance of survivability. The summer is the very best time to separate the pups; the winter time is the worst. During winter, a lot of my pups, especially the 2 or 3 inch nubs just disappear back into the soil only to reappear in the spring. I grow this banana in a container and it is somewhat cold sensitive, looks terrible during the winter, but comes back in the spring. It certainly can tolerate temps down to close to freezing; at least that's been my experience.

Steve

The pups are from few inches to about 2 ft tall. If they'll come back in the Spring or Summer, I'll wait for a while to see what happens. Thanks for the response and have a happy and "fruitful" new year!

Jamaican Red are more sensitive to cold than any other banana plant I've tried. My yard rarely drops into the 30's and I never have a problem with any other type of banana, but I have given up on Jamaican Red.

If you are in zone 9, Jamaican Red won't have a chance.

I'm beginning to see that red bananas are indeed not easy to deal with. My mother Kru died beginning this year, leaving behind a pup. The pup grew to almost 8 ft and bent over too. I thought I could save it, but then came a night of freeze. That was it. My Jamaican red now looks very sickly. I don't know if it will ever come back. I did bring in some potted young reds like Rose (if it's considered a red), Zebrina and Sumatrana to save them from the cold damage. Once they're planted them in the ground, they won't stand a chance. Unless I have a greenhouse, I think planting the reds would be quite a chore. BUT, I'm still hoping against hope that the Red Jamaican will survive. Will see if it will push out a new leaf. Everything here looks brown, but several of them are beginning to push out a few inches of green growth now. So there's hope for them.

Bananafan,

Sumatrana will be hardy in your zone in the ground. Mine survives lows of 24 and reshoots each spring.

Steve

It's good to hear that, Steve. Mine was in the ground last year in a sunny spot, but for some reason unknown to me, it was doing very poorly and its stem was beginning to rot. It was my only plant and I got scared and dug it out from the ground, striped the rotting layer off the pseudostem and left it standing in a partial sun location infront of my house. Fortunately, it got around and was doing fine, but when the cold front came, its leaves began to brown and that was when I hauled it indoor to cut down more damage. Between the Sumantrana and the Zebrina, the Zebrina seems to be more hardy. That is only my short experience with them.