Audra,

I have ice cream. The thing pups like crazy so no problem getting one for you. Far as when the banana will pup.....who knows. Make it grow fast. Good use for that hot chicken manure:)

My most consistent banana has been Hoa Mua it has reliably produced every year since I got it. It has stood up to the cold better than I expected. The Ice cream has been a big disappointment, Big pupper slow to produce and half of those never plump up .
I understand many Ice creams are actually Nam wahs labled wrong.
I am getting rid of my Red jamacian and replacing it with a Calif. Gold
If anybody has a Dwarf Orinoco I would like a pup.
here is a link to the cold hardness list.

Here is a link that might be useful: Banana cold tolerance

Bill - I would love one! I do need to feed the bananas again, actually. Thanks for the reminder! Also, did you get the pots? I meant to email you the day we dropped them off, but I got sidetracked. Sorry about that.

rednofl - Thanks for the link. According to that, my chiquita/gran nain is the same cold hardiness as the rajapuri. Hmm, I wonder then why is it growing so much more slowly?

I am not sure who compiled that list... but cold resistance is only one factor in how robust a banana tree is. and of course YMMV..

Audra,

Yep got the pots:) I will put a cage over the next pup that pops up. If I don't the chicken and ducks eat them:)

I just cleared out all my Dwarf Red banana plants a few days ago. They were choking my small garden, minimum harvests, but a huge underground corm after 4 years of slow growing. My area of SW Florida is just too far north for a Dwarf Red, so dug up the entire lot, corm and all,..took 2 days !
Have now planted ( 3 months ago ) my first Goldfinger, a banana plant more suited to zone 9b,..or 9a for that matter. I had great success with this type 12 years ago when I lived in the Upper Keys. Knowing what I know, single and surrounded by neighbors who don't like bananas, I will be overun with pups of this fast growing, cold hearty, luscious tasting banana before too long, - so will be happy to give away some excess plants in another 8, 9 months or so.

This post was edited by jofus on Fri, May 3, 13 at 16:58

We had a big stalk of bananas from our Raja Puri last year.
Our Ice Cream bananas formed a huge clump but did not flower last year. They did not really die back this winter though because it was too warm,I guess, here in 9a, this year.
We separated the ice cream clump and it took 3 men to carry a few of the larger banana plants because they were so heavy lol. Make sure you put them somewhere they have lots of room to spread.
I use chicken and rabbit compost on our bananas and pretty much everything else and it all goes crazy!
~SJN

This post was edited by sultry_jasmine_night on Thu, May 2, 13 at 14:56

Ice Cream Banana are gaining a reputation for being fairly cold-hearty. They won't bloom in a New England winter or anything, but in these warmer climates, they show little to no leaf damage near frost levels. Like any other banana, their biggest concern is always a wet winter, which we rarely suffer here in Fl.

My own ICBs were fine until March. I rearranged where they were located and two days later we got the final major coldfront. Couple leaves turned yellow and I lost about 2 weeks of push from the plants, but as the roots had had no time to adjust, that's a pretty small price to pay for high 30s/low 40s gusty-wind temps.

My bananas are still confined to Basjoo, (supposed) IC/BJ, Ensete Ventricosum var Maurelii, and Zebrina, but I'm getting anxious to try more.

I'm longing for the day I have to worry about the weight of a banana pseudostem. None of mine have topped 4-5 feet yet.