Raja Puri, and Orinoco (buro banana) work well in 9a/9b zones

I'm growing Blue Java (Ice Cream), Dwarf Brazilian, Veinte Cohol and Truly Tiny all newly planted last year.

Truly Tiny is frost sensitive, I think it will mostly be a foliage plant and may not ever fruit. All 3 others did very well with this year's frosts. Foliage was fried, but trunks are alive and starting to push new leaves. I put xmas lights on the trunks on the nights it froze and no other protection. I have a bunch of bananas on the ice cream that formed in October - they are still hanging (wrapped in xmas lights). Not sure if they will ripen properly or not, but they still look ok. But the main thing is I was able to keep big trunks alive (6-12' worth) which means I should be able to get fruit bunches early in the summer so they have time to ripen before the cold.

I'm not growing it, but I have also hear that Nam Weh is very good. It was a toss up for me between Nam Weh and Dwarf Brazilian, I chose Brazilian because it is a slightly smaller plant.

Thank you both. I was already looking at Ice Cream, and now it is definite.

I'm in Zone 9 and am growing pitogo, Misi luki, praying hands, belle and dwarf namwah plus some potted non hardy types of bananas. I had my first fruits last year and so far.....dwarf namwah is my fav. It produced smallish fruits but the flavor and texture were excellent. Another strong point for D. namwah is it's size and stature, it is the shortest of my in ground bananas and has the thickest trunk. What this meant to me is no bracing of the plant while it is holding fruit. My praying hands was braced and still leaned on the banana plants next to it. My pitogo which bloomed too late was blown over in a wind storm.

so depending on how the other bananas turn out this year.....I might tear them all out and just grow D. namwah?

of course I reserve the right to completely change my mind next season,

good luck,
-Ethan

Thanks Ethan, that was great advice!

I would like to grow bananas for fruit, in ground, Zone 8b. I'm a newbie. Is this possible?

Stettenfarms,

I cannot say for sure, but I think you might be able to do it. If you can select a sunny location close to your house, it can offer good sunshine in the growing months which bananas love and also protection in the Winter. If you do get Winter freeze there, you can protect it with covers and light bulb. That way, the stem will not be damaged. Once the stem is damaged, they'll have to start from scratch again. In your planting zone, I don't think you have deep freeze, so even if the banana stems should die off, the comb will still be alive and it will bring forth pups in the Spring again. However, if you want your bananas to fruit for you every growing season, I suggest for you to protect your banana stem well so it will still be alive. When the warm weather arrives, it will continue to send our leaves and you'll have a better chance of seeing it fruit for you that year.

The variety I trust to grow in my yard now is the Raja Puri. It is a vibrant fruit bearer, has a thick stem and grows only to about 8 ft tall. I have seen mine fruiting even at 6ft. The best of all is that it's one of the most cold hardy I have here in my yard. Once established which is a couple of years from planting, it will start to bear fruit. However, if you feed it regularly with fertilizers, it should take off very quickly. My established Raja Puri bears fruit for me every growing season. The fruit quality is also better than my other varieties.

The other thing I like growing this variety is because it doesn't create as much mess for me as the others--meaning cleaning after their dead leaves and as well their dead stems once they finish fruiting. Right now, the tallest I have here is the praying hands. While it is nice to see them standing big and robust at 16-18 ft, it is a chore to maintain them.

If you're thinking of planting it, why not give it a try? Nothing like eating your own home grown bananas :) Have fun!

Here's a picture of my Raja Puri planted close to the house:

The ripen fruit ..

I'm in zone 7b and have had success with 'Orinoco' but I had to grow it in a pot for a few years in order to get it large enough. It eventually got too big for the greenhouse so I drug it outside and planted it. I verbally threatened it in the beginning of summer, something like "fruit or die" and it must have believed me because I got two stalks to fruit that ripened before first frost. I cut the stalks back to 2 feet and buried the whole cluster with piles of compost and wood chips. I'll be digging it out next month to see if it survived. Our winter was pretty severe this year so I don't have high hopes.

Trianglejohn,

Nice job on your Orinoco--great looking bunch of bananas! So what do you feed it with? I hope it will fruit for you this coming season. I use fish emulsion whenever I fertilize my bananas as I have so many other plants in the garden that I don't always remember to do it regularly.

The "fruit or die" sounds familiar to me here ... lol. I have threatened some of my stubborn plants in the gardens too. I did that to my 14 ft tall Lychee Mauritius and this year, it finally cooperated and it's blooming right now.

Do update how your Orinoco is doing and share pictures if it fruits for you when the season warms up. I'm now thinking of getting a Dwarf Orinoco and see how it will fare here.

Anyone growing Pitogo banana?

I am looking to buy the musa pitogo bulb. If anyone has it and is willing to ship it to Singapore, please let me know. Thanks!