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Bananas move north of the tropics

Flower & Garden Magazine, July-August, 1997 by Monica Brandies

Whenever I miss the plants I grew in Northern gardens, I console myself: "You can't grow bananas there." And homegrown bananas are the thrill of my gardening life.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I was walking around during a visit to my hometown of Xenia, Ohio, and suddenly saw a yard full of banana plants that stopped me in my tracks.

Judge Judson Shattuck has grown bananas for several summers in Ohio and, yes, his bananas are as delicious as Florida's. Homegrown bananas differ as much in taste from their store-bought counterparts as do green beans. Shattuck grows six different varieties but none of the dwarfs because, he says, "I figure, what the heck -- if you're going to have a banana tree, might as well have a big one."

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In the best conditions, it takes a banana plant nine to 10 months to put out a bud. In Florida it took mine three years because of freezes my first three winters. Today, however, I grow 12 to 20 bunches every year, and they are well worth the wait. Shattuck's banana plants produce fruit in 18 months (or about three growing seasons), but his fruit bunches are much larger.

In the meantime, bananas make interesting and very attractive plants. They grow mostly straight up, so they don't require too much space or create too much shade, and the leaves make a wonderful rustling noise in the slightest breeze. There is still room in Shattuck's 75- by 150-foot yard -- and time in his schedule -- for 300 roses, cannas, hundreds of tulips and irises, apples, peaches, apricots, pears, chestnuts, walnuts and his wife's tomatoes and other vegetables.

WINTER CARE

Winter care of bananas is crucial in areas that experience frost. Judge Shattuck brings his plants indoors for the winter. Sometime in October, before frost, he digs up the plants and cuts off the rest of the leaves at the top so each looks like a great, fat pole. He puts them in small garbage buckets with only the soil that clings. Then he moves them into a basement garage where temperatures in winter hover around 50 degrees, waters them once and allows them to go dormant for the rest of the winter.

Shattuck's plants range from small to 15 feet in height. Ropes hanging from the garage ceiling help to hold up the plants but, even so, some must stand at an angle.

In his Complete Book of Bananas, Florida banana expert William O. Lessard has written a chapter on growing bananas in the North. He says the plant will perish if the root is in frozen ground, but cutting the stem to the ground just before a frost and mulching the corm or root area with at least a foot of much may allow it to overwinter more easily and with less shock to the plant. He says to cover the mulch with a sheet of plastic and hold the edges in place with heavy stones.

When I lived in Iowa, I covered carrots with bags of leaves of bales of hay to keep them digable all winter, so this technique may work farther north than one would expect. For growers who are willing to experiment with a surplus plant or two, it would bear trying. Bring indoors any plants you don't want to risk.

If you leave roots in the ground, be sure to remove the plastic in the spring to avoid trapping the warmth from decomposing mulch. Warm temperatures can lead to premature growth that is susceptible to late freezes. Replace the plastic in early spring with weed barrier fabric, which allows the heat to dissipate. Also, plant such bananas in open spots rather than against a south wall where early warm-up could spark premature growth.

Although Shattuck believes Northern plants grow faster if allowed to go dormant over the winter, the dwarf varieties of bananas do make interesting and attractive houseplants. Plants brought indoors can be potted and placed in a warm, sunny spot to keep growing, however slowly, over the winter. Don't let them dry out, but don't feed them, as they will make very little growth. Occasional misting is good, for the humidity in most houses is a far cry from the tropical outdoors.

Hauling banana plants indoors for the winter may seem like a great deal of trouble. My own bananas remain outdoors year-round in my Zone 9 yard near Tampa, Florida. They look pretty bad during a good winter and freeze to the ground during a bad one. I leave the dead leaves in place to help protect from possible frosts. Their appearance in winter is quite disenchanting, but I have seven large clumps in the back yard that I love almost as much as I would an ugly dog.

BANANA BASICS

Judge Shattuck usually starts moving his plants out around April 15, although the average last frost date in Ohio is May 15. Plants come through light frosts with only a little burning of the leaves. The roots will be all right as long as the ground doesn't freeze.

Bananas require full sun and protection from the wind, which will shred their leaves. They also need good drainage and plenty of water so they never dry out. Enrich the soil with as much humus as possible. Bananas prefer a fairly acid soil (5.5 to 6.5 pH), so you may need to add sulfur if your soil is alkaline. They love 90-degree days but stop growing when temperatures drop below 55 degrees and won't start again until it has been warm for a while.

Bananas move north of the tropics

Flower & Garden Magazine, July-August, 1997 by Monica Brandies

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