Sets

Corm, hanger, cloth

Banana Growing in the Florida Home Landscape calls Florida a climatically marginal area for commercial banana. The reason is freezes. Dwarf types belong in a home landscape. What survives a bad January is usually underground, on the corm. A Cavendish in the grocery in January is often shipped. The clump in the yard has a named cultivar and a last frost. A hanger will not save a top that froze.

Banana hands hanging on the plant — Hands still on the plant.

Shoot growth is best in the high 70s. Growth slows below 60°F and stops at 50°F. At or below 32°F everything above ground goes water-soaked, then brown. Below 28°F the plant may be killed to the ground. New growth usually sprouts from the rhizome when warm weather returns. The banana growing guide names choking when chill stops the flower stalk from emerging.

Hanger after the cut

Cut the bunch when the fingers are plump, before they turn yellow. Hang it in a shady, cool place. The banana growing guide says that seems to give better flavor than ripening on the plant. A hanger is for a hand already cut. It does not save a top that froze. Do not refrigerate bananas before they ripen. Chilling injury means they may never finish.

Banana hanger holding a hand of fruit — The hanger meets fruit you already picked.

Hang a bunch you already cut. Get this.

A slicer is a later kitchen object, for fruit already yellow on the counter. It does not move last frost. It does not replace the hook.

Banana slicer — A slicer for fruit that already ripened.

Slice a hand that is already yellow. Get this.

Cloth for a clump you keep

Frost cloth is for a clump you mean to keep. It buys a margin on a light freeze. It does not make Central Florida south Florida. Pack the cloth if the forecast is the job. Pack the hanger if the fruit is already off the plant. They are not the same purchase.

Frost cloth plant cover — Cloth for a clump you already keep.

Cover a clump you mean to keep on a light freeze. Get this.

A banana magnet is last

A banana magnet pack is a fridge souvenir. Test the steel. It does not move last frost. City resin is a different object, Orlando as a plaque. Print-at-home files stay on Shop. Pack cloth for the clump, hanger for the hand, magnet last.

Banana fridge magnet set — A fruit magnet for a steel door.

Stick fruit on a steel door. Get this.

Cloth, hanger, slicer, then steel

If a freeze is on the forecast and you already have a clump, cloth is first. If you just cut a bunch, the hanger is first. If the fruit is already yellow on the counter, the slicer is first. If the job is a souvenir, test the steel, then the magnet. Do not buy cloth because a grocery Cavendish looks cheap in January.

The banana growing guide gives March, April, and May as the best planting months for south Florida with irrigation, otherwise wait for the June rains. Central Florida is colder, so plan on a freeze rather than hoping past one. Start from large sword suckers or maidenheads. Water suckers sit next to the mat, attach only at the surface, and produce inferior fruit. Tissue-cultured plants are the clean option if you can find them. Dwarf plants can sit as close as 8 feet. Large varieties want 12 feet. Keep bananas 10 feet or more from an outdoor wall if you use them as a screen, and not next to windows, because they topple in wind.

The trunk is a pseudostem of packed leaf sheaths. The real stem is the corm. Roots can run 5 feet down and 16 feet sideways in good soil. A 3 by 2 foot hole is the planting figure. Where the water table sits within about 7 feet, plant on a mound. A pot you can move indoors trades yield for survival. That is an honest trade. It is not a hanger.

More planting on Grow and Season. Tool notes on Reviews.