Living in Florida, there are lots of tropical plants around, among them fruit trees. Our new property is on the border of Zone 8 and 9, so it is still possible to grow tropical fruits as well as some heat-tolerant stone fruits such as nectarines and peaches. We planted several different types of food-producing trees on our property in expectation of having a house there and enjoying the bounty.
Banana Tree Missteps
One of the first fruit trees we acquired for free was a banana tree. I planted it among some large palms in an area that I knew would get lots of water.
I gave it kitchen scraps from making salads and other plant-based foods, and it thrived.
I made the mistake of giving it some cooked bone scraps, and it promptly died.
My second gifted banana tree was planted on property that is still undeveloped land. We had other tropical plants growing there such as avocado, mango, and guava, and I created a barrier around the garden area with old logs and branches piled up on three sides. I thought this would be sufficient to keep it from getting too cold during the winter, but again, I was wrong, and this banana tree also bit the dust.
Read More: “The Top 10 Tropical Staple Crops”
That was almost a year ago.
When the hurricanes whipped through Florida in September, a friend of mine who had a yard full of mature banana trees lost most of them. So, while Mother Nature sometimes conspires against us, at least I am not the only one who has had problems keeping banana trees around
Another neighbor who lives about a block away had a stand of banana trees along his fence and these managed to survive the hurricanes, although the fence was completely ripped up. When I noticed that he was replacing his fence and taking out some of the banana trees, I stopped my car to ask what they were planning to do with them.
Read More: Build a Community in 9 Easy Steps
I was told that the trees were going to be discarded, so I offered to take them away with the help of my husband and his truck. About an hour later, we took the truck over and filled the back with banana trees!
Planting Rescued Trees in Winter
Knowing that winter is upon us and can drop the temperature at any time, we headed up to our property with the banana trees, a load of abandoned bamboo, several gallons of graywater, a few weeks of kitchen scraps (all plant matter), and some shovels. Along the way, we picked up a few bales of straw and potting soil—some with fertilizer, some without.
- We dug a trench about two or three feet deep and a bit more than a foot wide, then added the kitchen scraps (to provide moisture and heat from decomposition) and the potting soil.
- Next, we added the banana trees, placing them close together the way they normally grow.
- After that, we put the excavated dirt back in to hold up and secure the trees, and installed four-foot lengths of bamboo vertically around the hole and fairly close together.
- You may be wondering what the straw is for…. Insulation! We packed the inside of the bamboo enclosure with straw about three feet high, and then watered the enclosure with the graywater we brought.
Since that weekend, we have had some fiercely cold weather in Florida—two inches of snow in the Panhandle!
What about the banana trees?
They are still holding up, but even in the worst-case scenario where the tops are frozen, the bottoms should still be okay. We will trim them down at the end of February to give new growth a chance.
Once we get our ducks, the duck pond will go in nearby to feed the banana trees and the other tropical plants that will appreciate the fertilizer-rich soup that the ducks will produce. A chance meeting with a person in our area who will be moving this year brought us a free liner for the duck pond and loads of other materials that we can use to improve our homestead.
Banana trees, bamboo, pond liners, and more all came our way through a little communication!
Karen the Newbie Homesteader is a novice gardener, homesteader, and permaculturist. She and her husband recently purchased four acres in central Florida to create their homestead and grow their own food. She will be sharing their adventures: successes, failures, and everything in between – here at The Grow Network.
COMMENTS(6)
Hey Karen, good tip! Banannas take like 18 months to grow, right? And you’ve got to keep them warm that whole time…. is that correct?
Since bananas are tropical perennial grasses and don’t have a woody stem, it is important to keep the base warm so it doesn’t die. Most bananas grow in clumps of several plants, which helps to protect the bases. Some can produce fruit is as little as 6 to 8 months. Luckily, we did not have snow in our part of Florida, it was just cold and windy.
Hey Marjory, this is pretty random- but so was a dream last night with you and your house in it…
It was a nice peaceful place, I went along a muddy unkempt winter path to visit your greenhouse alone, inspected the safety glass joins to get ideas on how to build my own, then popped inside and there I saw.. banana trees growing.
Anyway, today in the (cooler, thankfully) Ozzie summer sun I harvested a ton of garlic, rhubarb, and the usual greens then made a makeshift greenhouse for seed-raising, which reminded me of the dream.
And for pete’s sake, here you are again, talking about banana trees.
Psychic or what. 🙂
I wish I could grow bananas here!
Shelly, it is possible that with a south-facing window in the northern hemisphere, you could grow a banana in a container.
Hi, I live in the Houston area and grew bananas in my garden till I needed to expand to that area. The frost and once and a while snow would kill the bananas. I’d just leave the plants be till after the last frost. Because the snow and frost usually last only a few hours the trunk never died. In spring I’d cut off the top till a found a green center. Within a day you’d see it starting to sprout new leaves. Once it finally grew to 10-12 feet it was banana time! Remember to remove the whole trunk after getting bananas as the herb dies then. I cut it up and place it around the base to decompose.