banana plants

[WaterPond]

Hi everyone, i just dog up this plant from my garden that i bought in the spring. The people at the garden centre told me it was a banana plant. I just planted it in the shade and it seemed to be doing really well, but arrg, slugs! It grew into such a nice plant that i thought i would bring it in for the winter, and with the nights growing increasingly colder i thought i would bring it in earlier than I do my other tropical plants.

I potted it(the root systems aren't that great) and brought it inside, put it in front of my bedroom window. I hope it does ok

Does anybody have one of these plants?
how do I care for it?
anybody know any links?

I have NO idea how to care for it, and it was a ten dollar plant still when it was just a little sprout so I would hate to lose it.

I included some pictures, any help would be greatly appreciated!

http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l117/WaterPond/banana001.jpg

 

[odobenus]

Is this the same plant?

 

[WaterPond]

oh my gosh, yes it is, thank you so much!

 

[swjunkie]

could you get a shot of the base of the plant Please? I am not quit sure that is a banana. I Live in Florida and I have them planted all over my yard. It is difficult for me to get them through the winters here and I just dont see how a nana could be that far north.
Thanx.

 

[WaterPond]

It is a tropical that i bought at a garden center, i planted it outside early spring and now it is potted and sitting in my room. Thats how it coulf be so far north. I cant get a picture that will fit, sorry

 

[hc8719]

i thought you meant the water bannana plant

 

[swjunkie]

I just didnt think that they sold banana plants/trees that far north because of their tropical nature. It just doesnt look like any banana plants that I have. maybe the growth is stunted because of the climate. but anyway I have brought some small ones in for the winter. They will be fine, they naturally go through a hybernation period. Dont fertilize and cut back on your watering and it will be fine.

 

[Jchillin]

Moved to Planted Tanks forum.

 

[kjhladky]

I have been keeping banana plants in northern Alabama for years. In warmer climates the first hard freeze will kill the plant, but the root will send up new plants in the spring. Just mulch them well to keep them warm.

Here in my zone 7 garden the roots will not survive. Here's what I do.
The medium sized plats I pot up. Nothing new here.
The small plants I store the, for lack of a better word, "bulb" in a bucket with mulch.
The large plants are the fun ones. I wack off all the leaves. Then I dig them up. I move the 7 or 8 foot tall stalk into a cool but non-freezing area. In the spring I plant this large stalk and the leaves begin to grow out the top resulting in an instant 8 foot tall banana tree. Last year it even bloomed and started growing bananas!!! I was so excited, but then when Katrina came in it broke my tree in half.