Question
QUESTION: I live in Texas and want to know how to care for my banana palms in the winter.  Are you suppose to cut back banana palms down to the ground and cover with the leaves and soil in the winter time or do you just leave them as is.  I have huge banana palms around my pool and would like to leave them big and tall during the winter.  Can I do this or do I have to cut them back.

ANSWER: Hi Lori and welcome! Bananas are my forte, I too have them all over my landscape; You don't want to cut them back because there is no viable way to do this, let them be and if the frost hits them or freeze then you can prune off the damaged parts. They protection you can afford them is mulching or covering the ground covering the corm (root system); then if they freeze back to the ground they will regenerate growth if the corm is saved. Nick

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QUESTION: In the past I have cut the trees straight across leavings only the top of the root then it just starts growing again.  Should you only cut the leaves that are dead?  How far down do you cut them?

Answer
You can do either, but if you want to get fruit, I would just cut back the dead growth; Bananas will continue to regenerate from the corm in an attempt to develop fruit, they don't die back naturally until this happens. The fact that you are in a colder climate zone, and fruit production probably isn't' in the cards, i would just trim them from an aesthetic standpoint, otherwise if you cut them back at the base, they will grow a new pseudostem and be open to frost and freeze damage anyway. Nick