Question
I live in zone 8 in the central texas hill country. I have quite a few banana trees,palms and other tropicals. Last year I dug up ALL the bananas and put them in an airconditioned/heated building. This year that is not possible-they are huge. What is the best way to protect them without inviting fungus and rot. It can be 80 one day and 28 the next. Cages filled with straw? Cut trees shorter? Any winterizing nutrients?

Answer
Hi Sandy, Bananas are my forte, so I can safely tell you that frosts destroys the crown, but the corm (root system) will survive; freeze kills even the corm, so winter protection is mandatory, but difficult. Protection from frost is simpler the from a freeze; to protect from a freeze you need to prevent the corm from freezing, by protection of the immediate area around the banana with heavy applications of straw (as you say) or mulch or even a blanket; the key is to keep the corm from freezing, so that it can regenerate growth in the spring. The crown is going to "melt" from the first frost settling on it, but that will not kill it, for it will send up a new plant, but you just have to protect that rhizome underground. Nick