Is our banana tree dead? (pics included)

Hi,

Our new house (we're on the south coast of Cornwall) has a huge banana plant in the garden; it was healthy when we moved in last summer but the January snow killed it off (we're complete gardening novices and didn't know we had to protect it!) and it's been brown and miserable-looking ever since (see first photo). We just left it as we weren't sure what to do with it.

We've recently noticed green bits at the bottom of some of the rolled-up leaves that are dead at the top (see other pictures), but we're not sure whether these bits are new growth, or whether it's just leaves from last year that didn't die completely, but aren't going to grow back?

So we're just wondering whether we should cut all the dead leaves back, and what the green bits actually are?

Thanks in advance!

 

Hi Banana Tree,

a lot of banana trees are root hardy, and given the size of this one I would think it quite robust! My advice would be to chop it down to the ground let it sprout again. That's what I do with mine and they come back every year (plus their offspring round the side!!!) :D

Cheers,

Dave

 

I think its alive and I have a feeling the stems are intact.

I'd tend to just cut off the dead bits for now, there appears to be new growth coming from the tops of the old stems.
In pic three, I would cut the top off that newly emerging leaf, the brown bit, its rotted and stopping the new part from unrolling.

 

thanks for the replies - i went out this morning to try and chop it down (before i'd seen Pete's post) but found that most of the stems were still green and alive under all the brown layers, so i just chopped all the dead bits off. I can't reach the stalk on the far left of the tree because it's directly above a pond that i'd probably fall into, so i'll just have to leave the dead bit on top of that new leaf and see how it does.

thanks again!

 

Leave it alone until the beginning of may when it's got the sun on it again and can grow without interruption. I cut mine as the top stem fell but leave a rain cover of collateral as if it becomes waterlogged around the remaining stem it will freeze and mush even more. Most likely you will start from a foot of stem, worse case it WILL sucker new stems. I will machete mine as above remove all the slush and let the sun do it's work!