Should I cut my Dwarf Cavendish or leave it after freeze damage?

[Dwarf Fan]

I recently planted a dwarf Cavendish banana and it was growing good until we got a Polar Vortex and hit a low of 31F degrees.

To cut or not to cut… that is my question and if I do cut, should I cut it all the way down to the base of the dirt or 3/4 up the trunk or what?

Thanks for the help.

[Motlife]

I would just cut it off to wherever the psuedostem isn't mushy. I had a quick look at your weather and it looks warm again, so it should grow back quickly. Maybe just be ready to put a blanket on it or something if it looks like frosty weather again 

[tropicbreeze]

I'd definitely leave it. The dead material will help insulate the core of the plant. When the weather warms up it should start growing anyway. Then you can cut off what you find unsightly.

[Motlife]

I leave dead leaves on mine for insulation here where we can get cool winters with possible frosts for a while, and bananas don't grow much for 3 months or so. Looking on Google in south Texas they've already got highs in the low 20s forecast with mild lows so I'd get the dead stuff out of the way as it will be growing back already. Also, if anyone isn't aware, bananas aren't like palms, even if it was cut to the base it will just push the new leaves from there so no needs to stress about cutting it back too far 

[Dwarf Fan]

57 minutes ago, Motlife said:

I leave dead leaves on mine for insulation here where we can get cool winters with possible frosts for a while, and bananas don't grow much for 3 months or so. Looking on Google in south Texas they've already got highs in the low 20s forecast with mild lows so I'd get the dead stuff out of the way as it will be growing back already. Also, if anyone isn't aware, bananas aren't like palms, even if it was cut to the base it will just push the new leaves from there so no needs to stress about cutting it back too far 

Thank you I know that people in colder zones than mine cut back their bananas and they regrow quickly. I was just not sure how aggressive to get I will just remove the dead leaves and cut about an inch off the top of the pseudostem and take a look and see if it is “mushy”. Thanks for the insight about the regrowth habits of bananas. 🤙 

[Motlife]

No worries, good luck with it! I have a dwarf Cavendish here with similar absolute lows, but our climate is a lot cooler overall. It doesn't do that great, but it always comes back after winter. Other lady finger type and ornamental bananas do much better here. If you were only just below freezing for not too long the psuedostem is probably fine and it would just be a matter of clearing out the brown stuff, but you probably can't do much that would phase it, they're pretty tough! 

[TropicsEnjoyer]

On 2/1/2025 at 8:59 PM, Motlife said:

I leave dead leaves on mine for insulation here where we can get cool winters with possible frosts for a while, and bananas don't grow much for 3 months or so. Looking on Google in south Texas they've already got highs in the low 20s forecast with mild lows so I'd get the dead stuff out of the way as it will be growing back already. Also, if anyone isn't aware, bananas aren't like palms, even if it was cut to the base it will just push the new leaves from there so no needs to stress about cutting it back too far 

yeah but you might be wasting a future fruit set by doing that.