One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant banana by reviewing the USDA zone info for Petal.

Planting Calendar for Banana

Frost tolerance for banana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Banana are not cold tolerant which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant banana in Petal is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant banana and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your banana may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your banana indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Petal the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Petal is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Petal you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your banana in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Petal

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Petal.