One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The first chance to plant banana in Cortland can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Banana

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

Banana require warm weather which tells us that you have 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 Cortland 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. If you wait any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your banana indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cortland. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cortland is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Cortland it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your banana if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cortland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Cortland

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