Blue Jave Ice Cream outdoor grown will get about 15' so 9 to 10 may be right for pot grown look further down the list there is a discussion about this under Ice cream the more common name. Good Luck

jus, your banana will be fine. If needed be, you could totally sever the banana from the root-ball and once planted, the rootball would send up a new stalk.

As far as size in relation to fruiting, it's more along the lines of how many stems, or "branches" before fruiting occurs. Also, to encourage fruiting, be sure to trim off any suckers that emerge from the soil. Be sure when cutting off, to get a piece of the corm ( root ball ) in order for this to work.
These suckers could also be planted in another pot to grow into another banana plant.

Also, the overwintering topic, can you plant outside and in the fall, dig up, clean out root ball a little and store in a cool dry place.... no water, no light and try to keep temps around fridge temps ( no freeze )?? Also you could dig up, transfer to a pot and give MINIMAL water ( no fertilizer ) during winter. Just giving you options to maximize your chances at fruiting. If you really want fruit, a dwarf orinoco fruits easily. Already had 2 of them fruit in the last 5 years so far.

Thanks for your help. I would like to be able to plant a banana outdoors but my yard is still a work in progress. I live in a new development. You know how that goes. They take farm land, scrape off all of the useable soil and sell it to the first buyer who will take it. It looks like most of this subdivision is on sand. I, however ended up on one of the few lots on solid clay. My soil is a debacle. ItÂs difficult to even dig through this stuff. It comes out of the ground in chunks. After you did the hole, you have to figure out where to put the clay chunks you now have. IÂve been in this house for five years and itÂs taken me about that long to get my vegetable garden to the point where it will grow anything at all. In a week or so, I am going to have 3 yards of compost delivered. Even after that, I wonÂt have any room in that bed for anything other than vegetables. Long story even longer, I donÂt want to basically drop a banana into a clay flower pot for the summer.

IÂm 34 now. I read years ago when I was in college that a certain plant (that shall remain nameless) can be forced to flower before it reaches maturity if you expose it to 12 hours of darkness followed by 12 hours of light. Has anyone ever tried that with a banana plant?

Bananas fruit when they are ready to fruit. The flower bud is produced underground and has to travel all the way up the pseudostem and emerges after the last leaf. This takes months. More sun produces more and better fruit. Less sun, less fruit. Whereas there are plants that can be induced to flower with changes in sunlight, the flowers of those plants are really modified leaves. I've never heard anyone discuss changes in sunlight and tie that to flowering a banana.

Steve