Cutting the leaves help to force the banana into hibernation. The leaves help the plant to produce energy when it's warm and sunny. Cutting these off helps to cut down on energy consumption when the plant is stored. I do like to leave on the banana, the pointer stem, or new leaf that has yet to unfurl to give the banana a head start when I plant it outside again in the spring. Do not water the bananas when storing in this fashion. Again, you want the plant to hibernate. The banana will draw it's minimal energy from the corm which is the bulb like structure that the roots form from. You can however cut off all the roots, taking care not to cut up or cut off the corm. As for newspapers, I don't use them. Some people may, but only to prevent dirt from getting on the floor.

Thanks for the help I will begin removing the leaves right away. I hope they make it through the winter ok.

If you or anyone has some other tips on how to grow tall beautiful plants please feel free to share them. I am curious as to what type of soil they prefer.

Beached Turtle--Let me know how you fare with overwintering them in a zone 8 garage. I'm in Charleston and I think the winter is too warm to 'hibernate' them here.

Some protected plants in downtown Charleston overwinter and produce fruit pretty often.

I may chop some leaves off and wrap my exposed plants for the duration of the cold snap and likely let the ones protected by the house be on their own.