Ensete bananas are not frost hardy and will need to be taken to a frost free place if they are to survive the winter. The problem is that they get too big to store in the average home after a couple of years. The solution is to just store the roots and main stem, cutting off all of the leaves. If stored in a dark place at a room temperature of between 5 and 10 degrees centigrade and the plant has been dried then it will quite happily sit out the winter in a dormant state ready to be re planted the following spring.
The easiest way to cut off the leaves is to use an old bread knife. Try to leave quite a bit of stem on each leaf cut as this will give you some room to cut off any rot that might occur at the end of each branch. Dig out the plant and wash off any soil and compost. You can either leave on the straggly roots or trim back any really long ones to neaten it up. The roots tend to re grow the following year, it’s the green main stem that you need to leave untouched and unharmed.
Now turn the whole plant upside down to drain off the water. Allow up to a week for the plant to dry out. The plant can now be turned the right way up and wedged into a pot. You don’t need any compost to dry store. You can also give it a sprinkling of sulphur powder to help protect against rot
