Banana Plants

Hello all
I am a new member, I hope you wont mind if I ask a question so soon, I lost my banana tree last year and it seemed to rot down to the stump, this year there are four or five "suckers" about five inches tall coming from the base.
Can someone please tell me when and how do I detach these to make new individual plants.

 

hi crabtree and welcome, Bananaman is the expert on banana trees

 

Thanks Rosa
How do I contact Banana Man Please, I can see I have got a lot to learn. I would also like to add a photo at the start of the reply.

 

Crabtree, unless they are protected the banana musa basjoo, which I assume yours is, will rot to the crown and reproduce the following year. In actual fact I have been experimenting with totally unprotected basjoo in quite harsh conditions with suckers and stem regrowth.

Winter rotting, emerging life



New Shoot



3 Months on growth.



The suckers are easy to remove with a sharp knife but do not get their own roots until they are surprisingly tall. I never remove mine until they are at least a foot in stem and even then I check around the predicted root ball for root activity. The consequences of removing a sucker too early is that it takes longer to establish and in some cases is unable to support itself. A decent sucker with a decent root can with stand the following winter, but it is not advisable. I usually bring the suckers under frost free cover for the first winter prior to replanting the following May. But like I say I have been experimenting with new suckers and 3 litre pots in full winter and have had surprising results with basjoo.

I hope this helps. I have been growing bananas from suckers to full flowering specimens for 4/5 years now.









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http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001758;p=1#000000

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http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=001991;p=1#000000

www.kobakoba.co.uk

BM

 

Sorry for the delay I was typing :D :D :D

 

hi crabtree, BM Gives sound advise. I have a musa basjoo and its been out LAST WINTER I cut off the leaves in nov.and put winter fleece round it several times and also packed it up with straw, in april this year Ifound a new leaf from the last leaf I cut off last nov.and then all the wrappings came off. tree is now 5ft I shall do the same again this year. fancy

 

This clump of basjoo along with one other survived last winter unprotected on my allotment.
After the first frost I just bend the frosted leaves down around the stem, I think it must have gone down to minus 6 last winter.
First warm spell and new leaves started to appear.
The sikkimiensis that I protected had all sorts of rot problems, think I shall leave that unprotected this year and chance it.

 

My sikki had a slow start but it moving now, I lost all the side shoots to rot, but there are a couple coming now, it was grown from seed four years ago and has about a six foot stem and twelve foot overall, it seems to be a larger plant than basjoo.

 

Impressive Pete! Love the sikki, growing very well indeed. For Crabtree's benefit as I know most of you know, I have a custom built winter banana house which I heat. It is erected in late October and taken down again in late April early May. This means I can enjoy last years leaves through the winter and the bananas get a heated start to the year, essencial in my view for more successful flowering.




BM

 

I agree BM, if you want flowering and maybe fruiting plants some kind of heated cover is needed.
I did get a basjoo to flower a couple of years ago but it ran out of good weather in October. :D

 

Pete I think you have done a top job with your bananas, its surprising what you can get away with winter wise. I tend to go on the side of caution because they are so central to the whole look of the garden. But I am considering what it might look like without them or perhaps an even taller trachy in their space?

 

Yes, I see that really you cant let yours become "tatty" as I do, mine are on the allotment where I can experiment without having to worry too much about their appearance.
I've always liked the way they look a bit tattered, and natural, although I dont like the sort of damage a summer gale can do.
I think they are always tempory and not permanant planting, as something like a trachy is.

 

Oh my , Oh my, What a whopper! Its so beautiful, Im gonna have to try to find me one of those,little beauties... the flowers are incredible.
Oh, sorry, Hi Crabtree ,nice to meet ya. Im new too..smiles..

 

like your banana trees PETE, that is exactly how our trees looked in SRI LANKA when I lived there as a child. we were 10 in the family and my mother always gave us bananas and other fruits for snacks. the b. trees fruit in succession and once they fruit the tree went on the compost heap.these trees are not good for our climate. FANCY

 

Thanks everyone for your wonderful advice and fantastic photo's. I have taken a couple of snaps of my little plants but afraid I dont know how to install them on to the gardening site.
But thanks again everyone you have been so very helpful. Perhaps in a few years time, with a lot of luck I may also be able to show some like yours.