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godsdog

basic banana botany question

godsdog
17 years ago

I am try to get asparagus established, and with that plant you try and build up the root stalk by leaving as much foliage as possible exposed to sun. This improves the vigor and size of the plant. If this is also true for bananas, it would seem that one would allow pups to grow and provide folage and flowers but remove all but one or two stalks to set fruit and ripen. Also once ripe fruit is removed, one might leave the leaves and psuedostem to die back 'naturally'. Are bananas biologically different ? Have I missed something, or is the recommendations to remove pups and spent stalks for cosmetic or other reasons? Just curious, as bananas in this area tend to overgrow their space in any case, and we give away 5x the bananas we use.

Comments (5)

  • pitangadiego
    17 years ago

    You are correct in many ways, but the difference is that an asparagas is a single plant. Bananas are a group/cluster of plants, and so share and compete for resources from the shared root mass, if there are too many of them.

    Also, asparagas comes-back/grows-from from the same root/plant each year, but each crop of bananas comes from a new and different plant (dying after fruiting).

  • godsdog
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    thanks, I supposed there was a simple biologic explanation. Next question. I started with single plants, and the (mysore especially) pups on the outside such that I now have an empty space in the center of the clump. The stalks were cut down and the root stock in that area is slowly looking like it is decaying. After watering sometimes it looks slimey, so I worry some about root rot. do I leave it alone? when, if ever is it a good idea to remove this stuff, say to move a pup into that area? If new pups grow with some vigor do I ever have to do anything with the old plant below ground level?

  • miamimax
    17 years ago

    Following is information taken from 'The Complete Book of Bananas'-W.O.Lessard; A properly maintained mat of bananas will have one plant in fruit, one plant 3/4 grown, one plant 1/4 grown, and one just emerging from the ground. Bananas will produce an excess of suckers. They should be managed to allow no more than 3 or 4 to be growing in the mat at any one time to produce its best fruit. Remove any slender of stem suckers that make large leaves while still small. These are called 'water suckers' and will be weak plants. Permit the suckers that have a wide base that taper into a straight line at the tip of the plant to grow, these are called 'sword suckers' and will produce stronger trees and better heads of fruit. He also advises to cut the tree to the corm after you have cut the fruit and chop it all up placing it around the base of the mat so the nutrients can be re-absorbed into the soil as fertiliser. The nutrients will also be re-absorbed back into the corm if you just allow it to die back naturally, but this is often not done for aesthetic purposes in your garden. Often there will be a 'hole' where the mother plant has been cut. He advises to fill this hole up with dirt in order to discourage any fungal or bacterial problems incurred by the sometimes wet and rotting corm.

  • godsdog
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    thanks.

  • wendydarcy
    17 years ago

    I have been given three small new banana trees (type unknown) about 1' tall. I know nothing about banana plants but know these ones grow about 7' tall and have very normal sweet bananas and I was most interested to read the answer from miamimax 27.3.07, it was most informativ
    It will be about a month or more until I can plant them where I want to. Will they survive?
    How long can they survive just leaving them until I can plant them?
    Can I leave them out of the ground as one would a bulb or corm (I thought they were rhizomes)? They are in the house on the floor at present as it is too cold and wet to put them outside where I live now.
    The soil in Portugal where I wish to plant them is very sandy but I do have some leaf compost I could dig in or will they just grow anyway?
    What is the least distance I should plant them apart, as I do not have a lot of space?
    How long do they take to mature and produce bananas, months/years?
    One of them has two small leaves growing from the top and the other two have had the "stem/trunk" cut across and they look very dead and woody. Two have "bulbs" at the base.
    Is it worth buying the complete banana book or shall I just wait and see?
    Do they need a lot of water? Every day/just spray with the hose or more?
    I would be most grateful for any answers.

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