The whole water sucker / sword sucker thing is really only a concern for commercial growers for whom rapid growth is a concern, and for whom leftover corm material may be found in the soil. For anyone else it really is of no concern. Historically, information of growing bananas has been produced by commercial growers, or observations on techniques used by commercial growers are made by interested parties. These do not literally follow as best practices for home growers.

A sucker produced right from the corm will have access to the greatest amount of nutrition and will develop fastest. Because they come right out of the mother corm, which is surrounded by roots, if cut off carefully a sword sucker may have roots on it from day 1. These are called sword suckers because they tend to have a narrow, spear shape to the plant with sword shaped leaves until they reach the 3rd or 4th leaf stage. But the leaf shape is somewhat species dependent. Some varieties will always produce sword shaped leaf pups, some will always produce oval (adult) shaped leaf pups.

A sucker produced under less than ideal conditions, such as being far from the mother corm, or perhaps coming from just a flake off of an abandoned corm, will grow more slowly, both leaves and (most importantly) roots. These typically have "adult" shaped leaves since they need to gather sun for photosynthesis sooner as they rely less on their mother for nutrition. These are called water suckers. (Some authorities are beginning to believe that water suckers grow from remnants of old corms left in the field, hence their distance from actively growing plants. They are in fact *not* suckers off of those plants!) These grow slowly, and would be at a serious risk of dehydration in a drought, until they have developed a strong root system of their own. This may put them at a several month disadvantage when compared to their peers; runts as far as the commercial grower is concerned.

Remember, the plants are genetically identical. Once the plant reaches the 4th or 5th leaf size, and has a well developed root system, growth will proceed the same whether its origin was as a water sucker or sword sucker. However, for those who were counting, the sword sucker may be 1-2 months old at this size, the water sucker may be 5-7 months old at this size.

That is the best description I have seen for this "phenomenon." While seeing a sword leaf sucker makes me know it will grow aggressively I by no means shun the water leaf suckers. In my personal experience the only time I really get sword leaf suckers is when a plant has been cut or waking from a winter corm and is re-directing alot of old energy to a new plant. For most people it's just a sign that their bananas are growing very strongly. I think the type of pup only tells it's current growing state. It does not dictate the future behavior of the plant or it's offspring.

Thank you.

Then it does not explain the large variation in size and vigor experienced by different growers of musa basjoo? Some banana plants grow in clumps like a typical canna (which is in the banana family) and such a clump would be composed of ALL water suckers. However, unlike canna, the profuse suckering of some (varieties?) Basjoo seems to impede maturation.

Quote: "Then it does not explain the large variation in size and vigor experienced by different growers of musa basjoo?"

You wrote a statement but put a question mark. I don't understand what you mean.

Some musa, for example "bordelon", "rose", a few others do throw many suckers. At least in my soil and weather conditions. Until a sucker gets to a certain size, it is drawing nutrition from the mother plant. Even when fully grown, many pups all in a small area (one mat) all are in competition trying to draw water and nutrients from the same patch of soil. So they would indeed be less vigorous than a less-freely-suckering variety (unless you worked to remove excess suckers).

And yes, profuse suckering will reduce the size and number of fruit produced as compared to keeping just a single fruiting "mother" plant with a half size "daughter" and a just emerging "grand daughter." But that is a whole different question. You did not ask how to get the highest fruit production out of a mat. It does take maintenance to keep production up, like almost any crop. Old, untended areas of bananas are often thick with plants but lacking any fruit. That isn't because they were water suckers. That is because any given area of land can hold only so many roots and those roots have to feed and hydrate more plants.

It comes down to making the decision about your goals. Are you trying to fill a corner of your yard behind the swimming pool with tropical plants to achieve "the look" of being in some tropical lagoon? Let them pup! Got one getting too close to the deck? Cut the pup off and give it away or trade.

OTOH are you trying to have a plant grow, bloom, and produce the maximum fruit in the least time? Limit pups to one daughter and one grand daughter. Since a sword sucker is competing for light beneath its mother (hence its fast upward growth with limited energy put into leaf growth), it will be ready to produce a larger bunch of fruit sooner. Thus if you were to choose which pup to let grow for next year's crop and which pup to cut out and toss into the composter, you leave the sword and cut out the water sucker.

Basjoo are popular in northern states because they are pretty hardy and provide that tropical look. They don't produce edible fruit so trying to get one to fruit is more of an academic exercise than trying to get yummy for the tummy. Might as well let them clump!