Is it possible to dig up and transplant a mature plant w/fruit?

11 years ago

Hi everyone,

Is it possible to dig up and move a fully mature banana plant with ripening fruit on it? I am asking because my landlord is having a hissy over the banana plants I put in the yard (when we first moved in, he said I could plant the yard however I wanted to!) , because he believes that they are destroying the foundation of the house and the retaining wall around the front yard and insisting that I cut down all the banana plants. This is complete BS because the damage he is citing with respect to the retaining wall was there before we moved in, and I have photos to prove it, and there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever of any damage to the foundation or the balcony wall that my Cuban Red banana plants are next to. I have a group of Raja Puri bananas in the opposite corner of the yard next to the retaining wall.

Needless to say, I am extremely upset about this because not only are the plants beautiful, but the first fruit I got from the Cuban Reds last spring were the most incredibly delicious, beautiful bananas I have ever seen or tasted, and now the first "daughter plant" has at least a 10-hand bunch ripening and developing nicely and while I know that I can easily transplant the small pups, I do not want to have to wait another two years for more homegrown bananas.

Is there any chance of that plant surviving being dug up and replanted somewhere else?

Thanks very much in advance for your help!

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Comment (1)

miketropic
11 years ago
cuban reds are awesome want to get a few next spring.. anyways the landlord is on some BS. banana roots are shallow and not far reaching. they couldn't tear somthing up if they tried. bad news is you can't transplant during flowering. if the plant is in full bloom it is going to die once the bunch ripens anyway so saving the tree isn't an option anyway. best thing you can do is let them ripen on the tree as long as possible and when it is a must then cut the bunch off and try to let them ripen inside. hang them in a garage window in a paper bag or somthing. you won't get the plumpness or the size you want but they should ripen up a enough to eat if you leave em on the plant till the last min.