It focuses the growing on the main plant, when you have lots of pups, the plant has to distribute the nutrients it acquires to all of its shoots, but if you limit the amount of shoots (usually for best fruit you keep 1-full size shoot, 1-3/4 size, 1-1/2 size and one just poking out of the soil), it can give the same amout of nutrients to less shoots so each one gets more. This gives which ever shoot is flowering the most energy and capability to produce more fruit. But this has to be started while it is a pup, as it grows you take off the extra pups and by the time its ready to flower it will be a much stronger plant. Also, for the most and best fruit, you never want to have more then 1 fruitng shoot on each mat.
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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.
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