Bananas.org - View Single Post - Pups growing at the expense of mother plant?

75north · 05-29-2020, 03:42 PM

Hi all,

I have a banana that was sold to me as Blue Java (I've since figured it's likely a Namwah of some sort, but that's beside the point!) Anyways, it grew nicely after I planted it last Spring (~7 foot pstem height), and then seemingly made it through the Winter with no hiccups, but this year the mother plant hasn't done much of anything. It put out a leaf or two in February and March but hasn't grown at all in the last two-plus months, even though we've had nice hot temps here in Central Florida.

The pups, on the other hand, are doing great. All three of the main pups have grown at least a couple feet and are putting out new leaves every week. They seem to be sapping energy that would (should?) go to the mother stem.

Here's a before/after:

First, I want to whether this is even correct (i.e. does the corm have a set amount of resources that are spread around to the mother and offshoot pstems, or are they independent?)
Secondly, if the goal is to encourage fruit production before temps drop again later this year, what should I do? Would it help to remove one of the pups to encourage growth of the mother plant? Or should I just leave it alone and let it grow naturally because this is totally an inexact science?

Thanks and let me know what you guys think!

I could't get the built-in image client to upload/display pictures. Hopefully imgur is allowed. Very sorry if not!

05-29-2020, 03:42 PM	#1 (permalink)
75north Location: Winter Park, FL Find me on the map! Zone: 9b Join Date: Apr 2020 Posts: 187 BananaBucks : 13,332 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 204 Times Was Thanked 278 Times in 100 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Pups growing at the expense of mother plant? Hi all, I have a banana that was sold to me as Blue Java (I've since figured it's likely a Namwah of some sort, but that's beside the point!) Anyways, it grew nicely after I planted it last Spring (~7 foot pstem height), and then seemingly made it through the Winter with no hiccups, but this year the mother plant hasn't done much of anything. It put out a leaf or two in February and March but hasn't grown at all in the last two-plus months, even though we've had nice hot temps here in Central Florida. The pups, on the other hand, are doing great. All three of the main pups have grown at least a couple feet and are putting out new leaves every week. They seem to be sapping energy that would (should?) go to the mother stem. Here's a before/after: First, I want to whether this is even correct (i.e. does the corm have a set amount of resources that are spread around to the mother and offshoot pstems, or are they independent?) Secondly, if the goal is to encourage fruit production before temps drop again later this year, what should I do? Would it help to remove one of the pups to encourage growth of the mother plant? Or should I just leave it alone and let it grow naturally because this is totally an inexact science? Thanks and let me know what you guys think! I could't get the built-in image client to upload/display pictures. Hopefully imgur is allowed. Very sorry if not!