Re: Water suckers
Ahh, the issue that growers love to debate. I've been growing for a long time and learned from many mistakes, experiments, luck, hard work as to what works for me. I'm lucky to now live in excellent banana growing climate so it make things much, much easier than when I grew in zone 8 or 9. I've learned that any size sucker can be separated and grown into healthy plant but require proper care. A vast majority of my pups are sword but I mostly have issues when I ignore key inputs (not watering during dry season, forgetting to fertilize, etc.). When you treat them right, it doesn't really matter... sword or water sucker, they all do just fine. It may be that I'm in a zone that is more forgiving but except for my damn Pitogo (which constantly cause me headaches) I've had zero issues when I have good soil, water, feed, mulch, protect as necessary. My original Pitogo and its subsequent sword suckers have failed miserably... my take is its the genetics of the plant. But give me a healthy sucker, water or sword, and I'll grow you nice bunch of bananas every time when I pay attention to what it needs. Now I haven't' had an awesome bunch like PR Giant just posted but happily harvest really nice sizes regardless of sucker type. Keep on growing!!
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Blue Java, Raja Puri, Goldfinger FHIA-01, Mona Lisa FHIA-02, Sweetheart FHIA-03, Pitogo, Saba, Dwarf Cavendish, Super Dwarf Cav., Namwa, Brazilian, Mysore, Dwarf Red, and a mystery or two
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