Quote:
Originally Posted by harveyc
A year or so ago Brent told me that when he worked in St. Louis they had an Ae Ae and would whack it back in October, pot it up, and moving into their growing house, and then plant it back out the following May. The larger of my Ae Ae is really squeezed in my greenhouse. The ceiling is 16' high at the peak and 12' on the sides. It's in a 30 gallon pot and the soil line is close to 2' above the ground and I'd guess the total height is about 14' right now. I'm hoping to plant it outside next May under a shade since none of my areas with partial shade are tall enough, but I'm even worried about being able to make something tall enough for an Ae Ae (will 20' be tall enough???).
I'm wondering, if you whack back a banana plant, is the total height reduced since the new leaves emerging from a lower point? Is this a method that can be used to "dwarf" a banana?
Thanks,
Harvey
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My grandmother used to do that as a matter of course on all the banana mats in her yard (at least one per mat). As kids, my siblings and I thought that the fruiting plants looked funny, with just the pstem and the fruits and blossom pointing down with no leaves. The idea was so that harvesting was easier and sooner. She sold the fruits at her produce store located on the ground level of her "house-on-stilts" (It floods yearly, so the main floor had to be above the 50-year flood line. Her floors were made of bamboo slats, too. And man, was that a chore to polish.)
I wish I had paid more attention to her when sometimes, I would be visiting, and she would be cutting some of the p-stems. I know that I've asked her once or twice about it. I never dreamed that I would be growing bananas when I moved to Seattle in 1966. And when I started growing bananas in 1974, I had no way of asking her about it because she lived in the province.