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View Full Version : How to cut them down for inside storage


timmko
09-06-2010, 05:17 PM
Can I just cut the tops off my banana's anywhere along the stem? I don't want to kill them. Right now they are 8ft or so and in another month or less I will have to bring them indoors. I have a 9ft ceiling so I don't have much room for overwintering. I will keep the room around 60 or so to not get a lot of winter growth. Can I cut anywhere along the stem even if a new leaf is emerging? Thanks

sunfish
09-06-2010, 08:12 PM
Yes you can cut them anywhere.The only problem would be if there was a bud in the P-stem and you cut below it. I guess to be safe cut as little as needed to fit inside.

The Hollyberry Lady
09-06-2010, 08:16 PM
Good advice, Tony.


I am concerned about this myself and don't want to cut too far down when I bring a certain banana plant in for the Winter. How awful that would be...to cut off the flower!


: (

timmko
09-07-2010, 07:42 PM
And what are the cons of cutting the flower. Will the plant die? I don't count on getting fruit up here anyway just using them for that "tropical feel". thanks guys

Blake09
09-07-2010, 07:47 PM
And what are the cons of cutting the flower. Will the plant die? I don't count on getting fruit up here anyway just using them for that "tropical feel". thanks guys

No it wont kill the plant, just delay the bud from flowering for a season or so. I say chop it down to 6 ft

natej740
09-07-2010, 09:44 PM
Im no expert but i though if you cut a plant down past a flower that plant will die...Its pups will live on but that specific p-stem will die...

Bob
09-08-2010, 04:01 PM
Once you've cut past the flower it's done but since you're only looking for the tropical look the mother corm of the "dead" plant will still supply any pups left behind. If you do happen to cut beneath an emerging flower just chop it to the base and grow out the biggest pup which will grow all that much more vigorously from the added nutrient supply from a larger corm. Sometimes you can give an educated guess by the age of the plant and the tapering of the p-stem if there is a chance of a bud being present but not always. Everyone in a cold climate should be familiar with this thread , it's a gem.

http://www.bananas.org/f15/time-put-bananas-sleep-winter-310.html

Jack Daw
09-08-2010, 04:13 PM
Cut it as high as it is possible. The stem will most likely slightly dry up at the top and you will have to remove several inches. Other than that, if you cut off the flower bud in the P-stem, you will kill the flowering process and the mother plant will just die off. So no need to chop the P-stem up, just remove the leaves, close to the p-stem and the plant is ready to be stored. Good luck.
:02:

The Hollyberry Lady
09-08-2010, 04:25 PM
Wow, thanks for the great information everyone. :)


This banana flower stuff has got me so excited...especially seeing Bob's amazing success with his Ice Cream banana plant, and living only 10 hours away from me!


I can only hope and dream that I too will get a flower someday...



and not cut it off!!! :eek:



Great thread....learning tons.


: )

stevelau1911
09-08-2010, 07:31 PM
I think it is probably easier to leave them in the ground and wrap them up as good as possible. I plan on using many layers of plastic to wrap up the p-stem to try and keep moisture out, a few layers of old clothes, then more plastic and finally leaf filled bags which will eventually be covered in something like a trash can or foam container to keep the moisture and cold out. A couple layers of tarp could be used to seal the deal and I could just leave everything on until the middle of May when I expect new leaves to come out again.

I tried growing bananas indoors last year and even with little watering, the plant still rotted and dried up due to a lack of sunlight which allowed the p-stem to get thinner and thinner until it eventually couldn't support itself. Maybe it was too small at the time.

timmko
09-08-2010, 08:14 PM
I grew mine indoors last year just fine but they were small and not near as large as this year. They had window light and 10,00k 4oo watt MH to supplement that. THey grew from about 4 inches to over 3ft in about 5 months. My only problem now is the size and how much "more" light to add, so I don't break the bank buying lights.

sandy0225
09-09-2010, 07:46 PM
If your ceiling is 9 feet, I'd cut it back to about 5 feet. That will leave a little room for new leaves to expand out and still not be up towards the ceiling too far where it's not as bright.
If your plant is two years old, or even three in Wisconsin, you're not real likely to cut off the bud. But if you want to know for sure, after you cut it off, cut the part you cut off longways and examine it to see if it's in there. Then use the leaves to cook yourself up a good meal in the crockpot. I have a good recipe for a pork roast in banana leaves on here, or you could use beef, chicken, deer, or fish.

Kevin
09-09-2010, 09:40 PM
If your plant is two years old, or even three in Wisconsin, you're not real likely to cut off the bud. But if you want to know for sure, after you cut it off, cut the part you cut off longways and examine it to see if it's in there.

Isn't it too late then? Could you slice off thin sections of the p-stem to see if you are getting to the bud, and stop when you reach it? How can you tell what the bud looks like in this immature stage?

sandy0225
09-10-2010, 05:58 PM
Well, yeah, it's too late if you already sliced it off. but usually you don't. When you slice the stem open lengthwise, you'll normally just see a lot of rings like a tree ripped down the middle, the bud looks different, kind of fat and when you slice it open a little like a button or a sponge mushroom rolled up tightly in a leaf. You're really just looking to reassure yourself that you didn't cut the bud off and then you can breathe easy again!
It takes me 4 years to get blooms on most of them around here, so you're almost 100% good in two years in Wisconsin. But then after it blooms the first time if you don't divide up the plant, my ice cream did bloom the next year too.

timmko
09-10-2010, 06:45 PM
What about stripping the lower leaves? If I cut the top down should I leave all the smaller lower leaves on? IT would be easier to cut them off to give all the plants room to grow and prevent "shading".

timmko
09-10-2010, 06:45 PM
Oh by the way thanks for the Borneo Giants Sandy they are great!!

Kevin
09-10-2010, 06:48 PM
Do you just use a large kitchen knife, like a bread knife, to cut them down? What's the best way? Is there a possibility of disease or infection after cutting?

sandy0225
09-13-2010, 06:49 AM
You just use a sharp knife to cut them down. If you are worried about disease or infection I suppose you could dip your knife in rubbing alcohol between plants. They are not hard to cut down at all.
I've always left any leaves below the cut so that the plant can use them to make more food for itself. Remember, and this is important...after you cut them, they don't need much water until they have leaves again. It's easy to overwater them after you cut them off. So back off on the watering after you cut them off.
I think I'm going to have to repot or cut back those borneo giants, I think I have them as big as I can get them in 4" pots don't you think?LOL...

microfarmer
09-14-2010, 01:27 PM
I think it is probably easier to leave them in the ground and wrap them up as good as possible.

Unless the ground is heated, leaving a banana corm in the ground in central Wisconsin is certain death, unless it's a Basjoo or other very cold hardy specimen. Even then you'll need to keep the frost out of the soil. I have seen the ground frozen to over a foot deep in Illinois which is several hundred miles south of Timmko.

stevelau1911
09-14-2010, 02:27 PM
Unless the ground is heated, leaving a banana corm in the ground in central Wisconsin is certain death, unless it's a Basjoo or other very cold hardy specimen. Even then you'll need to keep the frost out of the soil. I have seen the ground frozen to over a foot deep in Illinois which is several hundred miles south of Timmko.

I don't know about Wisconson, but around here, I have been able to just put a leaf bag over my gunneras which is enough to prevent the above ground bulb from freezing so I really doubt it freezes that deep around here especially with regular residual snow fall in zone 6.

timmko
09-14-2010, 05:26 PM
Here I am in zone 4..Temps can get to -20 or so with a -50 wind chill. I have all of them in pots and will be bringing them indoors. The frost depth up here is over 2ft as all posts put in the ground have to be a minimum of "36(recommended) Yeah I know it sucks..someday I have to move.....

stevelau1911
09-14-2010, 06:07 PM
Now that's a pretty big difference between our zones. I'm in a zone 6 that always has several inches of snow when it gets cold and the lowest it usually drops down to the lower single digits only for a couple hours at worst so even in the worst case scenario, I only thing the soil freezes a couple inches here. I've tried it out by digging after one of these cold nights, and the soil is not frozen.

I still want to keep more of the p-stem alive so I'll gather a bunch of leaf bags, and really wrap up the p-stems well because I want them to get bigger next year.