View Full Version : Mekong giant.. what to do with those "runners""?
sman87
10-14-2013, 08:41 PM
I have two Mekong Giants that have grown to about 6 feet tall this season and now I am getting ready to dig them up and overwinter them in a crawlspace in my basement. Last week though, I was surprised to see a runner from one the mother plants nearly 4 feet away just about to poke up out of the ground. What do I do with these runners when I dig the mother out?? Do I leave it intact or separate somewhere along the rhizome? I examined it and it appears just a little smaller in diameter than a garden hose.
Dalmatiansoap
10-15-2013, 01:20 AM
pot it up
sman87
10-15-2013, 12:04 PM
Thanks should I make the separation on the rhizome closer to the mother plant or to the pup?
Olafhenny
10-15-2013, 05:46 PM
I have no idea, what you should do, but that has never kept me from voicing an opinion. :ha:
For all that it is worth, here is, what I would do:
If you want to keep the pup, I'd dig the whole thing up and try to wrap the runner around
the mother PS, to save storage space. But I would not cut it off at such a young stage of
development
i cut on of my pups for winter.
i cut it about 2 inches away from the stem(turns out the thing had a corm one inch in diameter and the stem was about 5 inches long and just sent a tiny leaf out)
its now potted up and inside with a bright light 10+ hours a day and it seems to be doing okay. its not growing right now but in time it will.
Good luck and hope me and you both can plant them in spring:D
griphuz
10-16-2013, 06:30 AM
I'd not cut the pup of either,.....try to pot the whole thing up it you can,...
Kind regards,
Remko.
bigdog
10-16-2013, 10:26 AM
Thanks should I make the separation on the rhizome closer to the mother plant or to the pup?
Make the separation closer to the mother plant. When you get it cut, you can then cut the rhizome closer to where it meets the small corm of the pup itself. Another option is to just leave the pup in the ground and heavily mulch it, just as an experiment. Leaving all the runners intact when you dig the mother plant out seems a bit labor-intensive and difficult logistically to me, LOL... You could pot the pups up also, but you might have a hard time keeping them alive over the winter. They might survive dormant in a pot though. I've kept small Musa itinerans plants alive under my house with no water, just threw the whole pot under there and forgot about it til spring. They are more established plants though, not new pups. Whatever you decide to do, good luck with them!
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