Prune pups or not?

[Jim P.R.]

My Basjoo grew to about 7' last summer. A harsh winter knocked it back to the ground. Now I have 7 New pups coming in. 3 are almost 10" high already. My question is, do I prune off two or more of the smaller ones in order that the larger ones will grow bigger? I searched the forums and didn't see an existing thread which I'm certain exists.

Thanks in advance!

[cincinnana]

Originally Posted by Jim P.R.

My Basjoo grew to about 7' last summer. A harsh winter knocked it back to the ground. Now I have 7 New pups coming in. 3 are almost 10" high already. My question is, do I prune off two or more of the smaller ones in order that the larger ones will grow bigger? I searched the forums and didn't see an existing thread which I'm certain exists.

Thanks in advance!

It is personal preference.
Some people like the condensed look while others like the single stem look.

The larger Basjoo main corm will not be affected to much by the new pups.
Locally there is a large mat so dense I think it can stop an errant car.

The plant will grow just as large and larger than last year with the pups attached.

You may separate the pups once they get larger and spread your mat out to a bigger area, just find the junction of the bigger pups to the main stem and run a sharp knife between the two.
Then again you can chose to leave your plants alone.
Now is the time to transplant them because they will need some time to establish before next winter

Do not prune .....separate and share

This will occur every year from now on.

[siege2050]

I tried pup reduction, did not seem to make much of a difference to me, the mat just grew fast anyway. But mine also pups insanely so I would just have 3 more for every one I took off.

[Snarkie]

As already suggested, dig them out and replant. You'll be amazed at how fast you'll be able to have a huge area covered with bananas. It's like compounding interest!