hamby

can anyone give me some tips on the yellow bananna? can't seem to find much info on this thing. i planted two of them this spring and they have grown to about 5 foot tall and have about thirty small sprouts at the base of the plant . help please.

xavierdlc61887

lol u dont need help...if its 5 feet and u got 30 pups :P

Gabe15

Ya, sounds like its doing great. What exactly do you need help with?

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BIGDAWG69

If you need help getting rid of some pups, I volunteer.. LOL

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sandy0225

They are kind of a pain in the rear to divide though. But it sounds like you have the growing part dialed in pretty good!

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john_ny

Sandy, could you elaborate a little? Why are they a pain to divide, and how is it handled?

I assume we're talking about lasiocarpa.

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jmoore

I took a very sharp knife to mine and divided it into 3, 2 of about equal size and one very small one (possibly too small) they managed OK. The smallest is looking a bit thread bare, but it's still growing. I did feed them a lot, that may have helped.

I'm impressed by 5 feet! (but then who wouldn't be ;-)

hamby

what i need help with is how to seperate the pups. What do i have to do to them for the winter? the pups apear to be growing from between the bottom leaves. here are some pics. of one plant. my wife is 5'11" standing beside the plant.

austinl01

If you get any little bit of corm, the pup will root and grow provided it is warm. Dividing them is hard because they grow in a tight clump and it's easy to damage the other plants/pups. I haven't lost any after dividing actually. I would recommend dividing in the spring.

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xavierdlc61887

wow they are jammed together :P i would take the whole clump out and cut them very carefully....that u will cut the plant plus some roots with it....then put some good draining soil and keep em warm and u should be great ....just my 2 cents thats how i would do it :P

Bananaman88

I recently divided mine and got about 9 viable pups off of it. I had a fruiting mainstalk that the flower was about spent on, so I dug the whole thing up. After doing it by just trying to slice into it and hoping for the best with varying results before, I think digging it is definitely the way to go. By doing this you will be able to see all the points of attachment and, therefore, minimize loss by getting some corm for most of them. I've never seen any other banana pup so tightly. Good luck!

hamby

would it be best to seperate the pups now or wait untill spring? What do i need to do to them for the winter?

microfarmer

Go with Spring...

Southern Indiana? I know it's called 'Snow banana', but is Lasiocarpa that hardy? Are you mulching it, or leaving it out unprotected?

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Mark Hall

I thought the Snow banana was Ensete Glaucum. My Lasios go through the winter ok without a mulch and we get -8 here.

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Bananaman88

Yes, Ensete glaucum is known as the Snow Banana. I've never heard of Musella lasiocarpa being called that. It is normally referred to as the Chinese Yellow. That doesn't mean it's never been termed a "snow banana" as well, though. That's why I hate common names.

mskitty38583

cover them well with straw and mulch. make sure they dont get too much water this winter or they will rot. i have a clump of them outsid and one pup with 4 pups inside for the winter....just in case.

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hamby

as far as what im doing ,i don't have a clue. do i need to cut the leaves off and leave the stem? and what about the pups? how tall should leave the stem? this is the first teme i have seen a yellow banana, i thought they looked pretty neat and thought we should give them a try.having great sucess in growing but am stupid when it comes to caring for them.

Bananaman88

Do you mean what do you need to do to store it for winter? If so, yes, you could cut the leaves off and maybe part of the pseudostem. It depends upon how much of the stem you are willing to sacrifice. I wouldn't cut too much it I were you. You need to either pile mulch around it or straw-something to insulate it from the cold. We grew these when I was in St. Louis be we never tried leaving them out. I never have any problems with leaving mine in the ground here, but I'm in Zone 9. You might check with Taylor as I know he has great success with his in Arkansas and I think he leaves is in the ground. Also, just do some research into past posts on this subject and you'll find a ton of info.

Personally, unless you have access to a greenhouse or plenty of space in your house, I'd wait until spring to divide the pups. They'll reestablish quicker then.