Snarkie

This question goes to both newer plants and established ones.

On (rooted) pups, will trimming the smaller leaves help the plant? Conversely, on larger plants, will trimming the lower leaves encourage more growth up top?

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Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

Hammocked Banana

I think the more leaves (green surface) you have on the plant the faster it will grow. Cutting off the leaves would have a very minimal hormonal effect and won't affect the plant much. Its best to allow the plant to become as vigorous as possible and then it will shoot up the fastest.

JP

I once again agree with you Brady. The more green stuff, the more energy it will get from the sun. I only cut the dried stuff.

cincinnana

In my opinion no; I trim all older leaves off my plants for aesthetics ......but as a test, root prune ( about 8-12 inches) the one closest to your house and see what will happen in a month

Compare it to the one closest to the road
You might see a slight difference.

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kjpalm

What is root pruning? I have an image in my head of taking a shovel and cutting a circle around it in the ground. What does this do? How do you do it?

cincinnana

That is exactly what you do
One can do it while the plant is in the ground or in a container.
There are Youtube videos also to help you understand and develop technique.

There are different techniques to use and learn and there are some risks involved.


I will use it for late season tomatoes(the green ones) to hasten the ripening on the vine and on ferns and hostas, bananas at transplant or up pot.

Root-prune - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

In Snarkies(Basjoo) case root pruning should cause a few more pups to develop and maybe a little more height/vigorous growth in what is left of his grow season.

However with a Basjoo the older they are the larger they get, as the corm size increases with age so will the height of the plant in subsequent years.

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sman87

From my experience I have seen some improvement on growth. I also do it for a tall "tree" like look to them, and help expose sunlight to emerging pups below. Yet on other basjoo plants it never helped as much as I hoped. I tend to hack off the lower leaves once they either begin to show signs of advanced aging with yellow and brown discoloring. This usually happens on leaves that are about 7 or 8 from the newest protruding top leaf. If you average about one new leaf completely unfurling a week then the leaf's age is about 60 days old give or take when I tend to cut them off. I also tend to believe those oldest leaves become less efficient on producing photosynthesis the older they get, and cause the plant to spend unnecessary energy maintaining the bottom inefficient leaves.

Snarkie

Thanks!

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"

chris_zx2

In most plants trimming lower leaves promotes growth by allowing the plant to focus its energy on new leaves. That being said....bananas aren't most plants!

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--Chris
So far:
Dwarf Cavendish -- Basjoo -- Bunch of Truly Tiny

Snarkie

Thanks!

__________________
Doug (D.A. Hänks) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955582/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


The Only Eastern Redwood Forest in America




"Nuke my 'nanners, will you?!"