Corm propagation a success

Bermy nana · 11-23-2010, 04:23 PM

A month ago I cut up a tall red banana corm into four pieces after removing two suckers. Each piece had a "node" or bump like the start of a sucker. Well a month later and one new sucker has emerged. I am amazed but it was a rather large corm so it must have had a lot of "energy" stored. Nothing yet on the other three but I will post pics when and if they produce something.

alpha010 · 11-23-2010, 09:09 PM

how did you cut it? directly down the middle crosswise like full quarters? I was thinking of trying that this passed summer on one of my SDC's but failed to do so.

Bermy nana · 11-23-2010, 09:37 PM

I cut it from the top down to the bottom. In other words standing above the corm with roots touching the ground and cut stem facing up I sliced down to the ground to create two pieces each with two nodes and then cut those pieces slicing between the nodes.

Here is a good link to another post on the subject with some pictures.
Propagation through corm cutting

Another picture of all four quarters

khangu · 11-24-2010, 07:20 AM

That's interesting. I didn't know that splitting the corm would still allow it to grow.

I know bananas are fairly hardy. I've cut suckers which didn't look like they should survive, but they surprisingly did.

alpha010 · 11-24-2010, 12:21 PM

what is the chance that the original meristem is intact enough to still grow out? Would the parent plant still survive if you simply cut the 4 areas off of the main corm that has the "eyes" maybe an inch or so from the meristem?
Just a thought, cuz if you were going for more plants then keeping the parent would effectively mean keeping one more.

Bermy nana · 11-24-2010, 12:36 PM

Everyday I am amazed by the hardiness of the banana plant. I have had two Gran Nain suckers rot on me only to find a few weeks later two more suckers per original plant emerge. They say this method of corm cutting actually increases the yield of new suckers since some of the nodes will not develop if you don't force their hand by dissecting the corm.
Anyway I am just happy I have one extra plant from the experiment and hopefully more to come.

alpha010 · 11-24-2010, 02:56 PM

I remember reading about some of the Ensete group about a year or so ago on here, that the only two ways to get pups from ventricosums, ventricosi, ventricosas (however the plural spelling is) is that you wait for them to flower and die and pup or one person actually sacrificed their maurelli and chopped it down to the ground level and took a big honkin knife and cut it about 2/3's of the way through crosswise through the meristem and it actually pupped through the cuts instead of the outer edge of the corm like most nanners. I'll have to go find that thread now.....

musa_monkey · 11-25-2010, 02:09 PM

You can certainly do this with Ensete Ventricosum Maurelli
I spilt one into three last year and several pups sprouted from each segment. Here they are a couple of weeks after the split.

Bermy nana · 11-25-2010, 05:09 PM

I love it. It is like getting extra banana plants for free. Thanks for the pics.

Bermy nana · 12-09-2010, 10:13 PM

Three of the four corm pieces now have shoots. The one that has not quite broken through the soil actually has two shoots coming up.

BB73 · 12-10-2010, 01:38 AM

Anybody tried this with an AeAe before?

alpha010 · 12-10-2010, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BB73

Anybody tried this with an AeAe before?

I know if I spent $150 - $250 buck on an Ae Ae, I would be hard pressed to try such a tactic considering the high possibility of rot. But there are peeps that have quite a collection of them that may wanna try this.

Bermy nana · 12-10-2010, 04:11 PM

I wish I could buy/import banana plants, we only have five different cultivars here in Bermuda. It is illegal to import them even if they are phytosanitary.

As an experiment I am going to try quartering the corm of my manzano after it's fruit ripens. I have a flag leaf coming out now. I am actually going to leave it in the ground this time and slice with a knife as deep as I can get the knife. It will be a "blind" division of the nodes but may save some work.

On the rot point I removed as much of the pstem material as I could so it left mostly the corm. The corm seems quite rot resistant because these were left out in the rain many times, during the fall and we have very high humidity here. I am going to unearth the fourth corm piece to check for sucker growth (i am impatient), but none of the four pieces had any rot.

Dean W. · 12-13-2010, 05:16 PM

Congratulations on your success

!

BB73 · 03-26-2011, 03:21 PM

Wish me luck! I just started to try it with my California Gold corm. The pstem died over the winter, but the corm was intact, but I didn't want to wait until one little sucker makes it through. I hope this way there will be more little CaliGolds soon!

The image shows the five pieces after a rough cleaning. They were potted after further cleaning and soaking them in a fungicide-solution to prevent rotting! I put them on a heat mat. The pic is not that good, because I was to close.

pitangadiego · 03-26-2011, 04:34 PM

When I did it, I just cut wedges, with an "eye" like this:

pitangadiego · 03-26-2011, 04:36 PM

When I did it, I cut wedges from the corm like this:

Bermy nana · 03-26-2011, 06:25 PM

Good Luck BB73!
My four corm quarters each produced a healthy plant from their nodes. I found the larger the corm slice the healthier the plant. My next will be a Manzano and then a Dwarf Cavendish.
As an side, one of the pots with my quartered corm had a compost/soil mix and as a result I ended up with three strawberry and a blackberry plant growing in the same pot.
The heat mat is a good idea, sometimes on sunny days I put my (black) pots in the sun. A few hours in direct sun really heated up the pot and soil simulating more growing season type heat.
I would love to see pics of the progress. It took a month or so before I saw any growth emerge.
Keep us posted.

BB73 · 03-30-2011, 02:54 PM

Thanks guys!

I think I did something right (or at least nothing wrong) so far:
Officially claiming to check on any signs of rot, but honestly I was just curious if this all works. So I removed the soil around all 5 pieces of the CaliGold corm and checked. The one piece, that I identified before as the most promising, is just pushing a shoot from the fraction as if it was still the whole corm. That tiny little white thing on the tip of the eye has been grown since I replanted it after cutting it - just four days ago!

By the way: I wasn't only curious. I really did spray some fungicide :-)

And on the other pieces no growth is visible. But I think I have at least one more piece left, that looks very promising.

Bermy nana · 03-30-2011, 05:08 PM

Looks like a great start. You will start to see roots grow too. The sucker will begin to turn into or grow its own corm. Good luck and keeps the pics coming.

11-23-2010, 04:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Corm propagation a success A month ago I cut up a tall red banana corm into four pieces after removing two suckers. Each piece had a "node" or bump like the start of a sucker. Well a month later and one new sucker has emerged. I am amazed but it was a rather large corm so it must have had a lot of "energy" stored. Nothing yet on the other three but I will post pics when and if they produce something. __________________

11-23-2010, 09:09 PM	#2 (permalink)
alpha010 Metal Nanners!! alpha010 's Photo Gallery Location: Mineral Ridge, Ohio Find me on the map! Zone: 6 on arborday 5b on USDA Name: Bob aka Shaggy Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 470 BananaBucks : 136,753 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 121 Times Was Thanked 238 Times in 148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success how did you cut it? directly down the middle crosswise like full quarters? I was thinking of trying that this passed summer on one of my SDC's but failed to do so. __________________ LOL! My house doesnt exist on the member map! Get a little Love in your life. Jump in a Mosh Pit! The only place where every emotion one person can feel will join together and express all at once.

11-23-2010, 09:37 PM	#3 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success I cut it from the top down to the bottom. In other words standing above the corm with roots touching the ground and cut stem facing up I sliced down to the ground to create two pieces each with two nodes and then cut those pieces slicing between the nodes. Here is a good link to another post on the subject with some pictures. Propagation through corm cutting Another picture of all four quarters __________________

11-24-2010, 07:20 AM	#4 (permalink)
khangu khangu's Photo Gallery Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 13 BananaBucks : 5,750 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2 Times Was Thanked 2 Times in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success That's interesting. I didn't know that splitting the corm would still allow it to grow. I know bananas are fairly hardy. I've cut suckers which didn't look like they should survive, but they surprisingly did.

11-24-2010, 12:21 PM	#5 (permalink)
alpha010 Metal Nanners!! alpha010 's Photo Gallery Location: Mineral Ridge, Ohio Find me on the map! Zone: 6 on arborday 5b on USDA Name: Bob aka Shaggy Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 470 BananaBucks : 136,753 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 121 Times Was Thanked 238 Times in 148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success what is the chance that the original meristem is intact enough to still grow out? Would the parent plant still survive if you simply cut the 4 areas off of the main corm that has the "eyes" maybe an inch or so from the meristem? Just a thought, cuz if you were going for more plants then keeping the parent would effectively mean keeping one more. __________________ LOL! My house doesnt exist on the member map! Get a little Love in your life. Jump in a Mosh Pit! The only place where every emotion one person can feel will join together and express all at once.

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11-24-2010, 12:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Everyday I am amazed by the hardiness of the banana plant. I have had two Gran Nain suckers rot on me only to find a few weeks later two more suckers per original plant emerge. They say this method of corm cutting actually increases the yield of new suckers since some of the nodes will not develop if you don't force their hand by dissecting the corm. Anyway I am just happy I have one extra plant from the experiment and hopefully more to come. __________________

11-24-2010, 02:56 PM	#7 (permalink)
alpha010 Metal Nanners!! alpha010 's Photo Gallery Location: Mineral Ridge, Ohio Find me on the map! Zone: 6 on arborday 5b on USDA Name: Bob aka Shaggy Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 470 BananaBucks : 136,753 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 121 Times Was Thanked 238 Times in 148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success I remember reading about some of the Ensete group about a year or so ago on here, that the only two ways to get pups from ventricosums, ventricosi, ventricosas (however the plural spelling is) is that you wait for them to flower and die and pup or one person actually sacrificed their maurelli and chopped it down to the ground level and took a big honkin knife and cut it about 2/3's of the way through crosswise through the meristem and it actually pupped through the cuts instead of the outer edge of the corm like most nanners. I'll have to go find that thread now..... __________________ LOL! My house doesnt exist on the member map! Get a little Love in your life. Jump in a Mosh Pit! The only place where every emotion one person can feel will join together and express all at once.

11-25-2010, 02:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
musa_monkey musa_monkey's Photo Gallery Location: Burnham, Bucks, UK Find me on the map! Zone: 8 Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 217 BananaBucks : 28,038 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 53 Times Was Thanked 147 Times in 71 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success You can certainly do this with Ensete Ventricosum Maurelli I spilt one into three last year and several pups sprouted from each segment. Here they are a couple of weeks after the split.

11-25-2010, 05:09 PM	#9 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success I love it. It is like getting extra banana plants for free. Thanks for the pics. __________________ Last edited by Bermy nana : 11-25-2010 at 05:12 PM. Reason: forgot a word

12-09-2010, 10:13 PM	#10 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Three of the four corm pieces now have shoots. The one that has not quite broken through the soil actually has two shoots coming up. __________________

12-10-2010, 01:38 AM	#11 (permalink)
BB73 BB73's Photo Gallery Location: Thessaloniki/Greece Find me on the map! Zone: 9a Name: Bernd Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 370 BananaBucks : 55,087 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 228 Times Was Thanked 419 Times in 159 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 56 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Anybody tried this with an AeAe before?

12-10-2010, 04:11 PM	#13 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success I wish I could buy/import banana plants, we only have five different cultivars here in Bermuda. It is illegal to import them even if they are phytosanitary. As an experiment I am going to try quartering the corm of my manzano after it's fruit ripens. I have a flag leaf coming out now. I am actually going to leave it in the ground this time and slice with a knife as deep as I can get the knife. It will be a "blind" division of the nodes but may save some work. On the rot point I removed as much of the pstem material as I could so it left mostly the corm. The corm seems quite rot resistant because these were left out in the rain many times, during the fall and we have very high humidity here. I am going to unearth the fourth corm piece to check for sucker growth (i am impatient), but none of the four pieces had any rot. __________________

12-13-2010, 05:16 PM	#14 (permalink)
Dean W. Dean W.'s Photo Gallery Location: Cedar Park, TX Zone: 8b Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 4,279 BananaBucks : 234,723 Feedback: 13 / 100% Said "Thanks" 6,325 Times Was Thanked 2,130 Times in 972 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 300 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Congratulations on your success! __________________

03-26-2011, 03:21 PM	#15 (permalink)
BB73 BB73's Photo Gallery Location: Thessaloniki/Greece Find me on the map! Zone: 9a Name: Bernd Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 370 BananaBucks : 55,087 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 228 Times Was Thanked 419 Times in 159 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 56 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Wish me luck! I just started to try it with my California Gold corm. The pstem died over the winter, but the corm was intact, but I didn't want to wait until one little sucker makes it through. I hope this way there will be more little CaliGolds soon! The image shows the five pieces after a rough cleaning. They were potted after further cleaning and soaking them in a fungicide-solution to prevent rotting! I put them on a heat mat. The pic is not that good, because I was to close.

03-26-2011, 04:34 PM	#16 (permalink)
pitangadiego Senior Member Location: San Diego, CA Find me on the map! Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,481 BananaBucks : 129,716 Feedback: 9 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2 Times Was Thanked 2,707 Times in 923 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success When I did it, I just cut wedges, with an "eye" like this: __________________ Encanto Farms Nursery http://encantofarms.com We Be Bananas http://webebananas.com

03-26-2011, 04:36 PM	#17 (permalink)
pitangadiego Senior Member Location: San Diego, CA Find me on the map! Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,481 BananaBucks : 129,716 Feedback: 9 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2 Times Was Thanked 2,707 Times in 923 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success When I did it, I cut wedges from the corm like this: __________________ Encanto Farms Nursery http://encantofarms.com We Be Bananas http://webebananas.com

03-26-2011, 06:25 PM	#18 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Good Luck BB73! My four corm quarters each produced a healthy plant from their nodes. I found the larger the corm slice the healthier the plant. My next will be a Manzano and then a Dwarf Cavendish. As an side, one of the pots with my quartered corm had a compost/soil mix and as a result I ended up with three strawberry and a blackberry plant growing in the same pot. The heat mat is a good idea, sometimes on sunny days I put my (black) pots in the sun. A few hours in direct sun really heated up the pot and soil simulating more growing season type heat. I would love to see pics of the progress. It took a month or so before I saw any growth emerge. Keep us posted. __________________

03-30-2011, 02:54 PM	#19 (permalink)
BB73 BB73's Photo Gallery Location: Thessaloniki/Greece Find me on the map! Zone: 9a Name: Bernd Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 370 BananaBucks : 55,087 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 228 Times Was Thanked 419 Times in 159 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 56 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Thanks guys! I think I did something right (or at least nothing wrong) so far: Officially claiming to check on any signs of rot, but honestly I was just curious if this all works. So I removed the soil around all 5 pieces of the CaliGold corm and checked. The one piece, that I identified before as the most promising, is just pushing a shoot from the fraction as if it was still the whole corm. That tiny little white thing on the tip of the eye has been grown since I replanted it after cutting it - just four days ago! By the way: I wasn't only curious. I really did spray some fungicide :-) And on the other pieces no growth is visible. But I think I have at least one more piece left, that looks very promising.

03-30-2011, 05:08 PM	#20 (permalink)
Bermy nana Bermy nana's Photo Gallery Location: Bermuda Find me on the map! Name: James Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 276 BananaBucks : 84,590 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 108 Times Was Thanked 252 Times in 78 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: Corm propagation a success Looks like a great start. You will start to see roots grow too. The sucker will begin to turn into or grow its own corm. Good luck and keeps the pics coming. __________________

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