tstewart1

Hello,

I have a large grove of Bananas that has been growing for about 5-6 years now. Each winter we cut all of the plants to about 2ft in height. We will loose some of the stalks over winter but others will grow from the old stalks once it warms up. The grove keeps spreading every year but the center of the grove is now void of plants. Is there a way to get the center to grow again? Maybe like digging out the center and adding new dirt? It's to the point now where the center that doesn't have any plants is about 5 feet in diameter but all around it there are new plants sprouting up.

Thanks

Tim

cincinnana

Welcome to the Jungle......First post..
Thanks for Stopping by.. enjoy your stay.

Important items which I have might missed will be filled in by other banana enthusiast whom will fill in the blanks.
Colleagues do chime in with your valuable information ...

Backstory...this Musa Basjoo mat in Northern Kentucky is 6 years old and was the original plant which would be in the center has expired and the pups have continued to spread out.

If you notice the center of the circle it has no new plants coming out of it, similar to your situation but on a smaller scale..

Many ornamental grasses die out in the center also, this a hint to divide the clump. Competition, lack of water and nutrients.

While your plants are dormant(now) just dig up some of the outside larger corms and plant them in the center..
Use larger( corms) plants if possible because the inside plants will have to compete with the bigger outside plants..


It is to your benefit to till or work the inside area where you will plant the new plants even freshen up the soil with soil amendments of your choice.

If there are old corms in the area just remove them and replace the soil or mulch them real good and mix them in the soil.
.

Basjoo mat by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr..

..This is a 20+ year banana producing mat.
The center has also died out similar to your situation.

This mat is unique to me(for observation) because it sits in a foot of standing water a few times a year due to a drainage berm.
The soil is 100% white beach sand also.

In fact this mat will still spread a few feet a year and has fruit hanging....all the time.

.
Mat in front of Port St. Lucie Nuke Power plant....up the street.
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr.

Do post progress of your situation.....all info helps promote solutions .


.

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Gabe15

Welcome Tim.

If there are no shoots coming from the center, it indicates that the corms there are now dead, which is common in older mats. Banana's natural tendency is to move around over time, and an individual shoot or corm section isn't very longed lived (relative to truly long lived plants like trees).

I don't think there is a straight forward way to get more shoots in the center of the mat if there are none growing now. This normally does not happen in such an even pattern in the tropics, I suspect the cycle of dying back each year is contributing to this phenomenon, your specific conditions must be favoring younger corms, and older corms are dying out without producing suckers.

You could try to transplant suckers from the perimeter into the center of the mat, I've never had any reason to due this nor have I known anyone to do it, but you can try. It would technically solve your issue of not having shoots in the center of the mat, but it isn't really going to achieve the true goal which is to have a well filled mat.

The standard procedure with bananas would be to separate out some suckers and replant them and start over.

If you do this, there may be ways to prevent it from happening as severely in the future, but it would be really helpful to know what type of banana you are growing and where you are located. A future solution could be as simple as mulching differently (or at all if you are not currently mulching for winter protection) to better protect older corms as the mat grows.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

cincinnana

Agreed..

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pitangadiego

Plant a pup in the middle, and start the cycle over again.

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Encanto Farms Nursery
http://encantofarms.com
We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com