Aranon

Hello, I have a few questions for you banana experts if you wouldn't mind answering since I'm new to all this. Answer as many as you can please I need all the help I can get!

First question set:
I recently removed some basjoo pups from my outside plants in an attempt to keep them alive over the winter, however they look to be in fairly poor condition. This is the first time I have ever removed pups and to answer the obvious question yes I got enough corm from the mother plant but as these pups are water pups they really didn't have much root to them, some literally only had like 2 root strands on them (probably my mistake but I heard water pups have little to begin with) 2 of the pups have retained some leaves after a few weeks while the others have lost them all, the pstem seems to be turning yellowish in color on the leafless ones and I'm afraid I might lose them. (If I do its not a huge deal)

It is nearly winter here in Nebraska so I heard it's bad to over-water them. When I first potted them up I did soak the soil, its moist right now according to a cheap water meter I bought. My main question is, will they be alright? is this normal for them to look like this? I know the transplant was a shock to them but damn. Here are the pics of the pups:



My second question set:
I have 4 other larger banana plants that I have been growing in pots since I first bought them early this summer. I moved them indoors into my glass room (it was a former deck that we decided to enclose) the room is heated to about 66 to 74 degrees depending on the time of day, even hotter if its decent outside. 2 of them are Dwarf Cavendish while the other 2 I have no clue what they are, I posted on this forum a few months back and was told they look nothing like the Blue Java variety (that's what they were labeled as when I bought them) so I really don't know what they are but my main question is are they okay? is the room I have them in adequate to get them through the winter? they have lost a few leaves already and there is no new growth pushing the latest leaves out, they are kinda frozen in place, I marked them with a pen to see how much they grow daily and they haven't moved. I know they slow down drastically indoors but this is like REALLY slow lol. The room has windows all around it but they don't get much direct sunlight due to the angle, it's mainly bright light. I need to ditch the upside down tomatoes and put the nanners closer to the window but for now this is the setup, I have included pictures so you can see for yourself what I'm talking about. The soil has been moist, but not too wet, I am cutting the water back drastically now that it's getting colder. The pots the big ones are in are a bit small for them now that they have grown, I purchased large plastic 20 gallon tubs I will transplant them to in spring (assuming they live)

Abnshrek

When I bring my plants in I like to water them w/ rain water since they prefer it. Bringing them inside if they are getting sun doesn't always slow them down if they are getting good light w/ the temps your providing. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

Funkthulhu

I'll share my experience.

Last year I brought my bananas in, took them to my office to get more sun/heat. They never got direct sunlight except in rare cases and the fluorescents weren't enough. By the time this spring rolled around they had each produced a couple of pups, but the mother Pstem looked like they weren't going to make it. They had dropped a lot of leaves, (gone brown) and not produced many more. By the time I brought them home from the office they were down to 2 or 3 large leaves each and some stunted pups.

However, upon getting full sun, even for just a few days, they went off like rockets. I replanted in bigger pots and they pupped like crazy. By the time I transferred my Basjoo to the ground it had 13 pups and multiple buds on the corm. I split it up into 4 bunches and they still went nuts for the rest of the summer.

When I dug up the larger bunches two weekends ago (including the original mother Pstem at nearly 5' of stem) I made sure to trim off all but 3 or 4 of the healthiest leaves to accommodate the loss of roots from getting yanked out of the ground and prevent wilting. I think the same must be true for your pups, I would have left them with just 1 or 2 leaves to get them going in the pot and a good watering with new rich soil contact around the bare roots.

Now that I have some of them in the basement I am using high "temp" lights (6500K Fluorescents) to simulate sunlight and to keep them green. However, given that I can't get the intensity of light (and heat) in my basement that I would prefer, I'm treating this set-up more as an extended slow decline into hibernation for these nanners. I have the same problem with all the palm trees and other tropicals I have in my container ranch. My goal over the winter months is not vibrant fast growth, just maintenance until they can go out on the deck again next Spring.

(Although, to contradict my own philosophy, I'm going to try to germinate some M.sikkimensis over the winter so I can put ready plants in the ground come spring.)

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"Ph'nglui musaglw'nanna Funkthulhu R'Omahaea wgah'basjoo fhtagn"
"In his house at Omaha, dread Funkthulhu plants bananas."

Duckfood

Some good advice from Abnshrek and Funkthulu...

And, to try to answer your first question, yes, that really looks like pups that I have removed... It looks like they are inches from death before they "miraculously" come back to life... Although, I usually only split pups in late spring or during the summer when I know that they will have plenty of sunlight and warm weather to help them heal...

Just take it easy on the water for a while to let the roots "search" for water instead of just soaking the plant...

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By the way, there is no cure for the human disease of growing bananas. ~~~ Richard 05/22/2014...