Mat regrowth issues.. Please help!!
 

About 2 weeks ago or so I cut all of my p-stems back to green growth, and today I noticed my Ice Cream P-stems are doing the same thing as last year..

Here's the issue:

I have 4 large Ice Cream mats - with about 6-7 very large plants (12ft+) and they will probably flower within a leaf or two. However, they are NOT growing.

Temps have been consistently over 60 for about a month now and today was pushing close to 80. But like last year, the smaller pups (under 7 ft) are pushing growth.... I can't express my frustration, considering the coldest was some upper 20s on a couple of nights. Last year we got down to 25, so I blamed it on the cold weather, but now there is no excuse!

So suggestions? Did I cut too late? Perhaps I have too many pups? but I've also heard of IC doing this to other people and if this is some issue they have, I might be ripping them out and going with something else.

Thanks, and I hope to get the bigger ones going so I can get some flags in about a month:) thanks!

Re: Mat regrowth issues.. Please help!!
 

Despite the warm maximum temperatures you've been having, the lows are still pretty low, and so the average temp is just at the borderline of where you'd expect to see any growth. Your average for the last two days was around 53 F (based on the NOAA weather station in Sacramento), and so I bet your soil temperature is also in the low 50's, which as you know, isn't really warm enough for edible bananas to grow much. I think it is the average soil temperature that matters most. Even down here in Southern California right now, the bananas are only growing slowly.

Re: Mat regrowth issues.. Please help!!
 

Yep, I concur. It's still way too early (in the Sacramento area) to be seeing much, if any, action with your Ice Creams.
This area in particular is going to have a HUGE difference in growth just by a matter as "small" as elevation / altitude.
Our elevation is pretty low & our ice Creams are barely surviving at ground level; tallest is under 3', well trimmed & inside a little mulched "house".

Mean while at my buddy's house a few miles to the North & a couple hundred feet higher, his are going gangbusters which is the typical difference in growth we've been seeing over the past 6 years or so since they've been planted.

I planted both his & mine at the same time, & they're from the same batch of plants, so everything else except for location, is all the same.

If you have some open area next to a South facing wall on your house you may want to consider moving part of your stand to that location; that little bit of difference might be all it takes to keep your ICs happy & healthy.

Re: Mat regrowth issues.. Please help!!
 

Thanks, but my ICs are actually leafing. It's that I'm worried because the smaller pups have been growing for a while now yet nothing yet from the large P-stems. I think that I will probably have to just cut the large ones down soon and forget about the spring crop...

And yes you are right about the elevation, I'm in the hills in Rocklin, and less fog has meant warmer days for my bananas. But if you're in downtown Sacramento, that's also good since it's Zone 10A. (Just days are not as warm)

Re: Mat regrowth issues.. Please help!!
 

It sounds to me like you may have inadverdently cut the main pstems back too far, removing the buds. Look closely at the center where you made the cut. Does it look solid (say like a large wood dowel would if you cut if in half and then looked at the end of it) or does it look like a new leaf could unfurl (can you see the leaf tighlty rolled?)? If it looks like a solid mass in the center, then you cut below the bud and no more leaves will come out. You said they were 12'+ so that may very well be what happened. If so, the pups will carry on.