obdiah

any one have any tips or tricks to stimulate root growth on pups before removing? I dug a Helens hybrid pup almost 4 ft tall and had no roots at all dont think its gona make it

Tytaylor77

Different varieties need to be different sizes. Helens hybrid is very difficult to propogate by pups. I loose 1/3 and they do not ship well at all! They grow very late roots and also tend to pup off the bottom half of the corm. I like to wait till they are 3-4' to remove. They do way better. I also like to remove all leaves while they are rerooting. I am very careful with them since they do not pup a lot.

Good luck! I would put it in pure course sand to root. If not then make sure the potting soil is kept on the very dry side! Maybe it will grow some roots.

__________________

150+ Varieties!!. See profile for list. Help me add more!

www.bananapups.com

Gabe15

As a general rule, roots aren't inherently required to root a pup, what's more important is enough corm to be able to grow new roots from. I haven't grown 'Helen's Hybrid' yet, but my experience from many other varieties is that suckers which do not root well or do not have many roots did not get enough corm during the separation process. Different varieties produce different levels of "bulbiness" at various stages, some with big round corms when very young, and others with very little of their own corm until much larger, but with practice they can all be separated successfully and rooted. For more difficult to root specimens, I use pure coconut coir to root them in with only water added until they start growing, at which point fertilizer is added.

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

obdiah

Thanks all I will try the course sand or cocontt fiber. I know I should remove all leaves but it's hard to make myself do that just seems wrong but I am forcing my self to do that. With better results
The lower leaves usually die any way thanks again

edwmax

Then mist the leaves a couple of times per day with water and mist/folar feed once a week with a weak fertilizer (miracle grow). This will feed the plant and maybe help speed grow of the roots.

__________________

Island Brah

This is a cool topic/thread! I'm really learning this year when to remove different cultivar pups that I have since all mine pup like crazy now.

Really cool to see a 4-4.5 foot tall Namwah pup only have a small cluster of roots. It started as a sword sucker and the pstem base was about the size of my arm when I removed it lol. My Basjoos also need to be about 4 feet to have an even smaller cluster of roots too. The tall Orinocos can be a little smaller when removing pups - they have nice roots.

Can't wait to remove the Veinte Cohol pups after I harvest the fruit!!

Fun stuff!

(4-4.5 foot tall Namwah pup roots)

__________________
Growing: Basjoo, Blue Java (The Real One), FHIA-01 American Goldfinger, Manzano, Tall Orinoco, Raja Puri (USDA TARS), Veinte Cohol (USDA TARS), Patupi, & SH-3640 High Noon (USDA TARS)

obdiah

I guess what I realy am asking is there something like naa or some other compound used in tissue culture that could be applied to the entire plant to stimulate root growth in the pups ? in some varites like helens pups can ger 5 ft before developing much root structure