Clare_CA

I just planted these bananas like four months ago. I'm a little surprised to see pups so soon, but I guess I shouldn't be since I'm still learning about bananas. Am I really supposed to remove some of these pups? I have to say that this makes me a little nervous as I haven't done this before. None of these have fruited yet.

I'm afraid that the identification tags were misplaced when they were planted so I'm not sure if they are the ones that I got from Home Depot or from Logee's.

Two of my bananas have four pups, and one has three. None of these have fruited yet, and I just got them this year. That's a new vinylfence that they are near so I suppose it would be prudent to remove any pups that will touch the fence. Any guidance would be much appreciated.

By the way, in the second picture, that's a canna coming up between the two bananas. I'm pretty sure the banana to the right of that canna is 'Double Majoi,' which has two p-stems growing right now.

CValentine

Beautiful pups Clare!!
I wouldn't remove them until the P-stem of the pups reach 12" or more....
But that is me. ~Cheryl

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LilRaverBoi

Well, bananas can produce pups at any age, really. I had a tiny (10" total height) Super Dwarf Cavendish that grew a pup even! Some varieties pup more than others, and at different ages/sizes. Like I said, my SDC had a pup very early and my Ice Cream has 3 feet of pseudostem (leaves are 5.5' tall) and still no pups. So it's really never TOO early for them to pup (or too late for that matter).

I would leave em on there till the get larger (maybe a foot or so, like Cheryl said) and then separate them to make new plants (or trade with people on the site). I'd be careful with that fence...looks like you planted them awfully close to it. Realize that even though the stem might not be impinging on it, the corm (root mass) may be pushing outward on it below the soil. I would leave a good 2' minimum between plants and any wall/fence for that reason....especially full-sized varieties. You might want to consider moving them away from the fence....it'll be much easier now than later.

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Jananas Bananas

Very good looking pups! I agree with Cheryl and Eric. It is relative also though, if you had a Truly Tiny you wouldn't have to wait until it was a foot tall to remove a pup.

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saltydad

My basjoo clump's corm is over 5 ft. in diameter in 3 years, so indeed you may want to do a relocate.

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LilRaverBoi

Eric didn't post in this thread. LOL.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Jananas Bananas

Sorry Bryan! I checked before I typed and got it wrong anyway. DUH!

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Jananas Bananas

Clare_CA

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate the information. I can see what you mean about the fence. I'm not worried about below the soil though because the vinyl is all above ground, and steel posts are in cement every six feet below ground, but I can't have the pups leaning on the vinyl fence above ground.

I'm pretty sure that I planted dwarves up there except for the 'Double Mahoi,' but I didn't think about how much or how fast they would be sending up pups and expanding. Maybe ones that don't pup so much would be better up there.

I can definitely move them, but this bums me out because I like the look of the bananas up there. If I wanted to keep them up there, would I remove all but one or two of the pups? Or will it just get to be too large for that small space in time?

Clare_CA

Well, I just dug two of them up and moved them to the back. That was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I don't know if my back is up to digging out the other three today. I'll post a picture when I'm done.

Clare_CA

Okay, friends, I've moved them -- oh my aching back! That was harder than I expected! LOL! The two that I moved during one of the hottest days of the year here look terrible. I cut off some wilting/browing leaves, but it looks like more have browned this morning. The two that I dug up and transplanted in the cool evening yesterday look a lot better. I watered with some B12 to ease the transplant shock. Do bananas adjust pretty quickly to being transplanted, or are there consequences like delayed fruiting? Here are some pics of where they were before and after:

CValentine

It isn't easy work moving them around Clare...

BUT you did a BEAUTIFUL JOB!! ~Cheryl

__________________
When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace. - Jimi Hendrix

Clare_CA

Thanks, Cheryl. You're really sweet. I hope I don't have to do that again for a while!

LilRaverBoi

Oh...just FYI...Double Mahoi is a dwarf variety. It's a sport of Dwarf Cavendish that sends out two racemes at once. They only get 6-8' tall...so still dwarf status.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Clare_CA

Thanks for letting me know that, Bryan. I've been planting bananas without figuring in their ultimate height. The back is going to be these all next to each other:

Dwarf Namwah (7.0), 1000 fingers (8.0), Pisang Ceylon (15.0), Praying Hands (13.0), Malango (not sure), Dwarf Lady Finger (5.0?), Double Mahoi (8.0)

I suppose it's still early enought to move the tallest ones to a different area and relocate maybe my two dwarf reds to the back in the place of the Pisang Ceylong adn Praying Hands. That way they won't cast shade on the plumerias. Ugh -- back out into the heat again for more digging!

Tomsamba

Wait a minute...B12? Really?

Clare_CA

Sorry, Tomsamba. I meant Vitamin B-1. It's used for transplant shock and comes in a white bottle at Home Depot. It has minors and chelated iron too. I have also previously used a product called "Start," which is essentially the same thing with some other stuff like Yucca extract.

As for moving more bananas, I've changed my mind about that. The bananas that are a different height from each other will just have to remain as they are. I hope it won't look funny.