JoeReal

Basically from Terry's pictures I could surmise that it would be really easy to multiply using the pup propagation method. Various folks have claimed that it is so hard to multiply this banana because it grows slow and only pups rarely and takes time before doing so thus justifying their sky-high prices. But I think this is untrue, proof that Terry produced a bunch of pups amounting to $1000 worth from her Ae-ae. Based on the events on the story of his Ae-ae, it was forced to pup, roughly by circumstances of moving around but here's a better and more systematic way to do it.

There are some ways to force bananas to pup heavily and Ae ae's should be no exception. First off, you would need a good sized plant growing. Then you will have to amend the growing media, be it in the soil or pot, with organic matter mixed with high Phosphorous and Nitrogen. Remember that we are after propagation and not fruiting, otherwise we forget about the P and instead go much more with the K. Let the high P and N stabilize, so that the plant won't have drastic reaction. Once the plant is responding well, do the most horrific thing: chop off the main trunk to the ground level. After a few weeks, you will have 4 or 10 pups growing around the corm. You don't need to wait naturally for your ae-ae's to pup, just force them to pup. This technique have been done with Golden Rhinohorn, and even California Gold (at least when they were not pupping a lot) and the result is more pups than you can handle. Do this only for big plants, at least 5 ft high trunk, but should be far from their blooming height, preferrably those with 6" to 8" diameter are good candidates to force them to pup. Do these operation preferrably starting early to mid summer for us here in the more colder climates.

Good sources of fertilizers that have a high P and high N is amazingly the cheap lawn starter fertilizer (ie 18-24-6 [ trugreen ], 20-27-5 [ scott ]. Avoid those formulations that have weedicides or herbicides or crab grass preventer and those with dandelion preventers. P is usuallly not needed by bananas, but it would enhance formation of pups when supplied together with high N. The amount of fertilizer will depend on the size of the plant and your soil conditions. For a 5 ft high trunk planted in the ground, use about 2-4 cups of fertilizer. But when you want your plant to bloom and fruit, don't use the high P and high N fertilizer, ignore the P but apply more K and adequate N.

Someone else here dare to share more secrets from actual experiences?

momoese

I'm no expert but it sounds good to me. Almost makes me want to run out and buy the 5 foot trunk Ae Ae at my local nursery for $150 and chop it down. Could be a lucrative Banana venture that would certainly pay for all my other gardening needs!

Bananavilla

If I had a shot at a 5 foot aeae for $150 I would snap it up. Sounds like a bargain.
Mike

momoese

I think it is too but I wasn't very impressed with the color. Seemed a bit weak. Do they get more varigation with age or a PH adjustment?

momoese

My wife said what are you waiting for! Looks like I'm going to see if it's still available tomorrow morning.

AnnaJW

Hmmmmm... what nursery is this? Do they have more than one?

__________________
-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

Southern-Grower

hmm marvel idea..

that's what was going to happen with the california gold if it didn't sell..

suppose i could house a 7' plant and whack it to the ground and wait on my pot of gold..
i would only need to sell 3-4 each year to pay my gh expenses..LOL

__________________
Happy Growing,

SG

Enjoy Life as it's too Short

momoese

AnnaJW, when I was there a few weeks ago they had only one but the other local exotic nursury had two of them and much nicer plants too! One is very large, about nine feet at the top of the leaves, and a smaller one but both were $250 each! If you really want one let me know and I'll give the phone number of the nursury. I have some pics of them as well if you would like to see them.

BTW, how did your plants do with this heat spell?

Jeff

A local nursery had an Ae Ae that fruited. After they cut it down, there were at least 7-8 very strong pups coming up around the old rotten pseudostem stump. I agree this is the best way to get lots of pups. Unfortunately, most people will not do this as they paid a lot of money for their Ae Ae's and are afraid to cut them down.

__________________
Jeff in Costa Rica

tlturbo

By the way, I'm Terry and I'm a HE not a HER.

Also, funny that you guys are falling all over each other to go pay $150 for a 5 ft tall Ae-Ae but raised hell when I offered to sell 4 foot ones to list members for $125.

Terry

JoeReal

I do apologize Terry. All the Terry's that I've met are all women, but not anymore.

It is easy to convince people that a hundred dollars times ten is a thousand dollars. Once they know how to multiply by showing them how, $150 or even $250 wouldn't be that much.

tlturbo

No prob - most females are Teri or Terri, BUT there are the exceptions.

AND I've been called a LOT worse HA

Notice how quiet this board has gotten since Katrina? I guess we have a lot of people in those areas.

Terry

momoese

Hey Terry, good to hear you made It through the storm. I remember reading that thread just before becoming a member here. Well I would have paid you$125 for one! I ended up shelling out $99 for a small one then $150 plus tax for a 5 footer so your 4 footer for $125 would have saved me at least a 100 bucks!

bananalover

Where was that post Terry? This is the post I saw.

If anyone wants one, I will let them go for $150 + $10 shipping. That way I don't have to pay the e-bay commission or ad cost. These plants are 2-3 ft tall with 6 or so leaves. NOT little pups just cut off.

bananaman1

Hi all, I am very new to this forum and in fact, have only posted once. Still trying to learn my way around. When I lived in St. Louis we grew Ae-Ae's at the botanical garden I worked at and they always seemed to pup fairly frequently. I think maybe it had something to do with how good the soil in our beds was. Also, we grew most of them in full sun with no problems with leaf scorch. Of course, even though it gets hot and humid in St. Louis, the intensity of the sun is nothing like it is this far south. I had an Ae-Ae pup that I brought with me when I moved to Houston. It made it through the first winter in the ground here with no problem. The main stalk rotted down pretty much to the ground but in the spring it sent up a new stalk. It had gotten about 8" or so and I was remulching my landscape and accidently kicked it and broke it off at ground level. Needless to say, that was the end of my Ae-Ae. I kept hoping that maybe a pup would come up but I guess it hadn't been growing long enough. It was only a little bigger around than a broomstick when I planted it. I have been hoping to get another one ever since. I see I'm not the only one!

bananalover

Here's another one on Ebay for a $99 or a buy it now of $136.
http://cgi.ebay.com/19-tall-VARIEGAT...QQcmdZViewItem