BungaloBill

Has anyone else had any of their plants self-clone? That's the best way to describe what happened to one of my mature Basjoo trunks four seasons ago. The coldest part of the winter was in the teens for several nights and all of my trunks were cut back to the ground by the freeze, (No protection). The following Spring all but one either came back from the center or sent up a strong pup or two. The one that I'm trying to describe was one of the largest and oldest trunks. All the way around the edge, at the top of the pseudo-bulb, there grew various sizes of complete banana plants. Some were the size of seedlings, others twice as large. Altogether there were more than sixty! I dug the whole clump and seperated them. Each had its own root system and I didn't lose any in potting them up. I had two chunks with some that were so tiny that I potted them together for later seperation. Since then I've planted some in the garden and they've shown a remarkable penchant for producing pups. Even the ones that are still in pots have produced seperatable pups in the last few seasons. I'm wondering if I might have a super-pupping sport.

Foreverlad

Bill, it sounds like you might have damaged the center of the psuedostem when you cut it back.

If you're familiar with the Ensete Ventricosum (Maurelii), your situation, by the sound of it, is exactly what's done to induce pupping in the E.V.M.

Ensete Maurelii Propagation

designshark

I have a Basjoo that did that. I cut the stem too close to the ground one fall. Next summer a whole clump grew and some pups were tiny sprouts all summer, never grew. Four main stems stood by fall and I cut a couple tiny pups out in the fall, one survived. Finally a few weeks ago it finally started to grow after nursing it all winter, cutting it back a little more each time. Saved a nice sucker pup too.