To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Hello All and happy Sunday. I have a Grand Nain that has four pups attached to it. I usually let the pups grow up and create a great looking mat. The four pups attached to the plant are sandwiched together and may not possibly grow into big healthy plants. Should I seperate the pups and replant them a little further apart?

If I should seperate, what is the best way to do that as the pups are basically on top of each other. Thanks for the input!

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Any help would be appreciated!

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

the best way to split them woould be to dig all of them up and wash with water so you can see what you have as far as roots, then you can split them with a knife, if it were me i would leave them alone, i bring in one pup from every plant so in case it freezes i still have one of that plant, but in your area thats not needed...

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Splitting them that close is tough. Even with a digging bar. I think digging them up and using a knife like Jeff said would be the safest way, but that means disturbing the whole parent plant.

BTW, love the Tiki. My garden could use one of those.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Thanks for the reply. I usually don't dig them up but they seem sandwiched together. I am assuming they will grow just fine that tight to one another. I will leave them alone. The tiki came from Home Depot. You can't have enough tiki's or garden art! i boght four from Home Depot this year. They were very reasonable and are made from palm tree trunks. I hope they have more next year.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Dig a couple, spread them around! I made some videos how to do it -
http://www.bananas.org/f2/time-separ...ring-1814.html

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Those are very helpful by the way. Used your techniques earlier this fall.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Jared,

Your tutorial is great! My pups are not spaced away from the mother like the one in your thread. There is no room to get even a knife inbetween the plants. They are literally on top of each other.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

I have only resorted this a few times, but you may be best just to sacrifice 1-2 and cut them off down below the soil surface. The remaining ones should be happier.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Well, for me is to dig it up and then after that is to wash them. I have already tried it before.weeks ago.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

Are you certain they aren't being obstructed by an old tree root or some pipe under ground? I had something similar happen before and realized an old dead tree root was obstructing the banana growth. Just an idea... !

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

In my first post with the picture you can see the four pups that are very close to one another. The mother plant has a good size trunk and the pups may not have room to grow.

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

I would carefully dig up the whole rootball/corm & check out what is going on. Then you can see where to make cuts or if anything is obstructing the corm (tree root, pipe etc).

Re: To seperate or not to seperate? That is the question.
 

I think I will follow the old saying "if it is not broken don't fix it" The plants look great and to unearth the entire mat would cause un-needed stress. I will watch the pups and see how they grow. In the wild bananas don't have the pleasure of being seperated and do fine. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the replys!