Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Don't get me wrong, I love banana plants. I just have so many vars, that i can't keep up. I'm only keeping my 2 favorite vars, and the others must go. Some are as big as 10-12 ft in diameter. I'd rather not dig up that huge corm.

Thanks,
--Rick

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Maybe there are members who live close who would like to remove them for you. Everyone loves them some free nanas.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

OOOOH the pain of listening to this!!!!! I wish I lived near by!!

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

where do you live I'm sure we can get some one to help you dig them up so you wont have to its a thought any way theres so many Banana starved people out there any one care to volunteer? Bananas are vary sensative to hurbisids like Roundup and such but that would be a shame

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Hey Rick,
Post were you live like they said maybe someone close by or travling would dig them up!!
:0519: Have truck wish could travel.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Anyone know if you can bring nanas across the border into Canada from the US?

I don't know where the original poster lives, but if he was close enough, I'd be willing to drive over to help thin out his patch!

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

I know of easy ways to do it, but I would rather not contribute to this horrible thought. If it were a case of the plants in question having some kind of disease or the like, that would be one thing. But to just kill them to get rid of them, to me, is unthinkable.

Why not advertise in your local supermarket bulletin boards that you are giving away free banana plants, they dig. Or sell them for cheap. You can leave a phone number, or email address, so they can make an appointment for dig and pick up.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Craigslist works wonders ;) I just got rid of something like a hundred plants all from people coming over via their reading my craigslist post. Still have some more to unload but its the tail end. I suggest posting on craigslist that you have free plants and you will probably be shocked by the turnout.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Like I said I love banana plants. I love any tropical plant for that matter, so much so that I got rid of all my grass, and just planted tropicals. I started out with 12 to 15 vars of bananas, and at least that many EE's. I just cannot keep up. They really do wonderful with a little water. The ones I have to get rid of at the moment are Saba, Zabrina, Praying Hands, and unknown Lady Finger. I wish I had more property, I'd have more, but as it is my neighbors are complaining. I live in a neighborhood where everyone has grass a tree and a few bushes around their house. Along with the bananas and EEs, I have a dozen vars of brugs, a huge patch of 4 O' Clocks, and some other misc palms, Philos, etc. I have a jungle in the middle of suburbia. I have been told to tame it down a bit. One even went so far as to scatter mothballs around MY plants. My guess is that they thought it would keep the rodents away.

Back to the point, if I were to sell/give them away, that would require delicate care to prepare the plant for replanting. I have so much to do, I just need them out of the way. Bananas are so cheap anyway, why not support the local greenhouse, andget them there. That's what I did. I see people here selling them for $20 or less, and I can't believe that it's even worth it to them, because there's so much work involved.

Thanks for the suggestions, and it really breaks my heart to get rid of them, but I don't have much of a choice at this point.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Just tell them that if they dig them, they are theirs. Perhaps offer them use of a digging bar if you have one, and if not, perhaps get one from Home Depot. A digging bar makes it really easy to remove them one by one. Just jab between where they are attached and pry back and pop it out.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

That's my goal!!! No grass...

If you get a chance, can you post some pictures of your yard? I'd be interested in seeing how it looks w/ no grass. :woohoonaner:

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

After reading your post it struck me odd that you want to kill the plants, yet you say that people should go patronize the local greenhouse as it would require "delicate care" to remove them. Aren't you planning to kill them anyway? Bananas are tougher than most people think, so why not give it a chance? If you kill them, you still have to remove them. So in terms of your time involvement, wouldn't it be easier and less time consuming to have someone remove them for you? At least they have a chance to live on.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Hi rsieminski, every one means well here. I truly understand your situation as I was in a similar one years ago. My other business picked up so much I had no time to care for my 3/4 acre nursery of really nice stuff. They include well over 100+ big 5-10ft Cycas clivicola of which some over 1,000yrs old. It broke my heart to give them all to a friend. It took his crew two whole weeks to take all the plants away.
Just give it a shot and have others remove them. 'Naners are tough enough to take some rough handling. Maybe you should put out some conditions like a minimum number for each person to take in a given time frame. That way, you can clear them faster.
All the best.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Dump a good amount of bone meal over the top of the corm and around it. Water in, and watch it wither down. I also seen someone kill a banana by dumping some lawn Fert 20-20-20 mix directly on the ground about the corm and it burned and killed his plants.

I would try to get people to come and remove them first. I would also try digging out a few feet of corm away from other lawns.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

This thread was started in 2009, but it is the same exact question that I have. I have several mats that I need to take out, and I have already hacked them down to the ground. The problem is that I have severe back problems and cannot dig the corms out without some debiliating pain that lasts for weeks.

I have given away plenty of pups from these mats, and so they live on, but the remaining stumps have to come out. I wouldn't allow someone else to dig these out either because I have cycads and very expensive small plants around these mats, and they would die if they got stomped on. I also have a mat in my chicken run area and wouldn't want anyone in there either.

I've tried cutting off the stems and applying Round up yesterday. Anyone have any other ideas? I'll try the bone meal suggestion, but I have to go get some.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Roundup should be injected into the pseuodstems while leaves are present so it can circulate throughout the plant. Even this will take some time as they are large plants. This is a technique used for killing BBTV infected plants.

You can kill individual pseudostem/corms by cutting it low, carving out a small basin and pouring a small amount of kerosene in it. I don't think this is effective in killing the whole mat, but if you do it to each pseudostem and all the suckers that come up it would likely do the trick eventually. This is a technique used for quick de-suckering in large farms.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Thank you, Gabe! I'll give that a try. I appreciate your help very much.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Also works for pines. Honestly I belive it works for everything.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Man wish I lived close I would take a corm.

Re: Short of digging up the corm, how do I kill a patch?
 

Round-up will eventually take care of it. I had some at my old house that were right up against the house and I thought I had it killed. 18 months later a sucker came up. I couldn't believe it.