When Bananas Become Communist
 

A discussion thread for how to control, or dare I say, eliminate stray banana plants(?!)

We are Cuban, and thus my father is very wary of banana plants. He goes so far as saying that they are "Damn Communists, when you cut one down ten take its place, its like fighting the communists!"

All politics aside, I was wondering if it wouldn't be prudent to start a how to control banana plants thread.

I see a lot of your pictures and one thing I do not understand is when people plant bananas close to their homes or next to the property line.

I have a neighbor who either got crazy about bananas years ago or planted one, and forgot about it, who has an army of tall (and dead) stalks and pups are quickly turning into godzillas of their own. The property runs perpendicular to mine and the back of his runs on the back of mine. Thus I have an army staring at me and laughing every morning at my back fence- which luckily I did not pay for.

When we first looked at the house with my parents my father grunted at the Green army as if it were armed with machetes and ready to depose a democratic leader. But my mother sighed and wanted us to buy the house just for the wondrous bunches of plantains that made their own fence. About twenty feet high, they made a lovely and nostalgic emerald canopy along the back of the property.

Since then, as may of you know, I have gotten into bananas and have decided to tame the fence on my side of the property. There is one particularly annoying corm or root collective that keeps spewing a banana stalk even though I cut it periodically, the corm spits out another marxist-leninist.

So how do I get rid of the corm or root on my side?

The item in question is right there at the corner...

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Without chemicals get a shovel and dig them out! After the corms on your side are gone they won’t return except on the fence line. Those will be easy to keep back as long as you do maintenance on the fence line couple times a year!

If the shovel doesn’t work get a chainsaw. If the chainsaw doesn’t work get a backhoe.

My solution would be find a couple teenage boys. Put a $10 in one hand and a shovel in the other. Sharpshooter/trenching shovel works best!

I’m fairly sure they are tall Orinoco. Can’t be sure without seeing a picture of flower or fruit. But I’m sure anyone in the area wanting tall Orinoco would dig them out for free.

You could fight fire with Fire! Dig them out and replant 25’ Musa Sabas! You would have revenge on the neighbor in a few years! Lmao.

Take care my friend!

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Triclopyr 4E.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Are You Talking about RED Bananas again?

...:waving: ...

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Dig up the corms you do not want. Otherwise all your removing is the stem and they WILL come back from the roots. It took a few years but I saw someone eradicate a bunch of bananas by digging up the corms on my way to work. Looked to be cavendish so no big loss.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

rhizomes and corms.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Round up!!!!!!!!

Just on leaves of the pups on your side. When the leaves die down they won't come back.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Might try a heavy dose of roundup. It accidentally worked on mine

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Probably not a good idea. I have used roundup in moderation when dealing with poison ivy but I do not soak it into the soil as who knows how long it would persist and you do NOT want groundwater to spread it elsewhere.

When Bananas Become Communist
 

Roundup supposedly only is effective when you spray it on the foliage. Soaking it into the ground would be a waste of the herbicide.

Craig

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

I agree with Craig

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Has anybody tried using salt? We use plain rock salt to keep grass from growing along a fence. It's cheap, comes in a large bag, doesn't poison the ground water.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Roundup is not synonymous with glyphosate because there are formulations of Roundup with additional active ingredients that can cause you real trouble. When you buy it, read the label to make sure that glyphosate is the only active ingredient.

You can try cutting the pseudostem at ground level and spooning out a hole, followed by pouring a tablespoon of the undiluted product into it and then covering with plastic wrap to keep the rain out. The advantage of using glyphosate is that it won't poison your soil for a long time.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Wrong

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

Brief but not succinct. Exactly what do you think is wrong?

BTW, 73054 is not your USDA plant hardiness zone, but, your zip code. Your zone is 7a.

Re: When Bananas Become Communist
 

What is the advantage over glyphosate?