TrailGaiter

My basjoos were just tiny pups themselves when i got them in March. They grew beautifully outside in my front yard over the summer, and I ended up with 7 pups out of two mother plants.

Being as though they were young, and I'm in S. WI, I cut them down to about 18", dug them up and brought them inside for the winter, planting them in pots. The two mother plants kept growing, and grew by the hour after I hacked them off! My plan was to let them stay awake through the winter, they are in my basement next to the patio door, so they're getting some sun. I'm only watering them sparingly once a week...and they are doing well (also watching for spider mites, my basjoos haven't seen any, although my maurelii has.

But my question is, is there a certain size you use for deciding when to separate the pups? Some are growing more vigorously than others....

My plan for spring is to plant the basjoos, all of them, around my deck in the back yard. They will have better wind protection there, and will see plenty of sun still. And, I love the idea of "tropicalizing" my deck. And, they will be easier to winter back there...as after this winter, I plan to leave them in the ground and cover them with plastic and hay bales.

Can I separate the pups this winter, do you think? So that they will be in their own pots and I'll know if they've survived before taking them outside. I would leave some, but a couple of the bigger ones I'd take off.

This year was my first year with basjoos, or any banana for that matter, and they grew like wildfire! I miss them a lot....in the yard. But, I look forward to trying to separate the pups properly and having even more next year! After I get, say four separate plants, I will plant them where I want them, and then if they want to grow more and form a mat of basjoos, that'd be ok with me...I wouldn't separate any more unless I had a place to put them, or had someone who wanted one. There's enough room there that they can multiply for awhile.

How do I know when the pup is ready to separate? I guess that's my main question.

Thanks!
Angie

Richard

I wait until at least one is knee-high before separating them from the mother plant. And when I do remove pups, all remove them all except when the mother has flowered, and then I remove all except one which will be the follow-on stalk for next year.

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TrailGaiter

Thanks for the info! One is almost there. I think I may have lost several pups, I dug them up in October and brought them in, and the mother plants are thriving, as is a couple of the pups, but some of the smaller ones are mostly brown and not growing. I was going to give it awhile yet, then if no growth, ask about removing them/pinching off, to make room for any new ones. At this point, I'll take all the pups I can get!

Yug

I'm no expert when it comes to pups, but I'll tell you what happened to my large Saba. Since I know these get rather large, I had a pup that was growing between the mother plant and a fence that was about 18 inches away. I used a thin shovel (about 8-9 inch blade), and removed the pup. About 5 months later, I removed another that was also growing toward the fence. About 1 month ago some wind blew the main plant away from the fence since the roots hadn't yet recovered. I tied it to the fence, and it was good for about 2 weeks, then it started leaning again. This time I chopped it off about 1 ft above the ground, and now the remaining pup (growing away from the fence) is the only one left.

Next time, I'll know to plant if farther away from the fence, and I'll leave the pups in place until after the main plant fruits.