Mudturkle

I read this at hawaii.edu:

"PROPAGATION
Bananas are propagated from offshoots (suckers or keikis) or corms (bullheads). If enough buds are present, large bullheads can be halved or quartered.
Planting material should be treated for nematodes:

(1) Cut off bottom half of corm and, if discolored, trim off up to 2/3 of the bottom of the corm until only clean white tissue remains.
(2) Trim off about 1/2 inch of tissue around the sides of the corm.
(3) If bullheads are used, cut off the pseudostem 3-4 inches above the top of the corm.
(4) Either,
(a)Immerse the trimmed corms in a hot water bath at 50 - 52 degrees C (122 - 126 degrees F) for 15 - 20 minutes. Before planting, place the corms in a transparent plastic bag at room temperature until new roots begin to appear.
Or,
(b) Coat the corms with parafilm wax prior to shipment or storage."

OK, so what is the consensus here? Would the members prefer to receive corms that have been trimmed that aggressively to insure that no diseases were shipped? Or would they prefer receiving corms that have had only enough trimming to remove dirt, roots, and bad spots (if any)?

I have a couple mats that need to be thinned/moved. Brazilian (dwarf?), and Raja Puri (both originally from going-bananas).

__________________
Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.

edwmax

The above directions is how to treat and prepare corm that came from known or suspected infected fields. This is not needed to ship corms. The receiver can use other methods to treat corms without having to cut half of it away. ... If your corms have infections, then I don't want'em.

I prefer corms with some roots and as much of the pstem as possible. It will take corms trimmed as described above 4 months to regrow roots before it will send up a new leaf.

__________________

john_ny

Many years ago, when I got my first banana (this was about the time when there was the big scare that the commercial banana of the time, M. Gros Michele, was subject to a disease that was about to wipe it out, so the world production shifted to M. Gran Nain, but my first nana came from St. Lucia and, apparently, the powers that be, forgot to tell the growers on St. Lucia, that Gros Michele was no more.)
I brought a couple of corms from St. Lucia home with me, and put them in big redwood pots in front of a glass patio door. When they got too big, and started pushing up the panels in the suspended ceiling, I gave them to my wife's boss (who had an indoor pool), and he actually got fruit on them.

__________________
John

john_ny

Many years ago, when I got my first banana, ( This was about the time that the commercial banana, at the time, the M. Gros Michele was about to be replaced by the Gran Nain, because some disease was about to wipe out the Gros Michele. I got my first corms from St. Lucia, and, apparently, the powers that be forgot to tell the growers on St. Lucia that the Gros Michele was gone.)
So I took my two corms of Gros Michele home, and planted them in big redwood pots, in front of a glass patio door. When they got too big, and started to push up the tiles of a suspended ceiling, I gave them to my wife's boss (who had an indoor pool) and he actually got fruit on them.

__________________
John

Tytaylor77

We don't have the bad corm borers and nematodes like in the tropics so this isn't needed. Some people cut roots. Some people let them callous over. Some send rooted in soil. There is no right or wrong way. It's what you do when they arrive that matters.

I find if you sit out a corm for about 30-45 mins the roots are shot. So if your not keeping them moist you may as well cut them off. If they arrive dry I cut them off. I always dig/rinse/and wrap in moist paper towels asap so the roots don't dry out.

If warm a corm will grow roots in coarse sand in 1 week. 2 weeks max. My method gets a leaf push in 3-5 weeks. Many on here have received my corms and can verify.

In warm weather quartered corms take 4-6 weeks the push a pup rooting in sawdust/shavings.

In course sand nubs push in 2-6 weeks. Not sure what makes some pop up fast.

If it takes anything related to a banana corm 4 months to sprout then something is wrong!

1st- I prefer corms potted and rooted in small pots (shipping is expensive)
2nd - I prefer corms with roots freshly wrapped in moist paper towels and sealed in plastic.
3rd - Dry or calloused corms with dry roots (I cut off)
4th - Cleaned rootless corms.

Nothing wrong with any of the methods. They just have to be handled differently for the fastest growth. Time of year and tempature is a huge factor!

__________________

150+ Varieties!!. See profile for list. Help me add more!

www.bananapups.com

john_ny

I meant to say that, after we dug them, we just washed the dirt off, and packed them up.

__________________
John

mushtaq86

Does anyone use household bleach to dip their corms in for any hidden pests,when either sending out corms or when receiving them before planting.

edwmax

Yes ... works great to help kill fungus and pest

__________________

Mudturkle

Do you dilute the bleach?

__________________
Central Texas Zone 8B and Gulf Coast zone 9B: Raja Puri, Dw. Brazilian, Dw. Orinoco, Dw. NamWah, Dw. Cavendish, Dw. Green?, Dw. Red? Iholena Tigua, Veinte Cohol, Misi Luki, Pisang Raja.