Foxhound

Hey Guys,

I was wondering if you have any tips for growing TC Pups.

I will attach Photos later.

Potted in 33/33/33 black gold potting mix / peat moss / cactus potting mix

Light watering every 3 days, making sure to not keep constantly moist. I watch the moisture in the mix slowly make its way towards the plant, then after the soil is dry on top for a day, I lightly water again. So far they look like they're doing good.

I did a small water feeding with like a table spoon of citrus fertilizer mixed with a bit of MOP, put it in a water bottle with hot water and shook it up real good, then fed.

So far that's all I've done that isnt pot and water. I mean, they're doing well, out of direct sunlight, (as the kokopo was wilting, and the viente was starting to wilt. Mysore was doing well though).


I guess what I'm asking is if anyone has experience growing these TC pups and if my experience is similar to anyone else's.

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Yes they can be very slow (for a banana) and not very forgiving as they have no reserves like a larger banana would have in its corm. I gave my NoNo tissue culture no direct sun just artificial light and rain water. Fertilized with very weak soluble fertilizer and not very often. Wait and waited some more. Finally got to a size I felt I could give them real light but not full sun. They finally started growing but were still small. Tripped and fell on them and broke the small trunks about halfway up. Cut the trunk off so they could resprout. All my efforts failed to save them. Again they have no reserves without the corm so touchy little fellows.

Foxhound

Oh geez man, I would be heartbroken if I tripped on my little guys, I'm very sorry to hear that.

Do you know if the corm eventually forms?

I have noticed how finicky they were after a couple hours of sun lol.

and finally,

Would you recommend any pruning for these little guys or should we keep the stress to a minimum?

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Just like other bananas the corm will form. If you mean by "pruning", you are referring to the removal of leaves, I always leave any leaf with any amount of green, at all, on the plant till it completely dries. I think banana plants pull resources from those leaves as long as they have any life left in the leaf. I will usually save dead leaves to use in the bottom of the pots when I pot up new bananas.

Foxhound

I know that this will be unrelated to the "Container Grown", but with that advice (makes sense) do you also leave the leaves on the bigger plants in ground aswell?

I watch a few guys on YouTube who say that it's best to trim the leaves once they get past 5 so it stimulates new and faster leaf growth.

But I'm seeing a new leaf every 5 days now for my Namwah. I can assume that the growth is related to the overall health of the plant including bioavailability of nutrients in the ground and a regular supply of water keeping the area around it moist.

Do you know if the leaf trimming actually stimulates growth or and does the tree use more nutrients to keep the leaves alive, therefore slowing down the production of new leaf growths or would the trimming keep more nutrients available for the flower and fruit once it eventually comes?

Thank you,

R00ter

Foxhound, you're thinking about it incorrectly. The newer leaves are not sending the energy they harvest to the older leaves, but vice versa, the older leaves are sending what they harvest from sunlight to the overall growth of the banana plant. Some nutrients are mobile, some are not mobile, as the older leaf deteriorates, the mobil nutrients are reallocated to other leaves, roots, psuedostem etc., the immobile nutrients stay locked in the leaves that turn brown. Pruning the leaves should be done as the other member stated earlier, after it turns brown. That way you've allowed the banana plant to remove all the mobil nutrients before its hormones signal cell death in the old leaves. Something that was made very clear to me, while taking Plant Physiology and Arboriculture at UF, was the more leaves on a plant, the faster it can grow, and the more caliper will be increased.

WildernessGreen

I have been slowly increasing my musa collection the past few years, and overall, I would say, there is no comparison to TC plants, and corms I have purchased. The vigor, strength, and viability in my corms is completely 100% better than the TC's which have to be babied, and if you make one little screw up on any aspect of growing them - adios!

Some are doing great, but I have had some just never took off. And of course, then there is the fact that many TC's are mislabeled, and you will never know what you are getting!

Overall, in the future, I plan on sticking with corms/pups, from growers that have fruited said plant to verify it's identity, and no TC.

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

I rarely have a goal of growing the fruit so have never tried to maximize that. I have grown fruit anyway but mainly I have just grown the plants for propagation (and not much of that in a few years). Trimming does not make sense in my case. Maybe it is a shock to the plant to stimulate banana production. In videos of commercial banana plantations there are usually more than five leaves at harvest. I think you only remove leaves when diseased, damaged, or to let more sun to get to the next banana bearing plant in that mat.

PR-Giants

The amount of functioning leaves at harvest affects ripening. If the plant has less than 5 leaves at harvest the fruit won't qualify for export and instead will be used for the local market.



We call this Leaf Management, and removing leaves when diseased is better than not removing them but it's much more effective to remove them prior to becoming diseased because this will mitigate the spread.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

So does that mean there is a regimen of removing a certain number of leaves whether they look healthy or not to stay ahead of any disease because those leaves are the ones to get disease 1st? And if so, is there is an ideal number of healthy leaves to leave behind? Thanks for your reply.

PR-Giants

I'm just a farmer and it's real nice to read posts from members with a formal plant education. My main research is focused on growing bananas quickly and maximizing yield.

Most people would agree "the more leaves on a plant, the faster it can grow" but this is an example of something being true and also insignificant.

Here's 2 examples,

Bananas that have 50% of their leaves removed will grow at a similar rate as bananas with no leaves removed.

There are some members that surmise a banana plant with 50/50 variegation will grow at half as fast.

Reality is a banana plant with 50/50 variegation and 50% of it's leaves removed will grow at a similar rate as an all green banana with no leaves removed.

There's probably a certain amount of leaf surface needed and having more than enough is insignificant.

Maximizing root pressure has a direct impact on increasing growth rate and yield.

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PR-Giants

Oldest leaves are most susceptible and they're more susceptible during certain weather conditions.

During the vegetative phase a banana stores nutrients for use during the fruiting phase. After the harvest the banana still has an immense reserve of stored nutrients which is an example of it's ability to collect more than enough.

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Foxhound

Your advice truly is a blessing Mr. PR Giants.