Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

After raising my poor, poor GM in the downstairs bathroom under an MH light, it was finally time to take it to the outdoors today. Took it out for the day and in less than two hours, the wind knocked down the stalks. All but one branch blew down. The pic attached shows them being propped up by the side of my deck.

Is my poor, poor GM a goner? I raised him from a plantling since last August and I was so proud of how much he grew. Can he be saved? The stalks are all still attached but the bending obviously weakened and possibly broke part of its insides.

Help!!!

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P.S. My apologies for the sideways shot. The image editor on the site is not allowing me to rotate it.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Cut the stem at the break/bend, do not try to save the plant above the crease.
This will only cause a choke and your plant will suffer.
The plant will sort itself out in a few weeks.

This is normal for a plant which has been grown indoors AND NOT HARDENED OFF TO THE ELEMENTS.

Wind, heavy rain will break and bend your leaves at the start of the season.
Even though I take precautions for this .....sometimes it just happens.
Before you bring them out next year ....run a box fan on the leaves for a few weeks to condition them.
Like your situation sometimes the stem bends or maybe the leaves.

Yes it stinks...

The short answer is your still good....just a set back a few weeks.
Even though precautions are made, it still happens in fact it happened today with some Bordelons....they bent just like your plants.

This happened overnight during a light spring wind a few years back.....just cut them off and get on with it..the plant whilst itself out in a few weeks

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Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Do exactly as Cinci says cut it just below the bend. Do it very soon so it doesn't get stuck.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Thank you both for your prompt reply. I will do just that and be wiser for next year. Guess it won't get fully grown this year.

And it was only day one!!!

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

It will still get huge! Most likely the same height it would have reached if it wouldn't have bent. It will just take it a couple extra weeks to get there. So no problems your still good! You will be surprised how fast it will grow back.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Yes, but I feel I should mention that, if one were to treat the plant with a plant growth regulator to shorten the pseudostem, the old pseudostem has to be cut anyway to allow the shortened growth to emerge, therefore this is a good time for the OP to consider applying Uniconazolel or Paclobutrazol solution as a soil drench. These can be bought cheaply on Ebay:

Uniconazolel 15g 95% Plant Growth Regulator | eBay

Paclobutrazol (PBZ) 10g 95% Plant Hormone Plant Growth PGR | eBay

These quantities are enough to treat thousands of potted plants.

With a sufficiently shortened pseudostem, a banana plant will not fold over in the wind and rain even after it has grown indoors.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Just for giggles here is another pic of a plant of mine which recovered...the leaves bent ....but the stem did not....a few week setback.:08:


Bent petioles
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Thanks....for the cool info....
Your input is appreciated..

I gots some reading to do...

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

It will grow like nothing has happened....

Just a heads up FULLY GROWN IS A FEW YEARS AWAY maybe three/four years in your/my zone.
Sorry for the buzz kill.....that is the way it is>

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

That's good to know. I guess at some point I'll have to decide if I will be able to house it indoors or if it will be too darn tall and I'll never have a fully grown banana tree.. Was going to put it in the ground since I think it overgrew its pot. I'll wait on that a few more weeks though so it can adjust.

Was also thinking of giving it a friend in an ice cream banana this summer. Now not so sure.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Just wanted to update you all as to my poor Gros Michel after it's lack of hardiness. I did as suggested, I cut everything down since it was all bent. This one new leaf came back within a week. Nothing else new has come up yet, but it is handling the outside OK. I guess I'm not getting the growth I was hoping to get this year. What do you think? How does it look after about 3 weeks and the major trauma?

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Looks about right given the four weeks of 40-50- degree rainy weather and no sun we have had.
Once the temps get into the 65-80 mark the plant should react better.

Let the soil dry out a bit between waterings, that last cool weather event is the stuff that kills plants with cool temps and too much water.

Move the plant out in the sun.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Time for another update: the leaf that popped up was really weak and broke off another week later. But, after that, a pup popped up really strong, and another leaf began growing at the main plant. So after letting it sit for two more weeks, I decided to put it in the ground. Glad I did, as it is apparently root bound in the pot (so I'm going to have to get something bigger than a 22 gal pot in the winter. Fabric? Worry about it later).

Had some dying trees and their roots removed from a couple of great sunlight/high drainage spots, so I put the banana in one with it's normal mix of soil/manure/sand like it had in the pot.

Here's some photos. If you see anything that I should/need to do to it in its new summer home, please let me know.



First shot as I pulled it out of its winter pot. Definitely rooted. Roots are healthy though.



Better shot of it out of the pot. The larger leaves are the pup. The smaller one that is in a hard shell is the main, original plant.



The roots and the hard shell the main plant is leafing out of.



Transplanted in the ground in its new summer home



Better shot of it in the ground. Seems to be doing well. Little bit of shock in the pup, but I'm expecting it to bounce back by tomorrow. I have to occasionally move the pup leaves a bit so that it doesn't cast a shadow over the main plant.

That's it. If you have any advice on my pet Gros Michel, I'd appreciate it. I am enjoying growing it.

Re: Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
 

Leave it alone in the ground and don't pull it out to check on it. It'll grow back.

Bananas are a lot tougher than they look. Heck corms can be shipped washed of dirt with the roots removed and they regrow just fine.