Potted DC Question
 

My first naner plant I bought 2 years ago was doing wonderful over the summer, had 3 pups pop up, all was good. Beginning of October I brought that bad boy in the house and put him in his own window that he normally sits in, well, he did okay for the first month then started declining.......looked high and low, checked the roots, the watering, the soil, all seemed okay, the pups were still growing fine and looking good. Kept declining for another month, so I decided to experiment (after all, I do have 3 pups for backup) I pulled the old dried petioles away till I got to fresher ones. After I peeled the second layer back I found white mold (or at least looked like it) and proceeded to remove the moldy layer and lightly dust everything with copper sulfide for good measure.

After I took those layers off the 3 leaves that were left started pulling away from the center and the leaf growing out was fully exposed and totally white....zero chlorophyll made. needless to say the new leaf died backbefore it was able to open so i cut the stem back to about 1 foot off soil line. After another week it was almost completely dessicated. So I cut it to 1 inch over the corm, had nice green and white center. now it looks like a lump of crumpled dirt.

Should I remove pups now and hope they dont shock, and hope the mother will regrow? Or just leave it be until I can take it outside and do the normal springtime separating?

Re: Potted DC Question
 

I would wait to re-pot until spring. That way the pups will have optimal growing conditions and be able to respond to the stress better. Right now they are able to use energy in the corm so there is no real rush to re-pot them.

Re: Potted DC Question
 

I'd follow dave's advice to give them all the best chance. The pups are still using the mothers roots and the mother will shoot up once it warms up :^)

Re: Potted DC Question
 

Thanks dave n migael, I was thinking that, but i am out ofpractice and needed reassurance I am going to do what is best.

Re: Potted DC Question
 

Yeah, I would just leave it as is for now. Continue the care you're doing and separate the pups in the spring. My SDC did pretty much the SAME exact thing you described. Did fine for a while, then stopped growing, started losing all its leaves, white mold, etc. Recently, the main plant was found flopped over, so I cut it off a few inches above the soil. There is a nice pup that is very healthy that is growing steadily, but the main plant just didn't tolerate being taken indoors after being outside all summer. Maybe it's a cavendish thing.

Re: Potted DC Question
 

It is nice to hear that someone had pretty much the same thing happen to them and everything turned out okay. That makes me feel better bout it!

Re: Potted DC Question
 

Yeah...it was disappointing to see all the growth from last year go to waste, but the root system is still there to benefit the currently growing pup. Plus, the pup is already a LOT larger than the original plant was at this time last year, so it should get even bigger than the other one was by this fall! Especially with the larger pot and root system!

Re: Potted DC Question
 

Thats exactly what I'm hoping will happen! The oldest pup is almost a year old and is about 2 feet now and flushing like a madplant! Im getting a leaf every 6 to 8 days now for over a month, it was still a tiny sword at beginning of last summer, the next 2 popped up the same time in august but one was a water sucker and is still less than 6 inches tall and flushing. Gonna keep that one though just for fun.

Re: Potted DC Question
 

I have a banana tree and I was told it's a dwarf cavendish. Does DC stand for dwarf cavendish?

Re: Potted DC Question
 

Absolutely :^) I bought one of mine from HD @ 2ft it flowered in 10 months & change. :^)