Captain Pooka

Hey! I bought a dwarf banana plant about seven years ago. I planted it in a small pot and it never got that big (The pot was probably a foot in diameter). My dog would eat it, it would grow back, and it would eat it again. Now I have another dog and.. he's not eating it.

Quite a funny story huh? Well, now I'm interested in growing it now that it seems possible. I stuck it in a bigger pot and it trippled in size fast and has about four more growing under it. I have NO idea what I'm doing with it... I've googled it and a lot of sites say different things: cutting off suckers, something about replanting using the sword suckers, full sun, partial sun, blah blah blah. Right now it's not doing anything, just sitting outside.

Anyway, it's been seven years and I'm going to post some pictures in a few days and ask what I should do. Maybe you guys can tell what kind it is! I'm to the point where I don't know if I should be cutting away the small plants, the dead leaves...I just want it to start growing bananas!

Again, Hi from Texas!

Blake09

Welcomt to the fourm!

The best way we can ID your banana is to post a picture, and even beter to id them is to post a picture of the bloom.

cutting off suckers, something about replanting using the sword suckers, full sun, partial sun, blah blah blah. Right now it's not doing anything, just sitting outside.

Suckers: are banana "pups". Suckers and pups are the same thing, they are off shoots of the mother plant that can grow into another plant.

Sword suckers: These are pups that have thin leaves when they shoot up above the ground. Sword pups tend to grow faster than a water sucker.

The full sun, part sun thing depends on the type of banana that you have. Like different plants some do petter in part sun others do better in full sun. For now just keep on doing what you are doing, keep watered (moist), and cut off thoes dead leaves. In the summer you should try planting your banana in the ground, and watch how big it will get.

Also you might want to bring in your banana before you get a frost and put it in a big west-south facing window.

Again welcome to bananas.org!!




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A banana plant in the autumn gale -
I listen to the dripping of rain
Into a basin at night.
~ Basho Matsuo (1644- 1694)

Bob

Welcome from New Jersey Captain.
So you've had this plant seven years and it sounds like it's been stunted beat up a bit and and wasn't especially vigorous in a small pot due to circumstances...... give it as big a container as you can manage...... as much light and heat as you can possibly provide and give it some sort of fertilizer ... properly applied..... I emphasize that because it's just human nature to over compensate at times and an overdose of fertilization would be counterproductive. In any case.. try that and I bet you have some positive results to report soon. Good luck.

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Captain Pooka

Thank you. Lots of heat, lots of sun, big pot. Awesome! And yes, I plan to post pictures... as soon as I can get my hands on a camera!

I don't want to plant it into the ground because I'm about to move to Houston (Right smack in the middle of a city) in an apartment. It's a dwarf.. or super dwarf... I don't know. I got it because I liked the idea of a house banana plant that can still grow bananas. I'll have an outside patio thingy that I can put the plant on, so I guess it will be ok.

And yes, this thing has seen some harsh years, but it's really shot up recently. I actually came across these forums while googleing "How to separate a dwarf banana plant". I was going to stick the next biggest plant in another pot. But I read *some* of the stickies and I didn't know that they died after producing... so I decided that was a bad idea. I haven't had time to read as much on these forums as I would like, time doesn't offer itself to me around christmas.

Anyway, thanks guys! And... well it wouldn't be right if I said welcome to you too...

By the way Bob, I love your picture!