Worm_Farmer

Yes it can happen, but will it ever ripen?

momoese

There is a chance.

GreenFin

That's pretty interesting.

How did you get to that point? Did you let it get tall and then cut it back just once, or did you keep it chopped down short the whole time?

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Worm_Farmer

Great Question, It was a rather larger pup I cut off and transplanted there. It grew out 2 leafs then sat for 2 - 3 months and did nothing. So I just cut back about 12" to see if that would help. Once I cut it back there was a few small leafs then a bud. It was not my intention for this to happen but rather a cool little surprise.

I am a little concern because it has a flower but no pups to replace itself. But I am sure it will be just fine.

venturabananas

If you cut off the leaves and p-stem just before the bud is about to emerge, it will still emerge. You can "force dwarf" them to essentially 0' if you chop down the p-stem to the ground right before the bud is sent up from the meristem. Whether you'll get fruit is a whole different question! If you tried to do this intentionally, you'd have to be darn good about guessing when the bud is going to formed. If you waited until you saw a flag leaf, for example, you'd cut off the bud when you cut the p-stem.

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Richard

Another choice is Cytokinin Plant Hormones.

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palmtree

Very interesting. Personally, I dont think its going to fruit as well (maybe not at all) since it seems like its true that the more leaves a banana has at the time of fruiting, the healthier and more abundant the fruit usually is. Keep us updated!

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Bananaman88

My 'Raja Puri' looks much the same, though it has about 5-6' of pstem. It lost all of its leaves to frost a month or so back but since then we've been very warm and the bud has emerged. I'm just going to leave it at this point and see what happens. Nothing to lose at this point.

bananas101

I question the ability to ripen fruit without leaves?

venturabananas

I think there's been some discussion and maybe photos of this and it can happen. Sounds like it depends on how much energy the corm has stored and if any is transfered from other plants in the mat to the one without leaves.

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Worm_Farmer

Update still growing, but looks like it is almost over.

GreenFin

I've been thinking about dedicating my Ice Cream to some forced dwarfing experimentation in my greenhouse. I'm thinking that every time it reaches 5' I'll whack it back down to 1'. If it grows 12' total of p-stem, the plant would only be 4' when it flowered. (Grow to 5', whacked down to 1', grow 4 more feet up to 5' again, get whacked down to 1' again, then grow 3 more feet up to 4' and flower.)

Hopefully I'll get lucky on the timing so that it'll have 8 or 10 leaves on it when it flowers.

It's always growing season in my greenhouse (root zone is 75-85*F year round, air temps never drop below mid 50's), so I'm hoping the plant can power through the cutbacks without skipping much of a beat and still produce a decent bunch in a relatively timely manner.

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Set out runnin', but I'll take my time; a friend of bananas is a friend of mine.

www.GreenFinGardens.com

Worm_Farmer

I would not wack it more than once, it may cause a stress flower. But at the same time, I do not know what may or may not trigger a stress flower.

GreenFin

In a similar vein (i.e. the vein of potentially bad ideas), I'm gonna whack a couple of papayas to keep them short and force branching. It is generally recommended that this not be done to papayas because it tends to result in small fruit of poor quality, but I want to experiment to see if that holds true under the conditions in my aquaponics system. I'll grow them alongside some non-whacked papaya plants for comparison.

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Set out runnin', but I'll take my time; a friend of bananas is a friend of mine.

www.GreenFinGardens.com

amantedelenguaje

Worm Farmer, thanks for your thread and this picture. I made the same mistake, but you have given me hope.

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