How soon is too soon to separate pups?
 

I've had a dwarf cavendish for about a week now and it's loving life so far. My only concern is that there are like 7 little suckers growing at the base of the mother plant. My banana tree is only maybe about a foot tall and very young. Will these little suckers inhibit the growth of the mother plant at all? Will it hurt the young tree to seperate those suckers? I don't want to transplant them nessicarily, I just want a good healthy main plant. Thank you!

Re: How soon is too soon to separate pups?
 

If you want to focus on the mother plant and you don't care about growing the side suckers, you can cut them out now without any issues. The little suckers will definitely "zap" significant energy from the mother plant as they get bigger and they'll compete for light and nutrients. At this stage, it's unlikely that they'll have roots.

If you wait a few more months for the side suckers to root, you can cut them off and create new plants. It will be slightly at the expense of the mother plant, but in the big picture of things, it won't set back the mother plant that much.

Anyhow, If you take a very sharp knife and cut the suckers at the base of the corm with minimal damage to the roots, it shouldn't affect the mother plant under ideal conditions.

Re: How soon is too soon to separate pups?
 

Great looking plant....is this a window sill plant?

Re: How soon is too soon to separate pups?
 

It pretty much is. I took that picture first thing this morning so the blinds are closed, but while it's small it's on the sill or white desk (the reflected light in that room is fantastic!) I actually live in Alaska so during the entire summer we get 18-20 hours of really solid daylight- the plants love it. I just build grow light shelves/setups for plants in the winter. It's worked out pretty well so far.

Re: How soon is too soon to separate pups?
 

Okay! After reading a little more about bananas, I'm thinking these random pups are from residual hormones from tissue culturing. I just cut them off with sharp shears, hopefully my plant is still fine- I don't believe snipping off the pups would hurt anything. I couldn't really separate them easily. It feels like the root system of the mother plant is pretty established and I didn't want to damage any roots. I cut the pups down as close as I possibly could.