jeffaroo

By brother-in-law bought a house a few years back and hes been caring for his bananas the way the old homeowner told him to. He was told to cut the stalks back to waist high at the end of winter/beginning of spring. I followed his lead as hes been playing with bananas longer. When I moved my neighbor seen me trimming and looked at me like I was nuts. He told me to never trim the stalks. Now im confused. I live in central California in zone9b. Any information would be greatly appreciated

__________________
Keep shoveling on the potash till the ground bleeds

crazy banana

I only cut my p-stems down after I have harvested a bunch of fruits.
There is no reason to cut anything that is not diseased or dead.

Pallen

So how does one tell the difference between part of a plant is diseased or dead for trimming purposes? I do not want to hurt my plants after all.

__________________
It all started with one Super Dwarf Cavendish pup (My Blog)

crazy banana

If a leaf for example is yellow or brown, it is dead and there is no photosynthesis.
If the plant has mushy parts, those need to be carefully removed, so it cannot spread any further.