Quick question.
 

The words "pup" and "sucker" are interchangeable right?

Re: Quick question.
 

Yes, when referring to Banana's. :^)

Re: Quick question.
 

In that case then I have two dwarf cavendish suckers/pups and one of them is a sword and the other is a water. The water sucker is not growing quite as well.

Re: Quick question.
 

Re: Quick question.
 

Well, sword suckers tend to grow faster, as they have a direct main-line with the mother plant. No worries...just let them grow and they'll both turn into wonderful plants.

Re: Quick question.
 

I haven't heard that before. Can you expound upon that please?

Re: Quick question.
 

Morphology of banana plant | Promusa - Mobilizing banana science for sustainable livelihoods

Morphologically, there are two types of sucker: sword suckers (right in the photo), characterized by narrow leaves and a large rhizome, and water suckers (left in the photo), which have broad leaves and a small rhizome. Water suckers have a weak connection to the mother plant and as such will not develop into a strong plant.

Re: Quick question.
 

So they still come directly off the corm but they are more like a bubble on it or ????

Anyone with pictures of this?

Re: Quick question.
 

I get water suckers growing on the 2 and 3 year old remains of the mama corms. Sometimes even older. They are in the process of drying up or rotting away so they can't feed the pup properly. The most robust pups grow from the current years mama pstem.

Re: Quick question.
 

So on corms, do they have a direction of travel? As they get older the corm will turn into a doughnut with the outside ring slowly expanding and the inside usually rotting away?

Re: Quick question.
 

Re: Quick question.
 

Actually, yes. Eventually, if left unattended, a mat (group of banana plants from one main plant) will first form a big group, then, as time goes on, the center will fruit/die back and plants will form around the periphery.

Re: Quick question.
 

They grow in a ring around the first planting of the mama corm. When cut down after fruiting the remains rot and dry up, and 2 years later it's a dried up husk. I'm removing 2 whole mats (DB and RP) and putting new varieties in (CC and tall ARH). The only viable corm is with current mama and her pups.