Siam ruby Question
 

I just bought a siam ruby from the place i work at. It was the only one, but i had to have it. Its about 4 feet tall with 3 leaves, 1 has just popped out, and it is not exactly what i want to contine to grow like. If i cut it down, would it resprout? I want to cut it down to where it will be pretty short, or just have alot more leaves for its height. Is there any pre-treatment that i should give it before i cut it down? How short should i cut it, and what kind of after care? I would post a picture if i could, but cant.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

No just let hem grow! if you cut it down you'll kill it!
place it on a warm, moisty sunny space and it will grow like how you want it.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

I had to chop one iof mine down as it appeared that a bug had begun to spit the trunk. I chopped it all the way down to the soil line and a week later there appears to be the start of a new leaf emerging. I will take a picture in about 2 weeks at that point I will know for sure if it is still alive or just putting out a last gasp.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

How do you want it to grow? If you give it a little TLC is should have alot more leaves and have a fuller look if thats what you are after. You might want to try repotting it in some well composted well draining soil, with fertilizer to give it a boost.
They seem kinda tough to get to the height you have it, so you couldn't pay me enough to get me to chop mine down.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Maybe i should just repot it.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Your not kidding!

I got one late spring, no lie I am on my 11th pup/sprout! My tallest maybe made a foot. No matter what I did, it would pup, grow, die, start over. One time 4 came up at a time.

Currently number 11 is ok, about 10"

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

so not even the pups survived so far? how many total pups have you been able to keep? and where are you located, maybe its got something to do with that? i hear high heat and humidity is good so far.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Currently just 2.

Tampa, its fairly hot, sunny and humid.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

thats what i heard was perfect for these things, but who knows what about them yet...
hope i did this quote right, its the first time i've done it

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Ok, well yesterday, i was cleaning the siam ruby up, and trying to cut away some of the old leaves and accidentally broke one of the 3 leaves off.* Do you think there is a good chance that it will die if i cut it down to about a foot tall?* It seems to be pretty healty, and i would say is putting on a new leave every 2 weeks. I think it will be growing faster with it in my care, as i will actually fertilize it.* I bought it from the nursery i work at 3 days ago, i fertilized it 2 days ago, and started growing the leaf i saw way down in the psuedostem alot faster.* I just really would like it to be shorter, i dont care how long it takes to grow, as i will need to save space for putting it in the greenhouse during the winter.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

When you say shorter, are you wanting the overall height of the plant to stay shorter or are you wanting the bottom-most leaves to be closer to the base of the plant? Either way, it's sort of a losing battle. If you cut it back, yes, the bottom leaves will then, temporarily, be closer to the base but the bottom leaves eventually yellow and die. It's just the natural process. Just cutting the plant back will only keep it shorter for so long. It's going to grow. Bananas naturally lose their lower leaves and keep putting out new ones, getting taller as they go with more clear trunk all the time.

One thing you could try since you work at a nursery, is to see if they have any type of growth regulator, such as B-9 or Attrimec. These are used in the horticultural industry to reduce the space between a plants internodes by destroying apical dominance (meaning most of the energy goes into the tip of the main stem, say like in a pin oak or a cypress where you have one main leader), effectively keeping the plants more compact. I don't know if anyone has ever experimented with this on banana plants so you may be risking your plant but it's really all I can think of if you are determined to keep your plant short.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

would potting it in a small pot keep it short? It may never fruit but would it stunt the growth enough to keep it at his desired height?

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Yes, it probably would keep it shorter but you'd probably have other undesireable side-effects as well. I think one would be much better off to just accept what size the particular variety grows to.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

I guess i should take your guys advice, as it is actually that, and mine is just a want. so i'll just leave it to that and hope it will pup also. Another thing though, for winter it turns out i wont be able to keep it in the greenhouse at school, so i read about a guy on here who would dig his plants out of the ground, cut most if not all of the roots off, then trim all the leaves down, basically into a sick, or stalk. Would this be ok for M. ventricosum, M. Zebrina, and M. Orinoco? I have a few M. Lasiocarpa's but have heard that they react to this nicely.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

I can only speak for Ventricosum and Orinocco, yes yo can did them up remove the leaves but I leave the roots alone. I store mone in a crawl space under the house, no light and stays aroung 48 degrees.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

ok, thank you, i guess i will also store mine in their, all my plants are potted so i might just leave the leaves on, and wait till those wilt naturally,* anyone think thats a bad idea?* and then after they do i will cut the leaves off.* other than that, i might just stick them down their when the temps drop, and forget about them, with an occasional checkup for my own sake.Thanks for all the info, you guys seem to help me keep all my plants alive** :)

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

I would take them out of there pots and knock the dirtfrom thier roots. I would also remove all the leaves ecept the newest one as the plat will be in shock from the move to the new location, so there is no need to have it wasting its strength for all the leaves. Similar to taking a cutting from a plant.

Re: Siam ruby Question
 

Bigdog(Frank) would know a bit more, but if I remember correct, he said that some species didn't store well at all, like thinner stemmed ones and Musa basjoo.

It could work to store it that way, but if you go the potted route, you could try keeping it in a really small one or two gallon container, if space is an issue. Or put multiple plants in one pot.