Re: Water suckers
 

That's what we do as commercial producers. Depending on the variety, we only leave one or two sword pups per parent and remove the rest, including the water suckers by gouging them out to the growing point.

Re: Water suckers
 

With slow growing tropicals I keep, whenever basal shoots pop up, it never saps the mother's growth. In my opinion, it actually may help. The leaves of the suckers conduct photosynthesis too, it's not just growing all off the mother. While it may slow it initially, it will soon pick up speed again and all the growing points will be growing at the same fast rate. On one of my plants, the mother vine and the two shoots were timing their leaf openings so that they would open at different times, then once the shoots got big enough, all were opening at the same time. So basically, I believe it only saps energy initially and no more after that.

Re: Water suckers
 

new to site not to growing bananas...arnt water suckers used by the mother plant to regulate water....dont water suckers act as water storage for mother plant????there if needed by mom incase of low water i.e less rain.. if not needed no problem???

Re: Water suckers
 

Here I have a new photo of a nice sword sucker in my greenhouse

Directupload.net - g2k9iu9w.jpg

Re: Water suckers
 

I've noticed that some suckers tend to be intermediates between sword and water suckers. A sucker that came right off of an old Mysore corm started out a sword sucker but quickly developed into a water sucker, but it still grows very vigorously.

Re: Water suckers
 

That's a swater sucker

Re: Water suckers
 

I just bought two petri-cultured plants online. they and about 8" tall and have broad leaves already. Does this mean they are water suckers? Why would someone sell petri-cultured water suckers? I bought them from Aloha Tropicals online... did I make a bad choice?

Thanks!

Re: Water suckers
 

No but you need to acclimate them.Keep them out of direct sun for now'

Re: Water suckers
 

No I don't think so. All the TC plants I have gotten, all from Aloha Tropicals, have been this way. TCs I have bought locally are similar, maybe a little more thick, but nothing like a true pup. They are quite different from sword suckers, but not as broad leaved as water suckers. All have gone in full sun in Hawaii right away, so for me, I've never tried to acclimate them. Maybe 2 of 12 died--1 from corm weevils (my fault), 1 arrived in sad shape (fault of transit most likely) and was replaced for free. The replacement is doing great. I'm now first transplanting to bigger pots where they are corm weevil safe until they get a bit bigger.

That said, my water sucker A'e A'e from an original plant is my healthiest and happiest of 3 transplanted pups. So even if you bought a water sucker, while generally not the best, I would think in the right conditions it could thrive. Just realized I posted in this thread 3 months ago with pictures. Wow, have these 3 taken off since then! The water sucker has 5 pups so far, the other two 3 and 2, and the water sucker is by far the thickest and tallest, although still a bit more green than the others. That said, it is all alone with no other banana competition, with the house as a windbreak, and virgin "soil" (probably no corm weevils and less nematodes). Which I think adds to the idea that if treated right, in a good spot, a water sucker can do fine. And if you spent $ for it, try that before you give up.

Re: Water suckers
 

You will have better luck with TC's if you plant first in small pots and let them get a good root system before you plant in ground.New TC plants exposed to direct sun will burn.

Re: Water suckers
 

Yeah, what he said! I started this banana thing with potted TC's picked up at Going Bananas in Homestead, Fl. They did great. Then I ordered more by mail and they were bareroot TCs. Half of them died quick. Learned to never order TCs during the winter. And I live in S Fla. Without a greenhouse they will damp off quick.

Re: Water suckers
 

All my Ice Cream has produced so far are water suckers. They come straight off of the mother plant and are well-attached to it. Meanwhile, my unknown and my Mysore are busy producing sword suckers. What would cause this?

Re: Water suckers
 

i feel so lost.. i hav3 always wanted a banana tree because i LOVE the looks of them. this year i moved to Florida and my son bought me some banana plants in gallon buckets from target. I replanted them and they are growing like crazy. One started to get yellow and look like it was dying and i noticed small plants popping up all around them. I decided to "google" it and i found this site and who would have known all this stuff. I just now feel lost and will try to re-read this thread to figure out what to do with the "babies" that could be many diff things!! i will be interested to see what this thread brings. any suggestions for basics for a beginner? THANKS in advance :)

Re: Water suckers
 

All my pups have been swords since the water sucker on my R Iholena withered away.. it has a sword on now.. :^)

Re: Water suckers
 

Leave the "babies" (suckers). Your plant produced them because the main stem was dying. Figure out why the main stem was giving up the ghost or the suckers will die, too.

Re: Water suckers
 

I purchased a number of TCs from Wellspring Gardens (in Central Florida). After contacting WSG about some initial problems I was having, Donovan, either an employee or the owner, told me their bananas are grown under 50% shade cloth.

Trying to expose newly acquired young plants to 100% sunlight will kill them right quick, especially with the thin strands of roots the plants are forced to work with.

Anyway, back on topic, I noticed that all my TCs resemble water suckers. Fortunately it only took about 3 weeks of 1g pot/dappled shade acclimation before they were tough enough to survive on their own in full sun with a bag of cheap box-store manure mixed into the florida sand.

3 months later, and the root systems aren't overly extensive, but the plants seem to be near-hybrids; not as tall as a bulbous-cormed nanas would be by now, but not as weak and susceptible to problems as a thin-rooted plant would lead you to believe.

Re: Water suckers
 

I had an Ice Cream push up a Water sucker but since died after the flowering and death of the main plant.. The Sword pup from the main plant is pushing up a sword pup now.. :^)

Re: Water suckers
 

Here's a nice sword sucker coming off of one of my unidentified plants.

Re: Water suckers
 

I think TC plants always resemble water suckers when young. They don't really have corms to speak of -- no stored energy.

Re: Water suckers
 

That is a very nice illustration, Caliboy!