TC-plants and suckering
 

Here is the Pic of the just arrived TC-plantlets on march 20.
Ice Cream. dwarf orinoco, dwarf red and musella lasiocarpa.



Now here 2 pics of the same Ice Cream on august 22 on the height of 1 foot and 4 inches.





Now, none of them has produced suckers at such a young age but what I
read about the Siam Ruby alot of people must have plants with suckers.
So how come, or is the Siam Ruby just a specie wich produces quickly suckers, like for
instance a DC.

Ron

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

When I cut the 'Siam Ruby' the other day (all still doing well) three were direct pups from the central corm but the fourth was on a long runner. Well not so long but a few inches , it looked more like a Stolon on a Colocasia.







Perhaps someone with more experience that me could come up with a theory as to whats happening with the Siam Rubies.
Later
Steve

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

Maybe it are not suckers at all, in the traditional way, but a follow-up from the TC-process most likely.
I mean if you can create so much plantlets with that process. And because different varieties appear.
But than again, why happens it to the Siam Ruby and not others?
We need a TC-specialist I think?

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

That plant doesn't look like my Ice Creams at all! Looks more like a Brazilian or an Apple-banana. Ice Creams have silvery, powdery stems. Not much red. Are you positive the source has produced ice-cream plants?

Erlend

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

Some sucker much more than others, for example, my Musa 'Rose' suckers a lot while my Mysore hardly suckers at all.

I finally got a sucker on my Siam Ruby after a few months of waiting. Mine was nothing like Steve's.

It must depend on the kind of banana as well as the particular clone.
There's a lot of variance in the Siam Ruby as far as coloration as well as vitality.
At least between this first round of tissue cultures from Agri-Starts...

Dwarf Red is another that has some variance, some turn out green and others turn out red.
I'm curious how the pups from my red Dwarf Red will look, and if their pups will remain red too.
While on the same note I wonder what will happen with my green Dwarf Red, if that will produce pups that all keep green.
Both parent plants started off as tissue cultures and both were red when young. One stayed red and the other turned green. So far the suckers that are emerging (and they are slow) are more red on the one and more green on the other. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

I transplanted my siam ruby to a friends house the other day, and cut out some suckers for myself to continue it at my house. I removed 4 altogether out of 6 that were present. Only two of the six were attached to the mother corm, which I left alone. 2 of the others appear to be individual plants, each with it's own sucker. BTW, the corm was very small, and the root structure was under developed, compared to other potted bananas I have grown to that size. Six plants in all were growing in that 10 gal pot, and it wasn't close to being root bound!

Re: TC-plants and suckering
 

MH has hit it, I think. Vitality - this the main issue!!! I have resurrected the new siam ruby, the Ae Ae and the ensette maurelii, all potted, from the spider mite/worm attack and they are growing strong again. The critical thing now is keeping water to a minimum. When the the soil surface looks dry they all sprout well. The trick for me is getting as much sun as possible without getting hit with all the rain we have been having in PSL. Outside in the pool area/inside the patio - back and forth/back and forth!

BTW, has anybody noticed the number of stink bugs that have proliforated here in south Fla recently? Also, black runners are popping up all over.

Dan