Hello all and thank you again for all of your wisdom. I have two different banana pups I was hoping to remove for a friend and wanted to make sure they are big enough and healthy enough to thrive when removed. What are your thoughts? One is dwarf Namwa the other is some kind of Brazilian red. I apologize the photos aren’t in the right order but only two different pups here just one of the photos of each I put my hand in the photo for size reference. Thanks.
Gotta stick, my nose in here.
Keep in mind that I am a complete novice at dealing with bananas except in a grocery store.
When we bought our property, it had a couple of Dwarf Brazilian [Dwarf Hawaiian Apple] banana plantings.
The plants did not look very healthy.
I assumed they had been in place a long time and their soil was depleted.
So, I prepared a new location and transplanted all of them to it.
The property also had some feral Ice Cream colonies that I transplanted first.
I tore them out because we didn't like them and put the Dwarf Brazilians in to replace them.
I wanted some tall Brazilians [Tall Hawaiian Apples] also, so I bought 10 of them from a local grower, made a second new area and put them in there.
I am a neophyte, but have planted or transplanted many bananas the last few years.
What I have found is that if you remove them too small they have to struggle to become acclimated to their new location, some will die off.
If you let them develop more they will happily start up in their new location.
Many, if not most, will bear fruit their first season on the plant that was transplated.
I prefer the pups to be at least 2' tall and have moved them up to 6' tall.
2 to 4' seems to be the best size range for a good start in the new location.
So that they do not become water stressed, I remove all leaves that are more developed than being cigar shaped.
In their second echelon of developing plants, both the tall and dwarf are bigger in diameter and height with bigger bunches with more fruit than the first planted.
Just my thoughts from my very limited experience.