Author Topic: Are these banana pups ready to pull?  (Read 3339 times)

chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« on: April 16, 2018, 04:18:07 PM »
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.










561MangoFanatic

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 289
    • Loxahatchee, FL
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2018, 04:27:09 PM »
I’ve removed them from the mother plant when they were still young barely breaking soil for the first time. The sizes you have them at should have them bounce back quicker than the size I take them!
Sergio

chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2018, 04:33:42 PM »
I’ve removed them from the mother plant when they were still young barely breaking soil for the first time. The sizes you have them at should have them bounce back quicker than the size I take them!


Excellent! Thank you!

Cookie Monster

  • Broward, FL Zone 10b
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4745
  • Eye like mangoes
    • Tamarac, FL, 33321, 10B
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2018, 04:46:12 PM »
Yes, but the one with the long, thin ("sword" shaped) leaves is preferred over the other one. Check google for sword vs water sucker.
Jeff  :-)

lebmung

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1097
    • Romania, Bucharest,7b (inside city 8a)
    • View Profile
    • Plante tropicale
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2018, 05:30:52 PM »
From the pictures they seem to be water suckers, but that is okay to grow them, unless you intend to have a plantation. I would suggest to cut the leaves and leave only one or none. They lose a lot of water through leaves until they grow roots. Or you can leave the leaves but the environment need to have over 80% humidity.

Cookie Monster

  • Broward, FL Zone 10b
  • Global Moderator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 4745
  • Eye like mangoes
    • Tamarac, FL, 33321, 10B
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #5 on: April 16, 2018, 05:43:52 PM »
It's over 80% humidity here in FL :D. Leaves can stay on.
Jeff  :-)

chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #6 on: April 16, 2018, 05:55:59 PM »
Thanks for the info. I’m gonna pull them in a couple days most likely. 

KarenRei

  • Arctic Member
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1806
    • Reykjavík, Iceland
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2018, 07:15:40 PM »
When you say "pull", do you mean literally "pull"?  I've never just pulled up a sucker and had it come out intact with roots.  I slit between the sucker and the mother plant with a knife, wait a week or two, then lift them out with a metal rod poked into the ground to loosen the soil.

Keep the soil constantly moist when you plant them. 
Já, ég er að rækta suðrænar plöntur á Íslandi. Nei, ég er ekki klikkuð. Jæja, kannski...

pineislander

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2199
    • Bokeelia, FL
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2018, 07:23:53 PM »
Dwarf Namwa is probably stable, and you didn't show the parent, but if the parent is close to fruiting you might consider not taking the suckers off yet, it tends to weaken the mother tree. Best tool to use is a sharp trenching shovel or wide edged digging bar, use like Karen said, you may have to dig deep.
 

gnappi

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1974
    • South East Florida (U.S.A) Zone 10A
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2018, 07:29:15 PM »
From the pictures they seem to be water suckers, but that is okay to grow them, unless you intend to have a plantation. I would suggest to cut the leaves and leave only one or none. They lose a lot of water through leaves until they grow roots. Or you can leave the leaves but the environment need to have over 80% humidity.

Live and learn, thanks!
Regards,

   Gary

sahai1

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 524
    • NST, THAILAND
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2018, 09:01:32 PM »
I'd wait on the dwarf namwa, it is hard to tell if they will do well, sometimes you think you got a good sucker but find out the root ball of the sucker was underneath the main corm more.. so when you cut it off you have barely any corm and barely any roots.  The one behind the one in the pic with the dwarf namwa, that is perfect!  plant a bit deeper to keep it straight and tall.  I usually have no problems removing suckers with a shovel.

chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2018, 09:26:29 PM »
Dwarf Namwa is probably stable, and you didn't show the parent, but if the parent is close to fruiting you might consider not taking the suckers off yet, it tends to weaken the mother tree. Best tool to use is a sharp trenching shovel or wide edged digging bar, use like Karen said, you may have to dig deep.

Thanks for that. It actually has fruit on it now. I suppose it’s best to wait?

Chupa King

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 152
    • Puna, Hawai'i
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2018, 01:24:22 AM »
This is how I prep my nanners. I have to make sure there are no critters in there.




Biodiversity is key.

pineislander

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2199
    • Bokeelia, FL
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2018, 06:40:16 AM »
Dwarf Namwa is probably stable, and you didn't show the parent, but if the parent is close to fruiting you might consider not taking the suckers off yet, it tends to weaken the mother tree. Best tool to use is a sharp trenching shovel or wide edged digging bar, use like Karen said, you may have to dig deep.

Thanks for that. It actually has fruit on it now. I suppose it’s best to wait?
Ah, generally yes. Once the fruit is off the mother corm may put out a few more suckers and that would be the time to thin them all out except for one follower. Many people allow too many suckers but removing them after harvest is a very good idea to reduce competition. Best practice is to choose the follower in a mat to be erect (not leaning) and upwind of the mother corm for best support.

voyager

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 47
    • Pahoa, HI - USDA 12a/12b
    • View Profile
    • Mike's Photo Gallery - Alaska - Hawai'i & Elsewhere
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2018, 06:33:22 PM »
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.






chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #15 on: April 18, 2018, 10:37:13 AM »
Thanks everyone for the input. I’m going to wait on the Namwa until after fruit harvest and pull the red on a few days. I have faith in the new owner of the pups to keep them alive and thrive even if they were far smaller but I think they should be ok. I will add this thread or start a new one in a couple months with progress.

Seanny

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1119
    • Garden Grove, Orange County, California, 10B
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #16 on: April 18, 2018, 11:55:29 AM »
How deep are you going to plant it?

greenman62

  • CharlesitaveNB
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1277
    • [url=https://vgruk.com/]vgr uk[/url]
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2018, 12:36:03 PM »
i take a sharp shovel and cut down deep as close to the mother as possible.
if you ohnly have 1 mature plant, and it hasnt been there long,
the corm/mat is probably not developed well, and its possible you can harm the mother plant.
in that case, you might want to try and talke less of the root system/corm.

ive never actually had a problem myself
and i always go as close to the mother, and as deep as i can
to get as much root as possible.
that said, i usually keep 3-4 plants going at a time
at various stages of maturity.
The more leaf area you have, the more sun hits the leaves,
the faster+larger the mat grows.

and just an FYI....
we had temps of 20F in January.
My large dwarf Namwah died,
but i have one almost 3ft already coming up.

chris1

  • Member
  • ***
  • Posts: 127
    • Brevard county, Florida zone 9b
    • View Profile
Re: Are these banana pups ready to pull?
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2018, 09:54:02 AM »
Seanny I don’t know how deep it went. Does the depth make a difference?

Greenman thank you for all the info. We managed to dig them all up without issue. The only one I am truly concerned about is a Goldfinger that I pulled from a very young plant. I pulled it because the new plant had three different shoots of equal size and I didn’t want that much strain on it so now it’s only 2. That was the one that seemed to have the weakest root structure and the one I don’t think will do very well or survive at all for that matter. The Brazilian red and Pisang Ceylon we pulled look like they had plenty of roots so I am hopeful for those. Time will tell.