Author Topic: question about planting banana pups  (Read 806 times)

VOLANT007

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question about planting banana pups
« on: May 26, 2023, 01:20:13 AM »
Hi all, just wondering if anyone removes the roots from banana pups before planting them.  If so what is the reason.
Sam

Daintree

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2023, 09:49:02 AM »
I leave the roots.  In fact, I encourage root growth before I plant by severing the pup from the mother with a machete but leaving it growing in situ. Then after about a month, I dig it up, with the roots, and pot it up.

Because I am in a greenhouse and have limited space, I only save two pups - one to replace the mother and one to sell as a houseplant. The others I cut out when small so they don't take energy away from banana production.

Of course, folks growing in the ground may do it totally differently.

Carolyn

brian

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #2 on: May 26, 2023, 09:57:43 AM »
I cut two pups off my banana for the first time and left them in a pot just to see if they would survive.  I did not leave any roots whatsoever.  They are still alive but too early to tell. 

I was going to trash them anyway so I figured I would at least try and see if they sprout roots

tru

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #3 on: May 26, 2023, 11:39:42 AM »
imo as long as there is some rhizome left no matter how small, they'll grow back fine, but I think cutting off everything would only increase the chance of infection or failure. 5/5 so far on just ripping them out of the ground, granted I leave whatever comes up with it on the plant and the rebound time has been quite long (1-2+ months for me).

I would take Carolyn's advice though, seems like a much smarter way to go about it!
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Finca La Isla

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #4 on: May 26, 2023, 01:47:08 PM »
In practice here in CR the locals trim the rhizomes pretty much. Kind of shocking but seems to work well. The rhizome is often planted kind of deep as well. People that are unfamiliar often think the plant has died and then, out pops the new stem!
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spencerw

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2023, 02:25:26 PM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

tru

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #6 on: May 26, 2023, 02:54:35 PM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

Interesting will keep this in mind! Do you do the same to pups?
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Seanny

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #7 on: May 26, 2023, 06:28:05 PM »
How deep do you guys plant?

StelaG

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #8 on: May 26, 2023, 06:34:58 PM »
we do not remove the roots, just cut from the mother and plant just like it comes out of the ground.   Either in a pot or directly into a new location in the ground.  I also ship the pups that way, Ill wash off all the dirt and remove dead or broken roots and wrap the roots in newspaper and bag them.  I figure if the roots are healthy why would you want to remove them, it will just take the plant longer to recover.  But I do understand why some people cut the roots and treat the corm for bugs and diseases in different areas. 

Finca La Isla

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #9 on: May 26, 2023, 06:36:28 PM »
To grow plantains or other bananas that are subject to root rot we dig up the suckers and plant a meter away. Commercially they use nematocide which kills everything in the soil. But with our fresh eating bananas we don’t have most of the problems I see Hawaii growers complaining about.
I agree that you can really trim the sucker and plant it even 6-8” deep. Some of these suckers are pretty big.
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EddieF

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #10 on: May 26, 2023, 07:30:26 PM »
Sharp spade shovel between it & mother straight down & dig it up & plant a few feet away.
We never removed roots & every one grows.  Easiest things to grow.  Almost can't kill them lol.

Edit- my soil here is typical Florida sand.  Chop it off, plant, water, grow. 
Area gets 6-3-16 fert with micros.
« Last Edit: May 29, 2023, 09:12:27 AM by EddieF »

Galatians522

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #11 on: May 26, 2023, 09:21:24 PM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

Thanks, that is good information. Removing roots and shaving also removes most of the nematodes that would have burrowed into the roots and corn. I would never have thought of this. There were some recommendstions years ago for hot water treatment, but this looks like it would be easier on the corm.

spencerw

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #12 on: May 27, 2023, 04:18:20 PM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

Thanks, that is good information. Removing roots and shaving also removes most of the nematodes that would have burrowed into the roots and corn. I would never have thought of this. There were some recommendstions years ago for hot water treatment, but this looks like it would be easier on the corm.
If you're worried about nematodes i would either boil or use bleach solution after carving down. Thats the common practice here. Bananas are very hardy

spencerw

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #13 on: May 27, 2023, 04:24:15 PM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

Interesting will keep this in mind! Do you do the same to pups?
Every single pup gets the same treatment. We dig entire mats, then separate, then carve, then replant. This is the only way for us to keep our rare varieties alive, we have weevils, nematodes and banana bunchy top virus to combat. Even our "native" varieties who have been here over 1000 years cannot persist without these treatments


Daintree

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #14 on: May 28, 2023, 12:11:23 AM »
Wow. That is so much work! Good for you for propagating rare varieties!
Just when I whine about living in the high desert, I hear about all the tropical pests that we don't have here.

Carolyn

MANGOJOY

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #15 on: May 29, 2023, 08:27:29 AM »
I remove the roots and shave the corm and cut off the pseudostem everytime I propagate bananas. They will not use the dead roots, so remove, we need to check for weevils so carve the corm, without roots the plants cannot support the water loss from the pseudostem, so remove it.
Then wait 2-3 days once carved for the cuts to heal, then plant deep and fertilize heavily.
I regularly get 80+lbs racks. We also dig them out after every harvest and reset the entire mat, we have lots of pests to combat here, so this is the only way to keep rare bananas healthy. Check out my YouTube for a video showing the process. https://youtu.be/hhsGDcKWUPM

Interesting will keep this in mind! Do you do the same to pups?
Every single pup gets the same treatment. We dig entire mats, then separate, then carve, then replant. This is the only way for us to keep our rare varieties alive, we have weevils, nematodes and banana bunchy top virus to combat. Even our "native" varieties who have been here over 1000 years cannot persist without these treatments


Thanks, I think I should the same. I lost many banana plants.

Finca La Isla

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #16 on: May 29, 2023, 09:33:27 AM »
We probably have more tropical pests. Fortunately we don’t lose the plants. What happens is that they fall over from disease in the roots but that is mostly confined to cooking bananas. Leaf spot diseases are a problem for some but you still get fruit, just not very much.
Our main go to banana is gros michel. But we have a decent collection beyond that and we get huge racimes without re planting. Only the plantains give a problem.
Peter

spencerw

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Re: question about planting banana pups
« Reply #17 on: June 06, 2023, 04:00:02 PM »
If they fall over then its corm weevils. If the roots are deformed its nematodes. Banana bunchy top virus is spread by aphids and is a systemic virus, once one pseudostem gets the virus the entire clump gets it. No cure and it doesn't kill all varieties, so its just persists and propagates. So you need to kill the entire mat if a single pseudostem gets it. Because of this we need to keep our clumps small so we can easily kill them if they get banana bunchy top virus. Unfortunately the virus is very prevalent here. I have had to kill a mat per month at this location due to our neighbors negligence. Doesn't matter the variety, all are susceptible. Its very hard to grow bananas here in Hawaii due to the humans

We probably have more tropical pests. Fortunately we don’t lose the plants. What happens is that they fall over from disease in the roots but that is mostly confined to cooking bananas. Leaf spot diseases are a problem for some but you still get fruit, just not very much.
Our main go to banana is gros michel. But we have a decent collection beyond that and we get huge racimes without re planting. Only the plantains give a problem.
Peter