Jari, I also have the same questions. I have a musa basjoo on my deck in a large pot. My musa is over 7ft tall, with around 5 or 6 pups. I did seperate one of the pups yesterday, by digging down to see where it's attatched to mom, and then cutting inward. I got a good size comb, and two very long thick roots. It's in a pot next to mom, and doing ok. Anyway, I read your questions and it seems your situation and environment is exactly like mine. You said you cut down the main stem and overwintered the pot with the pups.How short did you cut it? And I'd read that cuting it down will not give a shorter plant the next year. ??

Greenpassion,

Sorry, I didn't say it very clearly. I've never cutted the main stalk yet, last year the plant was still short enough to fit indoors without cutting, but already in the spring the new leaves were damaged as they hit the ceiling and most leaves were broken when I moved it out of the door because it was so wide, so I'm looking for any means to overwinter it without having to make the door wider and the ceiling higher :) If not possible, then I'll just try to get at least one pup alive and over winter.

Jari

None of this potted plant stuff for us, down here in the Caribbean islands!
Our banana trees grow where they should -in da ground!

I've only twice had to remove a pup from the mother-plant in the ground
but both times I've found it very useful to use the garden hose with the nozzle set on JET
and use that water-jet to kinda "mine" the area around the pup and his connection to Mom!

A decent jet removes stones and soil effectively, with minimal damage to roots
all the while my fingers are down in the muck feeling for what's there
"seeing with my fingers" just how big things are, and what direction the pup is trending.

It was just this evening about an hour ago that I did my second separation.
Don't tell my wife but I used our serrated bread-knife to make the final cut after establishing where to cut!

I guess for you guys with plants IN POTS, this methodology may not apply
but for those of you growing bananas au naturel, I hope this may prove useful.

Hi,
I read a few messages already about more or less similar cases, but just to make sure I wanted to ask these things once again.

The patient: 2-yo Helen's Hybrid banana. Is growing in a largish pot, now outdoors. It's too high to fit indoors for overwintering. There are two pups next to it, there was a third one but I killed it when I tried to remove it and got no roots with it.

So I would like to remove the pups and hopefully get at least one of them alive to continue my life as a banana farmer. I already saw a picture here about how to cut it so that I should get some of the mother plants roots with it. So nothing special there, or is there? The pups are seemingly attached to the mother right on the soil surface level. So I dig some soil to see if the pup has it's own roots? And if not, just cut some of the mother plant with it?

And then I would like to try cutting down the mother plant and see if it can be overwintered. What's the correct position for the cut? I think I could make the pseudo stem fit indoors, but if it grows new leaves, they will hit the ceiling right away. So can I cut it down to the soil level or a bit higher? Or should I just cut the leaves and try to overwinter it dormant in the yard garage (may go just below freezing point, a few degrees under zero C or 32F and totally dark)? The main garage under the house is another possibility, temperature there will be somewhat higher, around 10-15C and there are some small windows but the doors are opened daily when the car goes in or out and then some very cold outdoor air can momentarily get it. The ceiling in main garage is also a bit lower, so I don't know if the pseudo stem will fit in there in upright position and with the pot.

Or, if I can cut down the main pseudo-stem, it may be possible to overwinter the whole pot with the pups and all indoors, like last winter. That would be nice, except of course the fact that my plant will then be much shorter.

The place where I live is in Finland, northern Europe, and the winter temperature may be as low as -30C (-22F) so overwintering outdoors is not a possibility even though this cultivar is one of the more cold resistant ones.

Any ideas are welcomed, including any propositions to obtain a smaller growing variety :) Yes, I've been considering it, but then again I like challenges.

Jari

Jari,

Leave them on the "Mothership" and cut off all the leaves of the "Mothership" and the pups. Place in the "Yard Garage" and overwinter there with (Bagged) shredded leaves all around (it could be a very cold year and the "Yard Garage" could go sub freezing for an extended period of time) and on top of the nanners! Be sure to stuff extra leaves between the bags. Lay the plants parrallel to the floor if you have room.

Should you not have enough room to lay the nanners down, place in upright position. If the nanners freeze above the bags just cut off the rotten pseudostem next growing season. I would take the mass of plants out of the pot so the roots can get some air whilst in the garage all winter. Wait as long as possible (freeze wise) to move them to the garage.

Remember! The pot will freeze the roots,(but not the bulb)so bring it in to the garage when temps are suppose to be a couple of degrees below freezing.

Those are my 10cents worth of tidbits of info!

Good luck!
Happy Gardening,

Drew

Thanks for the information.

We had two nights of light frost and the banana leaves already damaged. So I cut the leaves and moved the stalk and the pot to the garage. It fitted there in an upright position. Never had time to separate a pup. Now I just keep my fingers crossed.

I still wonder if the main garage (under the house) would be better, since it is heated - but I guess the temps there may be too high and the plant may not stay dormant.

Would be kinda nicer to have a smaller cultivar, like one of those superdwarf cavendish sorts, but I also like the mighty appearance of this giant. And Finland is not the best country to look for special exotic plants.

I wonder why a tropical plant like banana has this capability to go dormant. What does it need it for in the nature? It's perfectly understandable that temperate plants have the ability, but there's never really a winter where bananas grow.

Jari