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Alright, I dug up my blood leaf bananas . . . Now what? (pics)

raestr (z8 Central Ala)

18 years ago

Well, it is November and still in the 40s-50s here at night. I spent two days digging up this ?@#% banana plant. I took a butcher knife to the remaining pups (I murdered two of them about six weeks ago when I tried to remove them while they were all still in the ground) and have five plants now. It looks pretty severe where I removed them. Do I need to treat the cuts with anything? Something antifungal? I will be storing them in my garage. Can I just prop them up in there, or do I need to wrap them in something? If I am supposed to wrap them, why?

Digging this plant up was the most difficult gardening project I've ever done. I dig up about 100 caladiums every year, but this was much worse.

I've posted pics below, let me know what you think.

Rae

{{gwi:423646}}

{{gwi:423647}}

Comments (7)

unautre
18 years ago
spray them a neem-oil solution now, and perhaps repeat a few times while in storage.

http://www.gardensafe.com/ProductCategories/indoorinsecticide/Fungicide3/

an alternative anti-fungal would be copper-based (copper compounds kill lots of plants and animals in lots of applications. nasty stuff)
unautre
18 years ago
btw, go with the neem concentrate, MUCH cheaper than the solution.
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hibiscus909
18 years ago
Definitely try to air dry the cuts. I always pot mine up after drying, but I wonder if some hort. charcoal or cinnamon dusted on might be some insurance?
Do you have room in your house to grow one of the pups? Sometimes they rot in cold storage, or some rodent finds them. This way you have a back-up.

s.
golden1
18 years ago
It seems you should go get a stiff drink , lean back, relax, then when you are done make a stiff one for the banana plant also, just have fun, heheheheheheheheeh.
Bob
fglavin
18 years ago
Here's my method:
http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?t=310

Here is a link that might be useful: Storing bananas
sandy0225
18 years ago
by the way, when I dug up my bananas, the red leaf zebrinas are the hardest ones to dig. They are much worse than any of the others. I don't know why. The easiest ones to dig were the dwarf cavendish, even the biggest ones popped right out without much trouble.

I'd say it's "Miller time" now! Good job!
Sandy
gentian
18 years ago
What I do is pot them up right away but leave the side with the cut exposed to the air for a while because the roots dry up very fast.

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