I can't think of any way to do it except soak the ground around them really well, sharpen the shovel (a sharp shovel makes work so much easier!) and dig 'um out. Shouldn't be too hard 'cause I've done it.

Incidentally, the sap will stain your clothes (use an enzyme bleach to remove) and any concrete the sap gets on will be stained also (use a Clorox type bleach on that).

Happy digging!

Save me a couple, please. Old lore is that banana trees deter fleas. When growing up my Grandfather always threw banana stalks under the house.
We always had them by the whole stalk, as he was harbor master and someone was always giving them to him off the banana boats.

I agree ---- dig and share. Just put it in the exchange section, and I'll bet you will have those who will come and dig them for you. That is how I got my start.

The digging is harder here than you can imagine. I've dug up tiny pups in the past and that in itself was a chore. The ones I want to get rid of are adults and almost impossible to dig up. that's why I need to find a way to kill them without digging. Does anyone know if RoundUp will do it ? What about a commercial weed killer ? Thank you.

This is just a personal opinion (not from experience), but it would seem to me that if the root system is this intertwined, whatever kills "part" would kill "all". Anyone else have an opinion or experience about this?

Maybe cut them down and cover the stump with black plastic. Wouldn't that solarized them to death?

I agree with Carrie. I think the root system would all be effected by the RU.

I've done that too Kathy. The center keeps sprouting, but you have just have to keep cutting the sprout back and it finally gives up.

We put ours on craigslist, and people actually paid us to dig them up themselves! Those were the big adult ones, but we certainly got ours thinned nicely that way.

That is my point, exactly, texasjana, people who want them will dig them, no matter how hard the task. You just need to let them know you have them.

You'll have many requests on craigslist for those banana's. You can sell them in the garden section and have people dig them up, or list them in the free section.

Or if you're anywhere close to San ANtonio, let me know, I wouldn't ming getting my hands on a couple and I will dig them up.

Either way, good luck!

Using any glyphosphate product "roundup" will kill more than you can control easily. It will not translocate from one root to another but all connected plant tissue above or below ground will be killed damaged or weakened.
I agree with the craiglist idea as a method to share sell or help with the work of digging which is a real pain in many cases. People buy them at 15 to 20 a pop retail so a 5 dollar you dig offer may get the people power your looking for. You do need to get the whole corm to stop pup production.

Had about 10 varieties at my nursery in Hawaii and worked with another Hawaiian garden that had more than 20 varieties so I do know how much work it is to remove corms and it aint easy!!

Happy Growing however you choose to approach this problem for you it can be a joy for someone else.

Isn't she the greatest person?

Castro Gardener and her husband are the nicest people I met in a long time. We had such a good time wrestling those tall banana trees! It was a real pleasure.

Not only did she load me up with bananas, but I also a got a ton of other stuff. Brugnasia, Jakaranda, a nice air plant, tall canna, and giant elephant ear.

I wish I could repay her in some way. But she already seems to have every plant. I think even Texas A&M's horticulture dept would be a bit envious of her collection.

ANyways awesome people. Hoping to meet more local gardeners at the plant swap.

Just wait until she shows up at the swap! She brings boxes and boxes of stuff.
At the first swap, I was too tired to drag my left overs home. After telling everyone I was going to trash them, she took them for her church plant sale.

{{gwi:1336344}}

My one little banana seems to have made it through the winter with one stalk so having to worry about extras seems unlikely right now. But this thread makes me wonder how long it takes to go from sweet little tender banana to a monster plant that needs Craiglist help. It was fun to read and great to see the happy conclusion!

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Castro Gardener told me her montser patch, started from one, with about twenty plants total with 9 huge ones, took between 3-4 years. I never seen anything like that. I forgot to ask her is she fertilized them in any special way.

I'm on the road right now, but later I'll post some pictures of some of the monsters we pulled out. I learned a lot about bananas that day...

I live a bit further North, in DFW. I have been wanting to plant bananas in my back yard. Am I going to have this same problem of them growing so thick?

I don't think you will. Just keep the bananas contained. The banana plant is a clumping plant that will generally stay in the same, yet expanding area. It's not invasive like some bamboos.

Yet at the same time, as new plants appear that are growing either into the wrong area, or simply becoming too numerous, they need to be weeded out.

So as new plants pop up that are unwanted, let them grow to about a foot or two, then just take a shovel and break it off from the mother plant. Then you have the option of transplanting it, giving it away, or whatever.

Keeping them in check should not be a problem at all. You could easily keep the patch very small and under control. Just keep in mind a couple of things. The banana plant is a bi-annual that will flower in 2 years then dies. It's main way of propogation is by shooting new plants up, from it's main "corm", underground bulb, a couple of times per year.

Good luck and happy gardening!

Oh man, ours wouldn't stop spreading so we dug them up. What hard work that was. They have finally stopped shooting up again.

I will never had banana trees again...but they were pretty and provided a nice tropical look. :)

If anyone wants to come dig up banana trees, let me know....my son has every size in his yard. Heights area of Houston. Just send me an email and you can have all the banana trees you want!

dhat, put this info in the "exchanges" section under "haves".

Easiest, cheapest, most satisfying way to get rid of banana trees (seconding texanjana): put an ad on Craigslist. DO NOT pay anyone (including Monsanto) to make a banana tree go away.

I put an ad on Thursday and on Saturday morning I had three people digging (including hired help that one banana enthusiast brought along), and thanking me for saving them money (as one said, Home Cheapo sells five-gallon banana trees for $35 each). If I had free time, I'd set up a farm stand in HC's parking lot.

Within a half hour (and almost zero effort on my part -- he insisted on using my only shovel, I swear I tried to help), my 20-foot tall, 20-trunked banana forest was being loaded into trucks, and I made several friends. Can Roundup do that?

But it can do this:

Here is a link that might be useful: Invasion of the Superweeds

I'm interested of getting a banana-if its not too late.. If you have anymore, please let me know. Me and my husband will help dig if you need anymore help. thanks.

The easiest way to kill them is to cut them to the ground and cut into the heart down below the ground and fill with water to let them rot. We have always had to cut them to the ground but at an angle to keep them from rotting as the heart is soft and watery when first cut, then they harden like wood when dry so if you are going to cut them up do it before they dry. I use a butcher knife and slice them at an angle to save after a freeze to keep them from rotting away.

"Save me a couple, please. Old lore is that banana trees deter fleas. When growing up my Grandfather always threw banana stalks under the house.
We always had them by the whole stalk, as he was harbor master and someone was always giving them to him off the banana boats."

Did your Grandfather ever mention finding any spiders in those stalks? I hear they like to hitch rides in them.

A link that might be useful:

www.associatedcontent.com/article/1575363/brazilian_wandering_spider_found_in.html

He never mentioned spiders. But I know there were inspections of any fruits coming into the port. If I remember correctly, at that time (1940s & 1950s) they would fumigate the hulls before unloading the ships. Of course those chemicals are probably illegal today.

Someone must have missed a few fire ants.....

When I was small Texas had agricultural inspections stationson all highways leaving the valley. No fruit, vegetables or plants left the Rio Grande Valley if it was on a certain list or did not have a "stamp" on it. Even cars had to stop at the stations. They would take the fruit, vegetables away from you. I don't know if these were federal or state inspectors.

When I lived in DC back in the 70's they use to donate any creature found in the banana boxes to the Zoo. But then they started putting pesticides as liners in the boxes. Most of the creatures were dormant and easy to caught. Never remember any spiders as banana spiders aren't very nice. What they call banana spiders around here aren't but are beneficial spiders which I usually take a broom and move them to a better location so I can walk without getting them into my hair. Anything that will eat mosquitoes I love and will find a home for them, just like our local lizards. Seen them eat a few hundred a short time. Now they are my buddies for life.

ice cream salt will kill banana trees

Just water will rot out if the center trunks are hollowed out to hold that water, or just keep cutting them back

That was nine years ago, guys. Don't need information any longer, thank you.

Yeah, sometimes we forget to look at the dates, but on the other hand someone researching how to get rid of banana trees might find the recent comments useful as well as the old ones. In the rocky thin soil where I live presently the drought did them in. Even though they were on a drip system it wasn't enough to overcome the dry soil around the drip. There were fewer and fewer every year until one year there were none. Years ago at my old house with deeper soil they stayed around long enough to make huge clumps and produce fruit.

so how is the clump doing after all these years? lol!

It's doing very well !

LMAO just read the whole thread.... was googling how to kill banana trees.... wish I could have offered for someone to dig them up, but I have too many pipes and wires in the area. :-(

You can do both, but if you cut them down and hollow out the center of each stalk just water could do the job or stump killer is the hard way

Okay, thanks. UNFORTUNATELY I had already started working on them, but then conferred with Dr. Google when my neighbor told me you could not kill them.... but sounds like I am on the right track. I hope they didn't feel pain when I butchered them with the reciprocating saw!!!!

As long as water can set in your cutting they will rot.

ok--so I just read this whole thread too because I have to do something about these banana trees-- My fence at the bottom is bowing out cause of the huge stalks (and probably roots-- This is my 3-4th year having them and they keep reproducing like crazy -- I think I need to call a tree company to take care of them because they are up against my fence line and I also have big boulders (you can't see) so it's very hard for me to get to-- They may have to take some of the fence down to get to them

I have never had to take a banana tree out BUT I did remove 2 oak trees this spring by using a cordless reciprocating sawsall with a brush blade from diablo and I cut into the dirt and used a sharpened hole shooter shovel ( a skinny shovel) to lift them. I bet the saw will separate between the trees pretty well. The saw cut right through the dirt. I used a cordless but your power source is not far so one could use a corded sawmill. I would put a tarp down on that pretty rock work to keep the sap off of it. Duck tape it downs it won't move.

Sawsalls are GREAT gardening tools

Banana trunks are very soft and watery.

Omar