Banana Mat help!
I have a lot of varieties but today I am concerned about my Ice Cream mats. I have 4 mats total and I have noticed something strange. Temps have around 80F lately but the mother p-stems in 3 mats are not doing anything at all. One has grown about 7 inches while 2 have not grown at all! I have cut back 1-2 inches and they are green and healthy as can be. Pups already have multiple leafs out.
Last year I lost a large p-steam that just happened to die. Frost didn't even kill all my leafs in Dec 2008, and by Jan 2009 it was mostly in the 70s and was leafing well. Then suddenly after some cool rain (nowhere near freezing) I noticed it had stopped and the pups were growing like crazy. So I cut some back and noticed the whole thing had died down to the ground. So... I was completely shocked. My only theory is that it decided to put the energy into the pups instead (as they were growing at a phenomenal rate)
Obviously I want the mother p-stem to grow because they are only a leaf or two from flowering. Is it normal for the mat to put energy into the pups and let the main one die? I'm afraid that is what will happen here.
Can anything be done now? What can be done in the future to prevent this?
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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches
Last edited by enigma99a : 03-19-2010 at 05:04 PM.
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