Re: Letting Bananas Grow into Stand
I saw a video of a hobby grower in Puerto Rico and gave tons of advice on OPs concern of bigger yields and not wanting to dig into the root ball.
He does not dig the pups out, he leaves pups on the mother plant but he will regularly cut the pups off at the stem with a knife. The pups are still alive and will grow back.
He explains this is the best way to direct energy to the mother plant as it will not damage the root system in any way.
Then once the plant reaches full maturity and produces fruit he allows the pups to grow as normal and if desired can be dug out as that will be the best time to do so.
I'm trying this myself with my Dwarf Cavendish as it had a huge pup competing with the mother plant, I cut it off at the base of the stem with a knife as the guy suggested. The pup of course continued to grow back immediately but at a much slower rate and the mother plant is now growing much faster. So I have the best of both worlds now since I also want to grow a mat as well.
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Varieties I'm Growing
From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niņo ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart
Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn
From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol
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