Louise

I planted my Musa giant dwarf 'Enano' last night but broke the stem about half way through. I propped it up with a flower stake. Will it heal or should I just go ahead and cut it off and let it start over?
I just looked up some info and found this is the same as Cavendish, Is that correct?
If so I will need to dug it up in the winter and put in the greenhouse as I am in zone 7.

tophersmith

Leave it alone, even if the main stem doesn't recover it should pup out from the base as long as the plants not to young. I had a similar problem with my California Gold and it came back from the main stem. I too am in zone 7.

Bananaman88

Chris,

While I agree that it will probably eventually put out a pup I have to say that, in my opinion, it would start regrowing almost immediately if he cut it off just below where he broke it. Dont you think a leaf would just emerge from the point of the cut that way? Then he doesn't have to wait a few weeks for the emergence of a pup. Just my opinion. I know that is what I would do. I think propping it is only setting it up to break at that point again sometime in the future.

just j

i agree cut it off it will grow better faster and look the same in no time

Gabe15

agreed, just cut it right below where it snapped. if you leave it, its possible the new leaves can grow thru it and superficially heal the wound, but often I find that what happens instead is that the new leaves get stuck behind the dead bit and will eventually bust thru, but you waste time it could have been having those same leaves exposed to the sun if you just cut it.

__________________
Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

tophersmith

I had to cut twice before a new leag emerged, I guess it depends on if the banana is actively growing (mine broke when removing it from my crawl space).