bananimal

The Hua Moa has sprouted 10 pups. The literature says growth and fruiting of the mama will be set back by supporting this many. Would like to save them all as several neighbors, relatives and forum folks say they want one.

What say y'all?

Pic shows 7 of the 10 pups.

Taylor

Although not an expert, I had a D. Red pup 5 times within a week and the rest of that season (a month) the mother put out a few leaves but the pups did not progress at all. Id cut a few off, maybe try to root them, but with so many it wouldn't be necessary.

Maybe cut off all but the 3 biggest ones. ?

Taylor

But then my question is how can you cut off 7 pups safely? This would devastate it's roots and not to mention slicing the corm so many time. Thanks experts.

STEELVIPER

Let them grow out some. I would say over a foot or more each. Then remove as many as you feel you can without decapitating the corm. You may have to sacrifice few,but i think you can harvest most if not all.

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Taylor

Mark, will they continue to grow with so much drainage of energy from the mom?

Dan, when did these pups show up?

bananimal

Taylor,

All at the same time!!! None of the others has come close. The Saba produces less than the others. But each one is so big and fat at 2' that I have to use the "Pitanga" digging bar with a 2x4 fulcrum to get it the heck out!

They rose out of the ground spaced evenly apart, and the same distance from the mama. Like a royal crown of 10 spires - sounds neat, eh? The mama looks ok even with the recent cold weather. None of the others is showing faster growth. The only one I am concerned about is the Red Kru - it's leaves are steadily deteriorating - has 3 pups - 4", 16" and 24". One is reserved for Terry at a nominal price. Take the bait, eh mate!

Dan

island cassie

I agree with Mark - let them grow out to about 1ft before you separate some from the main plant. I'm no expert but my red banana pup was about that size when it was passed over to me, and when I planted it - it looked pathetic. But it took off and did well - as long as the ground (or pot) is warm I would think that size is ok.

Lucky you to have so many!!

Cassie

Taylor

I change my opinion. Like they said, grow them out if they are growing constantly now (mine weren't). Then, chop one or 2 off at a time until you have a desired sized mat.

STEELVIPER

That is up to you if your going to let them all grow at once. How tall is the mother plant? The pups do need some size on them before you go and dig them out.It may not be possible to save all the pups, then again you never know till you try? just make sure you do not kill the mother in the process. So maybe think about saving half the number of pups. After its all said and done, post! tell us what happened. What you did? etc..

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jason

yes ,Steelviper is right wait till the pups are about maybe 2 feet tall and than cut them away from mom,sometimes when you cut the pups and their small they do not have any roots yet and than they will die !

momoese

I think you should consider spaying or neutering your nanas.

bananimal

Very funny, Mitchel. This, from a man with an avatar of peeled bananas poked in the sand - lookin' like yellow penguins waddling off to the surf for sardines.

Hey, let's blame Going Bananas Don. He's the Papa - I'm just the foster parent. Also, you know they got some pretty weird soil down in them there Dade county Redlands.

MediaHound

lol @ spaying or neutering


Agreed with the others, that plant is getting near fruiting and those will take off afterwards. If while it is fruiting and the bunch is hanging, you can remove the largest, but in all actuality its the first bloom, wont be the largest bloom it will get anyway. It's not as if you have very large, demanding pups on there. Perhaps leave them and next time it blooms you will have very large pups at blooming time and you will know what to do them. You can even have one or two large pups on there, different sizes is important. So cut them one at a time, allow the sizes to stagger. Hope this info helps, its somewhat general info but knowing it will be useful as the seasons pass.

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tlturbo

Dan,

I would be interested to see if they keep growing.

I just cut down a Hua Moa that fruited last month. Over the past year, the single trunk tried to put out 4-6 pups that just grew about 2-4 inches then stopped. AFTER I cut down the fruited trunk, these pups have all taken off.

I also have a Goldfinger that did the same thing - nice ring of pups all around the single main trunk. That trunk is now in fruit and none of the pups are over a foot tall.

Most of my other plants throw off pups that keep growing.

One commonality to these plants is that they all came from Going Bananas also. They were planted in my yard in Pembroke and I dug them up (single plant about 5 ft) and transplanted them here about almost 3 years ago. Obviously severe shock as it has taken over 3 years to fruit. Hopefully the second gen plants will fare better.

So I'm interested in knowing if your Hua Moa pups keep growing or just stop and sit there.

Oh yeah, I loved the Hua Moa fruit - especialy when very ripe. BUT the center vein where the teeeeeny seeds are, needed to be cut out as it was pitthy. Wonder if this is normal?

Take care - Terry

bananimal

Thanks for the input guys. The mama is about 6' tall at emergence. I like to use the digging bar Jon recommends because the blade is narrow enough to prevent wholesale root damage. My plan right now is do nothing but restart the monthly fertilizer, and topdress with about an inch of cow manure or mushroom compost. Last night's 7 day forcast is for steadily increasing highs into the low 80's, and lows in the mid to low 60's. This is the first time one or 2 cold fronts have not shown up in the 7 day window in 2 months.

Had a lot of experience cutting out, potting 6" pups only to have them strangle and rot cause of the cold wet feet.

In March - will surgically remove 2 HM pups with a long fillet knife. But only after they have some size - say a foot.

Dan

MediaHound

Going Bananas only sells tissue cultured plants. Perhaps its something about TC's, another one of the differences vs. planting corms.

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bananimal

I lost at least a year of growth on half of my naners because of the lack of robustness of TC's. I'm convinced now that it's best never to order TC's in the winter so they have to go in pots. Best to plant directly in the ground after frost danger with moderate nite temps in the 60's.

All the dug up pups from Jeffrey, Terry and Brian took off straight away after 1 month dormancy. And they will fruit this year without a doubt.

Dan

Chironex

I am working my way through all of the threads and have found so many great tips...but a term keeps arising that I can't figure out. What is a 'mat?'

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Scot

xavierdlc61887

its a clump of alot of banana plants ...now if u dont know what a clump is :P im sorry look at the dictionary :P

NANAMAN

I have a general rule, not to remove any pups from the mother corm until a fruit bunch is harvested from it. Then I decide which ones I want to leave,(for the next harvest), and remove pups from the opposite side of the corm. Usually, by the time the bunch is ripe, 1 or 2 of the pups will be considerably larger than the rest. These are what I keep. Any that are growing close to the ones I'm keeping, I whack them of at ground level.The only pups that ever get removed,are ones that I give away. I live in a windy coastal area, and mostly developed this method, to keep the roots strong, and keep them from being blown over. This leaves me with several plants per mat, and usually a few ripe bunches per year, per mat. Before anyone mentions mat management, production does'nt seem to suffer in my climate. The plants are fertilized and watered heavily,and produce multiple bunches simultaniously.

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