revolutionman

I'm having an issue with my banana plants this season. Many of them are fruiting, and once the fruit reaches a certain size the plant just creases in two. Some times its down low at the base of the plant near the corm, other times its more toward the middle.

Whats bugging me is that they are beautiful, seemingly healthy plants, on day they are almost perfectly erect with beautiful fruit developing, and the next day its bent over. if the corm had just come out I'd attribute it to erosion and softening of the ground from the rain, if it was just one skinny and/or tall plant i could just write it off, but its five plants, 4 bananas and one plantain. The winds haven't been particularly intense either. is this a lack of nutrition?

My mother wont STFU because the plants are falling over and she seems to think I could be doing something about this. But she doesn't know what, and neither do I. I need help. We'll start with the bananas and then you can help me look for an apartment. LoL

D_&_T

Have you been supporting the peduncle (fruit bunch) or just letting them hang?

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revolutionman

I tend to just allow them to hang. How would i go about supporting it? With a stick or somethin?

LilRaverBoi

Yeah, some varieties are more prone to this than others. It's typically not an issue of a nutrient deficiency, just too much weight for the pseudostem to bear adequately. As D&T said, you should try supporting the bunch at the top of the pseudostem. I've seen people construct things with two pieces of PVC pipe with a connecting section to tie around the stem. Hopefully someone will post more ideas/pictures here.

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jack hagenaars

This summer we had a heavy wind storm and one of my young M basjoos was blown over near the bottom of the trunk...I gently lifted it back into place put a stick(tied like a splint,abobe and below the bend) and it healed itself in a couple of weeks..its now good as new and stronger then ever...I have since removed the splint.....they are so forgivving!!!goodl luck!

Rmplmnz

I recommend supporting the pseudostem with bamboo or pvc or whatever is available...a few examples..

Right hand side of picture...
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revolutionman

thankfully none of my plantains even grow that tall, I'll be able to support them with pretty much any sturdy piece of branch or piping i find lying around. Thanks much guys.

Bananaman88

Also, do a search for bunch props here on the site and you'll find a lot of good pics. I'll have a "how to" aritcle on this subject in the next issue of Bananas Quarterly.

Rmplmnz

That will be a good article topic....

The key is to support the "stem of the Raceme"

And not the/just the pseudostem...

Bananaman88

That is absolutely correct. If you just stake the pstem, it will still eventually break over at the weak point that invariable seems to form somewhere along the pstem of all fruiting bananas. I've had this happen-make sure to support the raceme, right where it bends over from the top of the pstem.