Pups in Container Plants

Steppenwolfe · 12-14-2015, 01:00 PM

Pups in container plants…Are they needed???

I don't really have interest in having more banana plants of now, may keep an extra 2, and give the rest away. However, I want to know if I remove the pups will it just cause the mother plant to push out more pups…Winter is days away and I don't want to put the plant through more stress.

I do understand that I should wait until pups are about a foot or have 4 leaves (Im not sure which one should I go by).

Also having the pups there will it cause mother plant to lose more nutrients?

Olafhenny · 12-14-2015, 06:37 PM

No, they are not "needed", but that does not keep them from coming anyway.
What you keep depends on what you want them for.

In New York, without a greenhouse, you will probably want them for show, rather
than fruit. And for that purpose you might keep 3 or 4 growing in a patch. If they
are in various heights, the leaves of the lower ones will cover the bare stems of the
high ones.

siege2050 · 12-15-2015, 02:11 PM

If you are just wanting to discard them because of space constraints, you can remove them. But you should leave one or two attached because sometimes Bananas can just decide to die back for whatever reason, not being happy, poor nutrition, rot, etc. You need a pup attached as a backup growth point in case this happens, at least a pup eye. A fruiting stem will also die back once the fruit ripen and you need a replacement. By experience I have found that if the mother stem is large with growth eyes, after fruiting it will grow new pups after dying back, even if none are visible,but it makes me a little nervous to not have a visible backup. It's been my experience that on some varieties like Musa Basjoo, they do pup more if pups are removed. But if you remove pups, they will be constantly replaced as that's the normal banana growth form, the single stem look is not natural lol

12-14-2015, 01:00 PM	#1 (permalink)
Steppenwolfe Location: New York City Join Date: Sep 2015 Posts: 25 BananaBucks : 19,813 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 14 Times Was Thanked 17 Times in 9 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Pups in Container Plants Pups in container plants…Are they needed??? I don't really have interest in having more banana plants of now, may keep an extra 2, and give the rest away. However, I want to know if I remove the pups will it just cause the mother plant to push out more pups…Winter is days away and I don't want to put the plant through more stress. I do understand that I should wait until pups are about a foot or have 4 leaves (Im not sure which one should I go by). Also having the pups there will it cause mother plant to lose more nutrients?

12-14-2015, 06:37 PM	#2 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 253,543 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: Pups in Container Plants No, they are not "needed", but that does not keep them from coming anyway. What you keep depends on what you want them for. In New York, without a greenhouse, you will probably want them for show, rather than fruit. And for that purpose you might keep 3 or 4 growing in a patch. If they are in various heights, the leaves of the lower ones will cover the bare stems of the high ones. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

12-15-2015, 02:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
siege2050 Hobby obsessor maximus Location: Oklahoma Find me on the map! Zone: zone 7 Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 1,092 BananaBucks : 378,464 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 854 Times Was Thanked 1,295 Times in 614 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 85 Times	Re: Pups in Container Plants If you are just wanting to discard them because of space constraints, you can remove them. But you should leave one or two attached because sometimes Bananas can just decide to die back for whatever reason, not being happy, poor nutrition, rot, etc. You need a pup attached as a backup growth point in case this happens, at least a pup eye. A fruiting stem will also die back once the fruit ripen and you need a replacement. By experience I have found that if the mother stem is large with growth eyes, after fruiting it will grow new pups after dying back, even if none are visible,but it makes me a little nervous to not have a visible backup. It's been my experience that on some varieties like Musa Basjoo, they do pup more if pups are removed. But if you remove pups, they will be constantly replaced as that's the normal banana growth form, the single stem look is not natural lol __________________ If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any Banana pudding! How can you have any Banana pudding if you don't eat yer meat?! Click for weather forecast Last edited by siege2050 : 12-15-2015 at 02:14 PM.

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