Mothers a Tease

Going Bananas!

Just when my plants were about to give up the ghost Mother Nature gave us a taste of what is in store. We had a few days of really mild weather so I took the opportunity to take my plants out for some sun. They really needed it.

They loved it. You can see some of them shot out about 6 inches in two days. Just a couple things I've notice in growing my trees.

1.) When you replant your trees in the spring you should have a shoot at least 12-18 tall to make sure you get a tree. Your trees will have died back over the winter and once you get them back in their pots your going to need to cut that shoot back, so you'll need some plant to work with. If you start at the top and lightly squeeze the stalk, sliding your hand down the stalk as soon as it gets firm cut the stalk on an angle. If you see green in the middle then your in good shape, if not then keep going down till you do.

2.) If you have any babies, small starts coming up from the roots of the mother plant, you need to separate them from the mother and replant them by themselves. I have found that if you leave young saplings on the mother too long the mother will die. I always remove as much dirt as posible and with a kitchen carving knife I try to separate the root start as close to the mother as I can, being sure to include several nice roots on the start. Repot both of them and now you've doubled your yield.

3.) I feed mine quit often but then I keep mine in containers. If you plant yours in the ground it would depend on your soil as to how you fertilize. I have also found that in order to get any height from them you should prune the older leaves from time to time and of course you should clip and damaged leaves. Most of my trees could support 8-10 leaves.

Here's some pictures of past banana trees;

I love to use them as back ground and fill. Banana trees by themselves aren't very aesthetic but when they are combined with other plants or several banana plants they looks really nice.

I was just having some fun here. I'm thinking of getting one of these done as a film covering for an overhead florescent light fixture.

Bananas are fun. I hope you get a chance to grow some. They don't take a very big pot they don't mind their roots being cramped but they will grow bigger in a bigger pot. Water frequently and fertilize often depending on where you plant. Then at the end of the season just dig them up or do like I do and just put them in the garage pot and all..

Now I think I'm gonna have a banana split...