Musa propagation

Cavendish certainly does sucker prolifically. I would leave it until its in active growth then seperate the pups from the corm with a sharp knife making sure each has independant roots.

I never usually detach pups from any banana unless they are approx 6" tall but with dwarf varieties you can get away with smaller as long as they have independant roots.

I generally pot up the pups in a multi purpose compost with perlite and sharp sand to improve drainage in an approx mix of;
60 percent compost
30 percent perlite
10 percent sharp sand

 

Yes, if you find any without roots leave them attached to the parent plant until the pup develops independant roots. Its much easier that way.

 

Musa Monkey - thanks for the useful information. I also have a dwarf Cavendish that I am overwintering - indoors at 10C under some low level lighting.

What is the best way to overwinter bananas. I have seen people wrap them up outdoors, but what happens to the leaves without any light? And could I overwinter mine in a frost free shed with a very low light level.

 

Peter,

Overwintering methods vary considerably with banana species. If they are left in the ground outside, most people will cut off the leaves and wrap the Pstem in the hope that the stem will survive winter. In the USA they often dig them up and store them dry root under the house.

The most cold tolorant banana species available in the UK at the moment is musa basjoo which is root hardy down to -12c and beyond. It's certainly seen that temperature in my garden although the main stem (Pstem) will be cut to the ground it grows back from root stock every year.

I have many other basjoos in pots that i store in the garage without light or heat and they survive the experience intact every year and my garage saw circa -2c this year.

Musa Cavendish is far less tolorant of cold and damp and will not be happy in temperatures much below 5c. In short, if it sees any negative temperature it will turn to mush. Species such as this are best kept indoors over winter in the UK. A window cill is ideal. They should be watered very lightly and misted regularly to avoid RSM and the like.

I keep a few of my more tropical species under a power saving 24w full spectrum light for 12 hours a day. It keeps them ticking over nicely until spring. Your current method should ensure the cavendish survives (just keep a sharp eye for RSM) however i would be less confdent of that if you overwintered it outside.

I hope that helps and to answer your questions directly;
1) Without light the leaves will go brown and eventually die back altogether.
2) A cavendish is unlikely to survive in a frost free shed unless the temperature is permanantly maintained above 5c


regards
Alan

 

MM, many thanks for your very full and helpful reply.

Like Armandii, my dwark Cavendish was an impulse buy. It looked interesting and was going very cheap. I am a great believer in occasional impulse buys, as they get you into and spark an interest in totally new areas.

After buying it, I had a Google and became aware that it was not a terribly practical purchase as it needed more winter heat than most other bananas - but I do have some room inside. However you have cleared up an important point of principle. And that is that they can sprout again from the base, and consequently can afford to lose all their leaves and go dormant (with no light) over winter.

I was also interested in your comment about keeping some tropicals just ticking over, over winter, under a 24 watt light. I have done the same thing - for the first time, with a 120 watt fluorescent light (2 x 4 ft T8s) in an area about 10C - 12C. I am keeping a number of different plants, and have been amazed at how well they have been doing. Many of them are growing steadily, and my Brugmansias have also been flowering. My main problem has been in how much to water them. I don't like to keep them too dry as they are in active growth.