I have a hearty banana plant in a planter. The planter is huge but I'm afraid that it might become too small very soon. I presently have a banana plant with 4, 3 foot stalks growing and with quite nice leaves, I also have 2 very small little stalks that just started. I know I will have to bring it in the house soon, and with minimal watering, keep it in the basement, under the flourescent lighting that's on all the time down there, till the spring. When that happens, I'd like to transplant the larger stalks to a very nice warm and sunny place in my garden. I'd like to keep the small ones in the planter. How do I go about even attempting to do this? I'm not sure if You can split the corm or not, and of course that idea scares the heck out of me. Thank you, Missiongarden. :confused:
If you are asking about hardy banana (Musa basjoo) that has been grown outdoors (in the ground) for decades in Vancouver. Maybe you can plant yours in the ground and have it live also. Small (less than say, 5 gallon pot size or perhaps bigger) specimens should be well mulched their first winter.
You can and should be separating the pups (the secondary shoots and the 3 taller stems as well) in order to increase your plant's available space and nutrients. If it's Musa basjoo, which I suspect is true, it can go into the ground for you as long as you are diligent about heavy mulching and winter protection, and will come back year after year unless you get a really aberrant, cold winter. The International Banana Society has an excellent tutorial on how to separate pups - you shouldn't worry about cutting up the corm, it's how these plants are propagated, both in a home-garden and industrial sense.
The finest planting I've seen was in Vancouver, just north of UBC and was present when an eyewitness began working on the property during the 1950s.
Wow! Thank you all VERY much for your responses to my little question. I can't waite to get started. I was told that the Banana is actually in the grasses family. and that now would be fine to transplant it to the garden with good mulch and a protective covering. I Think I know what I'm going to be doing this weekend. LOL You've all been very helpful. thanks alot again! Hugggs Missiongarden
