Why cut spent banana trees?

[ZPalms]

I've been thinking about this for a while now and I've googled but nothing comes up and it's probably the obvious but why do we need to cut spent banana trees? do they just not grow anymore? I just want an explaination on why it needs to be done, one banana stalk from last year I haven't cut down yet and it's just sitting along with the others still solid.

Edited February 6, 2024 by ZPalms

[Silas_Sancona]

24 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

I've been thinking about this for a while now and I've googled but nothing comes up and it's probably the obvious but why do we need to cut spent banana trees? do they just not grow anymore? I just want an explaination on why it needs to be done, one banana stalk from last year I haven't cut down yet and it's just sitting along with the others still solid.

Once a mature Pseudostem flowers, and has set mature fruit,   it has completed it's life cycle  and will die off.. Plant itself will not as new shoots that emerge from the plant's Corm will grow to repeat the growth cycle.

Since the old growth will die off anyway, most folks just remove it before it has completely died out / collapsed.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/banana/do-banana-trees-die-after-fruiting.htm

[ZPalms]

26 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Once a mature Pseudostem flowers, and has set mature fruit,   it has completed it's life cycle  and will die off.. Plant itself will not as new shoots that emerge from the plant's Corm will grow to repeat the growth cycle.

Since the old growth will die off anyway, most folks just remove it before it has completely died out / collapsed.

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/banana/do-banana-trees-die-after-fruiting.htm

Aah ok that makes sense, I just assumed that as of now my bananas main first stalk is still strong and hasn't collapsed yet so I was confused, If it's in the middle of dying it's surely taking its time 😂 but I'll chop it once were closer to spring! thanks!

[Silas_Sancona]

5 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

Aah ok that makes sense, I just assumed that as of now my bananas main first stalk is still strong and hasn't collapsed yet so I was confused, If it's in the middle of dying it's surely taking its time 😂 but I'll chop it once were closer to spring! thanks!

Since it's still firm and green, w/ just the leaves were burnt off,   you might leave it and see if it tries to push new growth and continue on to it's flowering cycle.  Soft and Brown, low down,  cut it off.

[ZPalms]

5 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Since it's still firm and green, w/ just the leaves were burnt off,   you might leave it and see if it tries to push new growth and continue on to it's flowering cycle.  Soft and Brown, low down,  cut it off.

It should be done flowering because I cut the flower off it in december unless you mean it wants to maybe try again?

Edited February 6, 2024 by ZPalms

[Silas_Sancona]

Just now, ZPalms said:

It should be done flowering because I cut the flower off it in december unless you mean it wants to try again?

Aah..   Forgot you'd mentioned it had already flowered..   Yep, ready to be chopped..

[Tracy]

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Since the old growth will die off anyway, most folks just remove it before it has completely died out / collapsed.

Here where I live, by the time I harvest the fruit, there are only a couple of green leaves remaining, the rest are pretty tattered and/or brown.  Hence the decision to take them down and thin out the growth every time I harvest the bunch of bananas or if I'm only removing a hand at a time, after I harvest the last hand.

Sometimes they are leaning and ready to collapse under the weight of the bunch of bananas, which also is a good reason to remove before they die out completely.  Nathan's response above is good, I'm just filling in some added detail.

[happypalms]

Cut the stem in half not completely off at ground level the half stem stores water for the new suckers 

[ZPalms]

3 hours ago, happypalms said:

Cut the stem in half not completely off at ground level the half stem stores water for the new suckers 

I watched a video and they carved a bowl in it so water stores in the stem and prevents bugs from laying eggs in it and disease, Is that what your saying to do?

[happypalms]

6 hours ago, ZPalms said:

I watched a video and they carved a bowl in it so water stores in the stem and prevents bugs from laying eggs in it and disease, Is that what your saying to do?

Is that the corm they carved a bowl in I worked in banana industry when I was younger we would just cut the stool in half I asked the boss one day why do they cut it only in half his reply was to store water also it’s common for banana to lose all off leaves when it has a bunch if it’s stressed or under fertilised or diseased we would regularly remove the old leaves with a tool called a high knife basically a long handle knife I have seen bunchs of bananas hanging on stools with only one leaf there a herb so pretty tough as far plants go we would cover the bunch with a plastic bag remove the bottom 3 or 4 hands to improve fruit size desucker them leaving 2 suckers either side of the parent plant fertilise them regularly prop the stool up with two wooden poles roped together a very labour intensive plant grown commercially but very rewarding fruit dry them in a solor dehydrater chocolate coated frozen bananas are delicious making the most of the harvest 

[metalfan]

From my personal experience its better to chop it after it flowers because is easier to drag off before it falls and crushes adjacent plants

[ZPalms]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

Is that the corm they carved a bowl in I worked in banana industry when I was younger we would just cut the stool in half I asked the boss one day why do they cut it only in half his reply was to store water also it’s common for banana to lose all off leaves when it has a bunch if it’s stressed or under fertilised or diseased we would regularly remove the old leaves with a tool called a high knife basically a long handle knife I have seen bunchs of bananas hanging on stools with only one leaf there a herb so pretty tough as far plants go we would cover the bunch with a plastic bag remove the bottom 3 or 4 hands to improve fruit size desucker them leaving 2 suckers either side of the parent plant fertilise them regularly prop the stool up with two wooden poles roped together a very labour intensive plant grown commercially but very rewarding fruit dry them in a solor dehydrater chocolate coated frozen bananas are delicious making the most of the harvest 

They chopped the trunk and then they carved a bowl into the remaining trunk close to the ground so it would fill with water, Do you have a visual for cutting it in half? I'm kinda scared of cutting the stalk and it gets infected

Edited February 7, 2024 by ZPalms

[Chester B]

If you don't cut it down, it will come down on its own.  Anything nearby will be crushed.  

Just cut it, don't overthink it.  You're not going to infect the plant.

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, ZPalms said:

They chopped the trunk and then they carved a bowl into the remaining trunk close to the ground so it would fill with water, Do you have a visual for cutting it in half? I'm kinda scared of cutting the stalk and it gets infected

Just cut the stool in half at chest height in horticulture it can look quite brutal when you cut plants for better productivity I also work in the blueberries and every season we prune the plants totally removing all the foliage leaving a rose shaped bush or vase shaped frame it looks brutal but in a few months you wouldn’t even think they were pruned 

[ZPalms]

6 hours ago, happypalms said:

Just cut the stool in half at chest height in horticulture it can look quite brutal when you cut plants for better productivity I also work in the blueberries and every season we prune the plants totally removing all the foliage leaving a rose shaped bush or vase shaped frame it looks brutal but in a few months you wouldn’t even think they were pruned 

Oh ok! I can do that! Pruning and stuff always makes me nervous I'm gonna hurt a plant or my sheers transfering infection, though I do clean them. I chopped the top of my avocado and it took basically a year before it sent out a new branch so I thought it was toast

Edited February 8, 2024 by ZPalms

[Merlyn]

I try to do one of two things:

1. Leave it to dry out and dessicate, then cut off just above ground level.  This works great on smaller diameter (1-2") like Bordelon.  I can easily trim out the old stems when I get around to cleaning up the dead leaves.  It does not work so well on big ones like Ice Cream.  Big ones turn into a rotten stinky mushy mess and stay that way, slumped over and sliming everything within range...for months.  And it's really difficult to cut up rotten mush.  Yuck.
2. Slice off the old ones as soon as they flower (if I am not growing for the fruit), or if the top is killed by frost.  I do this for any large diameter ones (or tall ones).  The downside is that you are cutting up a lot of water-heavy stem.  It's a little awkward to put out for the yard trash pickup, but it is very easy to chop into pieces with a big kukri knife (under 6" diameter) or a drywall saw (over 6" diameter). 

Deciding if a stem is dead is kinda guesswork though, at least for me.  So I probably cut a few Ice Cream down that would have flowered.  I ended up removing mine because they quickly grew into an unmanageable cluster 20' in diameter.  But that's probably not an issue in NC. 

[ZPalms]

9 hours ago, Merlyn said:

I try to do one of two things:

1. Leave it to dry out and dessicate, then cut off just above ground level.  This works great on smaller diameter (1-2") like Bordelon.  I can easily trim out the old stems when I get around to cleaning up the dead leaves.  It does not work so well on big ones like Ice Cream.  Big ones turn into a rotten stinky mushy mess and stay that way, slumped over and sliming everything within range...for months.  And it's really difficult to cut up rotten mush.  Yuck.
2. Slice off the old ones as soon as they flower (if I am not growing for the fruit), or if the top is killed by frost.  I do this for any large diameter ones (or tall ones).  The downside is that you are cutting up a lot of water-heavy stem.  It's a little awkward to put out for the yard trash pickup, but it is very easy to chop into pieces with a big kukri knife (under 6" diameter) or a drywall saw (over 6" diameter). 

Deciding if a stem is dead is kinda guesswork though, at least for me.  So I probably cut a few Ice Cream down that would have flowered.  I ended up removing mine because they quickly grew into an unmanageable cluster 20' in diameter.  But that's probably not an issue in NC. 

I wish I could get a unmanageable cluster of 20' of bananas, that sounds great for me 😂 when I cut the stem up I'll be chopping it up and placing it back at the bottom of the bananas

[PalmsandLiszt]

You can just chop up a banana's root mass (specifically the bits that have meristematic cells) to get infinitely more bananas. It's basically tissue culture, but bananas are so tough you don't need a laboratory. A little fungicide would help, but is not absolutely essential. Keep the bits of bulb, root, whatever the term of art is in a warm and moist medium and you'll get scores of suckers probably within weeks.
This definitely works for Musa and Ensete; not sure about Strelitzia, Ravenala, etc. I dare say it would.

[ZPalms]

30 minutes ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

You can just chop up a banana's root mass (specifically the bits that have meristematic cells) to get infinitely more bananas. It's basically tissue culture, but bananas are so tough you don't need a laboratory. A little fungicide would help, but is not absolutely essential. Keep the bits of bulb, root, whatever the term of art is in a warm and moist medium and you'll get scores of suckers probably within weeks.
This definitely works for Musa and Ensete; not sure about Strelitzia, Ravenala, etc. I dare say it would.

Wait is their more information on this? And visual?

Edited February 11, 2024 by ZPalms

[Tracy]

On 2/7/2024 at 4:53 AM, metalfan said:

From my personal experience its better to chop it after it flowers because is easier to drag off before it falls and crushes adjacent plants

I just had to do this yesterday.  The trunk was leaning into my Encephalartos laurentianus, with the banana bunch hanging down over the new flush that is emerging.  Rather than wait for damage, I cut off the bunch below then removed the trunk.  We brought some of these green bananas in to ripen with other fruit and left the other hands outside, which I can bring into the house as they begin to ripen.