Help needed with my new ebay monster banana

[rufc15lizzie]

Hi all,
I purchased that £10 banana that was for sale on ebay. Picked it up yesterday, its a monster.
I need help on two things really. An identification, and maintenence on it.

My thoughts is its a dwarf cavendish purely because they purchased it from Lidl/Aldi 2.5 years ago.
I've put some pics for you to see below (hopefully).
All this growth is from 2 years. It has been sat in a conservatory that drops down to 5 degrees C on a cold night.
The leaves are very dark green with a white powdery underside.
The leaves and leaf stems are pretty solid.

monster banana.jpg (45.42 KiB) Viewed 1500 times

stem size.jpg (41.8 KiB) Viewed 1500 times

close up of stem.jpg (43.5 KiB) Viewed 1500 times

My second advice needed is on what to do now.
I know this might sound daft but i need to chop a few leaves off to make it managable where it is (plus some are a bit ropey looking).

Will chopping too many leaves up set it?
Is it possible to chop off or seperate either of those two side stems?
If it is cavendish, next winter when i bring it back in, can you chop all the leaves off and cut top of stem (like over wintering a basjoo) and leave it to regrow in the house over winter? (i don't think it will get back in the house next winter otherwise, i'm worried it won't get back out by June also.

My plan is to put it some where sheltered in the garden in summer. There are two small pups at the back which i am going to seperate and save incase the banana perishes. Which it most likely will if i can't tame it in someway.

[kata]

Please edit your post,

Then..

Use browse function which appears just after the posting box, then click add the file...done.

We can help you more then ruf...

[The Codfather]

cant see the pics....

[The Codfather]

ah, can now...

[rufc15lizzie]

i've done it now.
They are at the bottom.

[grub]

It's a Cav, yes you can take off some leaves and yes you can remove those pups , I'd put it into a bigger pot though.

[Yorkshire Kris]

It's done very well in 2 years to survive and grow that big. Also done well not to get Red Spider Mite and other bugs.

You can chop all the leaves off if you really have to and it will grow from the stem no problems.

[rufc15lizzie]

Grub, the pups at the back are really small, just sprouted through so i was going to wait a little.
Those at either side visible on the photo are 8 inches in circumference. So they will come off OK? or did you mean the little ones.

[kata]

Well done ruf,

And the advice you already got is the best.

Fabulous plants!

[grub]

Grub, the pups at the back are really small, just sprouted through so i was going to wait a little.
Those at either side visible on the photo are 8 inches in circumference. So they will come off OK? or did you mean the little ones.

I tend to leave pups until they are 12" to 18" tall before removing them but this is a Cavendish, they pup like crazy so if you like you can remove the smaller ones and try to nurse them on. If they don't make it so what, you'll get loads more anyway . The big ones I would just take just one at a time and give the parent plant a chance to recover some root.

[mushtaq86]

Hi all,
I purchased that £10 banana that was for sale on ebay. Picked it up yesterday, its a monster.
I need help on two things really. An identification, and maintenence on it.

My thoughts is its a dwarf cavendish purely because they purchased it from Lidl/Aldi 2.5 years ago.
I've put some pics for you to see below (hopefully).
All this growth is from 2 years. It has been sat in a conservatory that drops down to 5 degrees C on a cold night.
The leaves are very dark green with a white powdery underside.
The leaves and leaf stems are pretty solid.

[img]

monster%20banana.jpg

[/img]
[img]

stem%20size.jpg

[/img]
[img]

close%20up%20of%20stem.jpg

[/img]

My second advice needed is on what to do now.
I know this might sound daft but i need to chop a few leaves off to make it managable where it is (plus some are a bit ropey looking).

Will chopping too many leaves up set it?
Is it possible to chop off or seperate either of those two side stems?
If it is cavendish, next winter when i bring it back in, can you chop all the leaves off and cut top of stem (like over wintering a basjoo) and leave it to regrow in the house over winter? (i don't think it will get back in the house next winter otherwise, i'm worried it won't get back out by June also.

My plan is to put it some where sheltered in the garden in summer. There are two small pups at the back which i am going to seperate and save incase the banana perishes. Which it most likely will if i can't tame it in someway.

You might have a super dwarf cav there,cavs are fussy nanas
doesn't take much to hit the self destruct buttons on these,as they prefer bright light and warm conditions.

Temps not to be dropped less than 14c for a considerable amount of time.

If you don't have the space just cut the leaves to three quarter of the size rather than removing the whole leaf with the petiole as you could stress the whole plant.

Don't remove any pups until May.

They don't really grow well outside in our summer conditions unless he have a hot summer.

[grub]

Mush not wanting to disagree but... it's already about 6ft in it's pot so a little large I'd have thought for a Super Dwarf, my moneys on a standard Cav, flowering at about 12ft

[mushtaq86]

Mush not wanting to disagree but... it's already about 6ft in it's pot so a little large I'd have thought for a Super Dwarf, my moneys on a standard Cav, flowering at about 12ft

I never realized the pot was on the floor i thought it was on a table need my eyes testing not all dwarf cavs fruit at 12ft in their first year of fruit some fruit at 6ft to 8ft before second or third year when they will fruit at 12ft plus every year.

[call]

you got that for a tenner
bargain or what

[Shamone10]

Wow yes, what a bargain I would've bought if I lived closer!