Hardy Tropicals UK

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I have 4 musa basjoo plants which are over 15 foot high I have removed all the leaves and brought them inside in their pots for overwintering .Unfortunately they are still putting up new leaves,not a problem ,but.... one of them has just sent out a large flower... If I cut off the flower now will I be able to stop the plant from dying and save the 15 foot stem

I think that your flowering musa is going to die whether or not the flower is removed. It is the natural way of musa's for the main stem to die after flowering. You should have new youngsters emerge from the base.

The flower is the last growth you will get from that stem, but normally they grow lots of pups before getting to that stage.

Yup, that stems a gonner! Enjoy the flowers and save the pups

Thanks for your replies
Unfortunately it hasn't sent up any pups yet

I would have left one or two in situ, that way you will be almost guaranteed to have new 'pups'/plants come early Summer. Mine have always been left as they are, stem wrapped if I want to retain the height, but usually no protection whatsoever - even after the 2010 Winter when the main trunks perished, new growth made 5 plus feet of trunk.

Hi guys,I have two also doing this right now. Also in pots about 7 feet high,both with pups luckily! Only prob is that one of them has the pup growing right at the edge of the pot distorting the plastic as it grows! Guess IL have to repot it into an even larger one,darn it another one I'll hardly be able to move around cos of the weight! Been growing basjoos now for 3 years and these are my first nana flowers,a little growing landmark for me I believe. I know it seems quite insignificant to you guys who have been growing these for years but for us that have only been into tropical for a few years its the incentive to persevere and continue with these more interesting plant species. Half my tiny garden is taken over by greenhouses now! Nige

"I know it seems quite insignificant to you guys who have been growing these for years but for us that have only been into tropical for a few years its the incentive to persevere and continue with these more interesting plant species."

Oh how I wish Nige. I've been trying for over 10 years to get a flower and haven't achieved it yet. One of these days..........

Congrats to you and Greyhound for getting them to flower.

Di

This is the flower.Shame I cant remove it to save the stem

When I protect the stem in Winter I found that it took 3-5 years to flower.

DiCasS wrote:
Oh how I wish Nige. I've been trying for over 10 years to get a flower and haven't achieved it yet. One of these days..........

Congrats to you and Greyhound for getting them to flower.

Di

I've been growing since 1993 (20 years) and had flowers twice. One in 2006 and two this year

Here is a pic from today

What's different about this year, I've heard of a few flowering and Nige's in only three years. Normally no-one mentions a flower. If I had one flower I'd be over the moon and probably call the local papers as I'm sure it would be a rarity around here. No-one seems to grow exotics - the only thing I've noticed here are Cordylines, and a Trachycarpus just down the road. But then I can't see back gardens.

Di

Dave Brown wrote:

DiCasS wrote:
Oh how I wish Nige. I've been trying for over 10 years to get a flower and haven't achieved it yet. One of these days..........

Congrats to you and Greyhound for getting them to flower.

Di

I've been growing since 1993 (20 years) and had flowers twice. One in 2006 and two this year

Here is a pic from today

Have you got any to replace the old stems.

Looks like there's more than two stems there Rob - and nice size little fruit there as well.

Browsing today and noticed some small ones are still growing after the top leaf had decided to do an 180 degree flop from a few weeks ago.

Di

Sorry another question from a novice grower
The stem that has produced the flower has not produced any pups yet
When the stem dies following flowering should I keep the root stock in the hope that it will regrow or is the whole plant finished