Hello all. As a part of us clearing our jungle we had banana plants. One over 3m high. It has been cut to it’s base. The other smaller one was dug out. Now they are sprouting again and growing at a phenomenal rate. 30cm in a week! How do we get rid of them as I dont think we will ever get bananas and they will obscure all view if our garden if left. Help please
A good frost usually kills them as water gathers in the base of the leaves after tou have cut them down and reduces them to a soggy mess, that is our experience.
The banana plant looks great in tge summer with its large deep green leaves but when they have gone brown thwy look very unsightly.
Poke a hole into the stump and pour in vinegar and then deprive the stump of light and water - wrap it up, put a big tub over it. And dig out around it to get as many roots as you can.
Hi @JaneJones thanks. However, if we can’t do that or it does get light and water will it keep on multiplying? I’ve never seen anything like it!
It will die eventually, but without nasty chemicals it will be a war of attrition.
And if it was a big banana then there is a massive amount of root so not surprising it has put on a growth spurt. It is geared up to survive! But maybe you have the saviour banana, as commercial growers have been trying to find ones naturally resistant to whatever is killing off plantations at the moment.
My son planted one he had in a pot in his back yard when he boughtthe house five years ago. It went beserk and now there are five trees at least 3-4m high and they all grow bunches of bananas from the big pods but never longer than about four inches long and then they dry and wither. Unfortunately the roots have broken a small garden wall he built next to them so be careful of those.They are spectacular looking and add a bit of exotic along with his palms and cactus.
Sell them.
If you or anyone else wants to come and dig them up by the roots then just let me know.
Sell them???
Buyer collects (and digs up )
In the French tropical islands, they are pulled out by the roots with a special device that can be attached to a tractor - obviously suited to a plantation, but possibly more difficult to source for mainland France - and you’d need a tractor to attach it to.
Our farmer neighbour does this with his tractor and a winch as he uproots all the hedgerow and hedge trees in his attempt to turn our Jura landscape into the Oise.
vandal
I would like a vandal right now
I’ll send him over, we would quite like to get shot of him and his family (and their posters of Marine L-P).
It’s a pity that glyphosate is banned as it would be the perfect agent for getting rid of your rogue banana plants.
Just hack them back and live with them. We cut ours down to zero every year (so no soggy brown leaves) and then they pop up again beautifully green in spring!
Its never a pity glyphosate is banned IMO.
Not really, it is an excellent - I might say almost perfect - weedkiller.
The problem is that they soaked the planet in the stuff.
And the people on the planet. Veg crops need drying before storage so spraying them helps dry them out to prevent mold etc. Not good for the gut microbiome and the many health conditions caused from doing so.
I don’t know if that was ever proven.
They spray cereal crops with it as well to encourage “dry down” before harvest, and - of course - producing glyphosate resistant crops and just spraying everything in sight.
But, as I said, it is an excellent weedkiller - reliably kills the whole plant to which it is applied, doesn’t linger in the environment, doesn’t prevent replanting and is essentially non toxic to humans.
Now I know you can argue those points, and many do, but - as I said - the problem was that it was a bit too good and got over used. Massively.