Trim back dead palm leaves if winter winds destroy or damage the banana palm's foliage. Remove the rest of the stem in a few weeks, leaving the replacement sucker intact. Bananas (Musa spp. Paying attention to the time of year will help you to know when to cut the leaves. The large surface area of the leaves means that this plant loses moisture to the atmosphere. Trim back the banana plant fully once the danger of frost has passed. Climate: Tropical, sub-tropical, warm temperate and warm micro-climates in cool temperate. This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Try these expert-level hacks. Having a healthy banana tree means knowing when and how to prune the leaves. This will prevent unsightly stubs and restore the size and appearance of the ficus. Make sure you don’t force your plants into the flowering stage for at least three days after pruning. A tropical banana plant looks great anywhere indoors too and likes a nice warm and sunny spot in your home. Keep them out of the reach of children and pets. If often means the plant isn't healthy because the roots have replaced the potting soil. Make sure you have waited until you have harvested any fruit and until your plant has flowered before you prune the stem. This also makes it easier to shape the plants into your ideal look. You may not need to do that. This will replace the main stem in the next growing season. You need to water a banana plant regularly. Rubber plants are a popular indoor house plant. Pruning the tree will help maximize its ability to produce a lot of big fruit, but be careful to prune the tree correctly as cutting off suckers incorrectly can damage the plant. References. 1.1.4 Watch for bugs. A temperature that goes below 60°F (16°C) but above 32°F (0°C) will cause chilling on the plant. This article has been viewed 66,625 times. Pruning . We did not do this last time and they started putting leaves out of the top of the brown stalks. To learn how to treat holes in your banana tree’s leaves, keep reading! Pruning Tips Once the main stalk is 6-8 months old, permit one sucker to develop as a replacement stalk for the following season. Grow in large tub. So, keep it in a place that receives enough sunlight. What does the bloom look like on a banana tree? 1.1.5 How To Grow a Banana Tree Indoors: 1.2 The most effective method to Grow a Banana Tree: 1.2.1 Native to the tropics; 1.2.2 The Indoor Gardens Guide to Banana Pests and Diseases: 1.3 Your goal is to eliminate all but one of the suckers from your banana tree. This can form a compacted, hard ball that comes out of the pot with effort, retaining the shape of the pot. 1.1 How To Grow Banana Indoors: 1.1.1 Wondering over whether to repot…or not? To grow a banana plant inside, first of all you will need a pot, large and deep enough to accommodate its roots. Dwarf varieties of banana trees can grow anywhere between 2 to 4 meters.. % of people told us that this article helped them. Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. Don’t prune them all – that way you can compare your pruned plants to the plants you haven’t pruned. Make sure you have harvested any fruit and your plant has already flowered before pruning the stem. Keeping Your Banana Plant Alive. Prune your tree. are spectacular plants for the summer garden, with their thick “trunk” and their huge paddle-shaped leaves, creating a guaranteed tropical effect. Both ornamental banana plants and fruiting banana plants can be pruned in the same manner. But if it is unsightly or in the way, then it is best to cut off the damaged leaf. As with any indoor plant, remove any leaves and branches from your rubber plant that appear to be dead or dying. Can I cut the brown stalks back to the ground? A well-cared for and pruned potted banana tree can produce up to 90 bananas per year. You can remove dead leaves in any season using your fingers. 1.1.2 When to water. Winter Care: Bring indoors and treat as a houseplant in winter. Pruning is required for indeterminate types, plants which continue growing and flowering, as 50 percent of tomato yield is reduced without pruning and trellising. When that’s done, carefully dig out the rhizomes and roots. They’re typically medium-sized but, if given time and space to grow, can become the size of a small tree. Indeterminate types of tomatoes, also called vining tomatoes, can grow up to a height of 10 to 12 feet, while 6 feet is a normal height. If you live in an area that gets plenty of rainwater, you will not need to give your tree any additional water. Banana tree leaves can become damaged for a variety of reasons. I have a brand new banana plant with one leaf which has been damaged by the weather. Erect a wire frame around the plant. The regular banana trees can grow up to twenty feet tall, whereas the dwarf will cap at around 6 feet. Traditionally used in south-east Asian and Indian cooking, it can also be eaten raw and its chunky, flaky texture makes it an ideal substitute for fish. Caring for a banana plant. © Copyright 2020 Hearst Communications, Inc. Compost the suckers after you prune them as they contain a lot of nutrients that are beneficial to enriching compost. This will allow the plant to absorb the nutrients before you remove the leaf. Sap from banana trees might stain your clothes, so it’s best to wear old clothes. Knowing the plants requirements can avoid any damage to the plant by incorrectly giving it the wrong conditions. Pruning: Do not prune or cut back. Trim the suckers off after they produce fruit and you harvest it. Wait until the flower stalk has plump fruit that is full size, but still green, before you cut the remainder of the flower stalk. After the fruit is removed, cut the main stem down to 2.5 feet. 1.1 How To Grow Banana Indoors: 1.1.1 Wondering over whether to repot…or not? Indoor/outdoor: Does best indoors; a stable environment produces the best yield. Gradually increase again in the spring. The suckers will not produce more fruit and trimming them off completely will help make way for new suckers. Most importantly, don’t expect to master this technique the first time you do it. One common way to avoid damage from frost is to actually dig up and move the plant. Pruning Banana Plants. After 6-8 weeks of sustained, healthy growth, your banana tree will have to be pruned. Should I remove it and should I remove the dark, hard coating on the trunk? 1.1.3 What to prune. Additional Information: Tropical flare for your home. SInce bananas are fast growing, many gardeners choose to chop off all frost-damaged or unattractive trunks of bananas with a loppers or machete blade in spring so the new growth comes back quickly and robustly. From April to May, your dracaena plant comes out of rest mode and gets ready to go into the blooming season. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/8\/89\/Prune-Banana-Trees-Step-1.jpg\/v4-460px-Prune-Banana-Trees-Step-1.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/8\/89\/Prune-Banana-Trees-Step-1.jpg\/aid10156228-v4-728px-Prune-Banana-Trees-Step-1.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"