How to Remove Pups From a Banana Tree

Banana trees multtiply by sending out pups.

Banana trees, known as the genus Musa, have a clumping growth habit that vegetatively colonizes an area by underground rhizomes, in addition to sowing seeds. This is true for both tropical fruiting banana trees as well as hardy banana trees such as Musa basjoo that do not fruit and are used as decorative tropical foliage. Banana trees produce pups or new plant shoots each season. The pups or buttons, as they are called when very small, can be divided from a mature parent and planted to start a new banana plant or colony.

Things You'll Need

• Sharp-edged spade
• Scissors
• Soil
• Container

Instructions

1. Remove pups that are 3 feet in height or taller, and only take pups from a banana tree clump that has at least three or four plants in the clump. This will leave the parent plants stable in the soil and with enough pups to sustain new fruiting growth.

2. Drive a sharp and clean spade down between the exterior of the pup and the parent plant directly through the swollen plant trunk and into the roots. You must remove at least some of the mother plant root system attached to the pup in order for the pup to survive. Replace any displaced soil around the parent plant roots and trunk.

3. Plant the pup immediately into moist soil, burying only the roots and underside of the plant crown in the soil. The pups can be planted in containers or directly into the ground soil, provided they will not be subject to frost for at least six months.

4. Trim off the largest leaves on the pup, leaving just small young leaves, to reduce the strain on the plant as it develops new roots.

References

• University of California Los Angeles: Bananas
• California Rare Fruit Growers Association: Banana