Got a few banana plants in one corner of the garden that I want rid of. The gardener dug them out, down to about a metre and refilled the hole. This only seemed to make them come back stronger and more numerous. Obviously you don't need to leave much of a root to get them to grow back.

Anyone out there who can suggest a way to get rid of them?. Don't want to kill off the plants and young trees near them so a hefty dose of poison is probably out of the question.

HELP

Problem is that the gardener DIDN'T dig them out before he got rid of the old mother stalks (they only fruit once) and then turned and freshened up the the new suckers' environment. Does your gardener come from a banana farming background? He's good with them.

Dig 'em out or poison 'em. Only 2 options. Do consider your nearby young trees if you opt for poison. Are we allowed to name products? Google could be your friend in finding a suitable herbicide. Are we allowed to name google??

Considered going into banana production and utilising your gardener's talent?

Andrew obviously knows all about bananas and their use.

Andrew obviously knows all about bananas and their use.

'Uses'

More than one way to skin one.

The way we used to get rid of banana suckers and banana stools was by cutting them off just above ground level and then we used a special tool made for the job but essentially it looks like a large teaspoon and it scoops the inner core of the plant out to a depth usually just below ground level.You will feel how much you need to scoop out - it will hit a "more solid" section of the plant. It is hard to describe but if you do it you will know exactly what i am talking about. You could also use a large kitchen /butchers knife. No chemicals are needed at all .

In Commercial banana plantations this would be done a few times a year so only one sucker would be left which would become the next seasons fruiting plant. Too many suckers will give you a small yield.

Hope that helps you.

Too many suckers will give you a small yield.

Hope that helps you.

thanks for that!

How many is too many..we usually have about half a dozen on most trees...with about 6 hands on a bunch..would they be longer with more hands or bigger bananas if we cut out some suckers?

Too many suckers will give you a small yield.

Hope that helps you.

thanks for that!

How many is too many..we usually have about half a dozen on most trees...with about 6 hands on a bunch..would they be longer with more hands or bigger bananas if we cut out some suckers?

We would select just one - the best, strongest looking one just behind the main stool - mainly because for ease of maintenance to keep the rows somewhat regular.

We were growing cavandish bananas and williams hybrids and each bunch would be around 50 - 60 kg but on sugar banaas the bunch would be smaller. If you use the banana bell / flower for thai cooking then keeping a few more suckers at the expense of fruit may be the way to go.

Got loads of banana trees ..monkeys as in wild with seeds etc ...some from SIL like lady fingers with seeds then others from MIL and Aunty ...Lady fingers like half the thickness of a wrist but short..lately the latter have got thinner not a problem but just wondered..have more than enough for our needs and give away tons...

We use leafs for wrapping BBQ fish etc and the edible flowers the wifey puts in something something??..lol

Thanks for info.

david

Got loads of banana trees ..monkeys as in wild with seeds etc ...some from SIL like lady fingers with seeds then others from MIL and Aunty ...Lady fingers like half the thickness of a wrist but short..lately the latter have got thinner not a problem but just wondered..have more than enough for our needs and give away tons...

We use leafs for wrapping BBQ fish etc and the edible flowers the wifey puts in something something??..lol

Thanks for info.

david

Do you fertilize the bananas - if you do, potash is the stuff that bananas need a lot of . That may help in the size/thickness of the fruit.

Got loads of banana trees ..monkeys as in wild with seeds etc ...some from SIL like lady fingers with seeds then others from MIL and Aunty ...Lady fingers like half the thickness of a wrist but short..lately the latter have got thinner not a problem but just wondered..have more than enough for our needs and give away tons...

We use leafs for wrapping BBQ fish etc and the edible flowers the wifey puts in something something??..lol

Thanks for info.

david

Do you fertilize the bananas - if you do, potash is the stuff that bananas need a lot of . That may help in the size/thickness of the fruit.

Again thanks..been burning a lot of old wood/bamboo lately and chucking the ashes around our fruit trees since google tells me that it contains potash and lime ...will chuck some around the nanas now

cheers...

Got loads of banana trees ..monkeys as in wild with seeds etc ...some from SIL like lady fingers with seeds then others from MIL and Aunty ...Lady fingers like half the thickness of a wrist but short..lately the latter have got thinner not a problem but just wondered..have more than enough for our needs and give away tons...

We use leafs for wrapping BBQ fish etc and the edible flowers the wifey puts in something something??..lol

Thanks for info.

david

Do you fertilize the bananas - if you do, potash is the stuff that bananas need a lot of . That may help in the size/thickness of the fruit.

Again thanks..been burning a lot of old wood/bamboo lately and chucking the ashes around our fruit trees since google tells me that it contains potash and lime ...will chuck some around the nanas now

cheers...

found this in my searches...lol

ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2009) — Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers.

Have to get the wife out squatting maybe...

I used to pee on our lime tree every night..

I used to pee on our lime tree every night..

yup standard procedure in Oz for lemon trees..lol I do it here too if I am near one of our lime trees when need to shake the dew off the lily....

I used to pee on our lime tree every night..

Still alive???

I used to pee on our lime tree every night..

Got loads of banana trees ..monkeys as in wild with seeds etc ...some from SIL like lady fingers with seeds then others from MIL and Aunty ...Lady fingers like half the thickness of a wrist but short..lately the latter have got thinner not a problem but just wondered..have more than enough for our needs and give away tons...

We use leafs for wrapping BBQ fish etc and the edible flowers the wifey puts in something something??..lol

Thanks for info.

david

Do you fertilize the bananas - if you do, potash is the stuff that bananas need a lot of . That may help in the size/thickness of the fruit.

Again thanks..been burning a lot of old wood/bamboo lately and chucking the ashes around our fruit trees since google tells me that it contains potash and lime ...will chuck some around the nanas now

cheers...

found this in my searches...lol

ScienceDaily (Sep. 2, 2009) — Results of the first study evaluating the use of human urine mixed with wood ash as a fertilizer for food crops has found that the combination can be substituted for costly synthetic fertilizers to produce bumper crops of tomatoes without introducing any risk of disease for consumers.

Have to get the wife out squatting maybe...

Hi David,If you have many bananas.A middle man comes around here and will pay 7 baht P/Kilo for bananas but you really need 10 or 20 ready to sell at a time for it to be worth his petrol.I don't know if it's same in your area..Nam Wa is generally average to 100 baht per tree.Multiply that by 1000 trees per year if you had them.Food for thought.

Cheers Cobbler