Pruning the Banana Plant (Mat) From the Horticultural Sciences Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida A calendar outlining the month-to-month cultural practices for banana is shown in Table 3 of Bananas Growing in the Home Landscape, University of Florida pdf
Pruning the banana mat is necessary for best vegetative growth and fruit production. Allowing numerous pseudostems to grow from a single mat may lead to small bunches of low quality fruit and encourage disease development. In addition, competition among pseudostems prolongs the time to flowering and to harvest. A banana pseudostem (stalk) produces fruit only once. After harvest, the stalk is cut off at the base and chopped into small pieces which are left on the ground and incorporated in as mulch. New pseudostems (follow-up stalks, sword suckers) which have been allowed to grow from the rhizome (also called a mat) will produce the next crop. For best production, there must be ample space between plants to avoid crowding and competition for water, light and nutrients. The number of pseudostems and their replacement is controlled by cutting off new suckers as soon as they appear. A good practice consists of having only one pseudostem flowering and fruiting, one pseudostem about half grown, and one small sucker or peeper per mat. Cutting unwanted suckers or peepers off at ground level and then gouging out as much as possible of what remains with a metal digging bar or piece of rebar will kill the underground bud. It is important that the internal bud is killed, otherwise regrowth occurs very quickly and it takes an unnecessary amount of labor to keep suckers from growing. Though labor intensive, the cutting of dead leaves and of leaves that rub against the bunch is recommended. Removing the male bud at the end of the flowering stalk which has no fruit and hangs below the last hand of bananas will speed fruit development if done immediately after the female flowers have set fruit. Back to Banana Page |
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| Bibliography Crane, Jonathan H., and Carlos F. Balerdi. "Bananas Growing in the Home Landscape." Horticultural Sciences Dept., UF/IFAS Extension, HS10, Original pub. Oct. 1971 as FC-10, Revised Jan. 1998, Dec. 2005, Oct. 2008, and Nov. 2016, Reviewed Dec. 2019, Ask IFAS, edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg040. Accessed 24 Mar. 2017, 3 Aug. 2020. Videos from the Florida/IFAS Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead, FL. by permission of Dr. J. Crane Professor and Tropical Fruit Crops Specialist. Published 26 Apr. 2018 LR |
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