Rooting in ripe bananas??

Hi, I am new to this forum, but in one of my other forums I remember reading about starting cuttings in a ripe banana!! Can anyone tell me more about this method? My DH, brave soul that he is, got some really good cuttings (shhhh) from a neighbor and actually stuck them into a banana. Questions we have are 1. more detail/experience and 2. do they have to be covered and vented, 3. how much light? I guess these are all details.

I would be grateful for your help with this.

C.

It didn't work so well here: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/318043/

I suspect that while you might get an occasional take, you'll have better luck with other methods.

I agree, I think that's one of those things that probably works occasionally and it sounds so much more fun than propagating in the normal materials, but you'll have better luck with standard propagation media.

I would be afraid of all the fruit flies this would attract!

Here is a picture of the "banana-nursery", taken several days ago, I thought it is cute. The cuttings are not doing very well. If anything good happens, I will post. No fruit flies, we have a clear cover over it.

C.

this sounds similar to the old fashioned method of rooting rose cuttings in a potato. You are supposed to bury the potato in soil, so that it provides some moisture while the cutting "takes". Both potato and banana have pottasium. It is rather like "aqua sorb" providing moisture for the cutting . My mom used to do this and she was successful. I agree with posts above, there are better ways to do it.

Banana is one of the ingredients used in tissue culture.

Gary

I'll keep you posted, they are still alive.

if that dont work get some pups ive goten a few to root years back buy diping in root tone then puting theam in a jar of water in the shade paul

Too late, the banana is rotten and the seedlings are decomposing. It was a good project for DH.
We are however rooting some caryopteris and corkscrew willows by your method, Paul, actually just water, then potting soil.