I started some seeds that I got in a trade with this name on them. It is supposed to be hardy to Zone 6 but just in case, it has a pup. How do you get the pup without digging up the whole plant. The musa is about 4-5' tall in its 1st year. If I have to dig up the plant I can but would rather not.
Musa Sikkimensis Darjeeling Giant
Take a look at this image, it shows about how much of the mother plant and the angle you'll need to go in at. I use a ditch shovel, but others like to use digging bars.
It's typically best to let the pup get to about a foot before you split it, 2' is even better. If you split them too young/small the corm won't have developed enough yet to make for a healthy plant.
Also, I never split a water pup/sucker bc they never do that well split off from the mother plant. Try and always separate sword suckers if you can. A quick Google search should help clarify the difference as should this diagram below.
I had a photo that showed the difference in the root structure for the two, will try and find it. It's incredible how few roots a water sucker has on it versus a sword sucker.
Large Diagram:
http://www.uq.edu.au/_School_Science_Lessons/51.13.2.GIF
Here's the difference. Water on the left, sword on the right. Pretty incredible huh? Makes you think twice before separating some pups, or at least for me it does.
Best of luck splitting it off. I was really (and unnecessarily) nervous my fist time splitting one, but as long as you get the corm, you're fine.
I think mine is a water sprout, I'll enlarge the pic I took so maybe you can tell.
First one is the whole plant.
This one I'll try to enlarge so you can see the pup.
If you're planning on leaving this outside this winter, I'm not sure I would take the pup now. I can completely understand why you would want to keep one, but if I'm trying something out for the first year and I'm not totally convinced it will be hardy, I've had better luck when I left all the first year growth alone before mulching. When you pull the pup, you'll leave an open "wound" which might leave the plant more vulnerable to rot this late in the season. I did find this link, it looks like a really cool plant.
http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Fall/Detail/07826.html
Tropicanna has a good point. It's still warm here for me, but it's probably getting chilly up your way and the wound may not heal sufficiently in time. I split some pups today, but they've got a good month to heal. And I might dig them up anyway to preserve the p-stem.
Looking at the photo, I'd guess that's actually a sword sucker. If it looked like a small banana, I'd agree it was a water sucker, but it certainly looks like it's a sword given it's shape and lack of leaves thus far.
Given that the banana you have looks to be a zone 8 (approximately) you'll really need to mulch it well. Here's a link to consider (I think they have a Sikkimensis too):
http://www.cooltropicalplants.com/Protecting-cold-hardy-bananas.html
I know you mentioned not wanting to dig it up, but that'd be the only sure way to keep it alive through your winter.
This message was edited Sep 18, 2008 11:47 PM
I was hoping since it came from a cooler climate it could stand it here. The literature I read said it came from 8000 ft in the mountains. Maybe I better dig it up to be safe. I don't know where I will put it, DH is gonna draw the line one of these days. The guest bathroom is already full of Passionflowers.
I thought it had impressive growth to be started as a seed last February. I sold one that was large and this one was only about 6" tall when I planted it. I think the lady I sold the other one to let the other one die.