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Hello,

This year I bought a banana plant. It is growing well, though no
flowers or fruit yet, but a number of little banana plants are growing
from around the base of the big plant. Am I able to transplant these
into new pots and grow new banana plants? Is the plant reproducing, or
are these shoots just new "branches" of the big plant? I'm reluctant
to start digging in case I damage anything.

Thanks.

These are indeed new plants, however they are pretty much reliant on the
parent plant for some time, I usually wait until they are at least a foot
tall before thinking of removing them. This is on a Musa Basjoo by the way,
the Musa Dwarf Cavendish I have, and the banarama (which is another Dwarf
Cavendish) both produce much smaller offshoots and I haven't tried removing
them yet.

The offshoots on Basjoo are attached via a very thick and touch runner which
you have to slice through, whilst trying not to cut through too many of the
parent plants roots. I have propagated loads of Basjoo this way and the
majority of them thrived.

As to flowers or fruits, don't be too keen, they tend to flower and die, my
largest Basjoo is flowering this year, it's about 5 years old, is about 12
feet tall, and growing in an 18" wide pot. Massive flower and loads of small
bananas were forming up nicely. However after the vicious storms we've had
round here in Oxon over the past couple of weeks there are now no leaves
left to send food to the flower, so I think it's probably had it, no more
bananas have formed recently though the flower is still growing.

Apparently, once they have flowered, you can cut them right back to the
base, and re-plant the base a bit deeper and it may send up shoots from the
base again, but I can't testify to this since this year will be the first
time I've cut one back.

Duncan