How to Propagate Bananas

The tropical banana plant grows from a corm, a bulb-like structure that not only stores energy for plant use, it also generates new roots and shoots, allowing the banana to self-propagate. The corm ensures the banana's survival. When freezing weather kills the stems to the ground, for instance, the corm sends new shoots through the surface after the temperature rises again. Separate one of those stems, called suckers, from the mother plant to propagate bananas. Harvest the shoot in the growing season from a plant that has at least three suckers.

Shovel, 12- to 15-inch
Shears

Instructions

- 1
  Insert the blade of a 12- to 15-inch shovel in the space between a 24-inch-tall banana sucker and the main plant. Banana suckers are also called "pups." Force the blade down, cutting into the plant's base and the corm underground. Remove the blade. Repeat this move as you go around the sucker loosening it. Finish severing the pup, retaining a piece of the plant's base and corm attached to it.
- 2
  Hold onto the stem and place the root system under running water. Clear the corm of soil clinging to it.
- 3
  Prune the leaves 2 inches above the end of the shoot. This step reduces the sucker's water loss.
- 4
  Cut the roots growing from the underside of the corm. Eventually, the corm begins to produce a new root system.
- 5
  Store the sucker in complete shade for the next few days. Plant the pup after the tissue that used to be connected to the main plant dries and hardens. Position the shoot in the hole at the same depth it grew as part of the mother plant.

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