How to Trim Banana Leaves

Hone your pruning tools to ensure a clean cut. Banana stems tend to be fibrous, which means you will need a very sharp tool to cut through the fibers cleanly. Use a sharpening file held at a 20 degree angle. Swipe it across the blades of the tools 10 to 20 times.

Remove the damaged leaves on an indoor dwarf plant with hand pruners. Cut the leaves as far back on the stem as you can. Do not cut into the main stem. This could cause the main plant to become diseased. Use long-handled loppers if the leaves are far into the crown of the plant.

Trim back banana plants to the ground after they have fruited. Once a banana fruits, it is finished producing and dies. The offsets that are at the base of the plant will now become the primary plants and begin to flower and produce. Cut the finished plant off at the base, removing the stems and trunk as well as the leaves. Finesse is not necessary for this procedure as the plant is dying anyway.

Overwinter the banana plant by digging up the roots and rhizome. Lay the plant on its side and cut off the foliage to the crown. Brush off as much of the soil as you can and wrap the bottom of the plant in newspaper or sphagnum moss. Put it in a warm, dry room until spring and then replant.

Defoliate suckers after removing them from the parent plant. Banana are propagated by removing the "pups" from the base of the plant. You dig them out from the main stem and cut off the leaves of the pup. Plant the pups in a soil-less medium to establish a good root base. They will need to grow in a warm room with medium light and watered every two or three days.