I live in southern Indiana and received 6 trees last spring. I ended up with 21 trees by fall. When I dug them up, I cut the leaves off half of them, put them in plastic bags and put them in my laundry room. So the first sunny day of spring rolls around and I start drinking beer and planting trees. I used no sand, probably did'nt dig the holes deep enough and don't get me started on how straight they are! My question is: should you cut leaves off? Should I replant and throw some sand in the soil? I only have 5 small ones now and 2 10 footers. Since I cut the leaves off the big one last year, no leaves have developed lower than where I cut (about 6 feet off the ground). Will leaves ever develop lower? Any advice or tips are welcome. Thanks

You won't get any new leaves lower than where you cut them off. New banana leaves come up through the center of the 'stem', so the new leaves are on top. You may get some suckers coming up from the base of the plant though - you could think of those as new leaves I guess :)

If the remaining plants look healthy, I wouldn't bother replanting them this year. Just remember the things you want to change for next year. If they are looking sickly, then you'll want to do something about it. What kind of soil do you have them in? Heavy clay?

Thank you for the reply! I am growing in heavy clay. So what you are saying is if you trim the leaves in the fall to save room, the leaves you cut off you will never get back? Or did I make my mistake when I cut them back whem they were growing so I would'nt have to look at the 6 inch stubs? Good news though; I was watering while ago and found a baby on my third tree.

Also someone tell me PLEASE how to reset my password!!!!!!!!

That's right, the leaves you cut off will not grow back. New leaves will come out from the top - until the plant starts flowering that is. And the baby plants coming up from the base will eventually become the new plant after the first stalk flowers.

With a heavy clay soil, you need to beware of the 'bathtub effect'. If you dig a hole and add sand, etc. to it so that it will drain, the water will still meet the clay around it and sit there like it would in a bathtub. That'll leave your plant soaking in water - which could eventually drown it. Rather than just adding sand to improve drainage, try a sort of 'raised bed'.

As far as resetting your password, just go into your profile (link is near the top of the page) and enter a new password where it says 'password' under your name. Enter it again in the 'confirm password' box and then scroll down to the bottom to find the button for submitting changes.
Edited by spectrum on Jul 26, 2005 at 07:57 PM