I'm hoping I can learn a lot here. . .

I live in Central Wisconsin and we bought a Banana plant about 6 months ago when it was about 2.5' tall. We have cared for it and it has grown and is now about 6' tall. Obviously, it is indoors since Wisconsin is not the best climate for it to grow outside in .

The person at the greenhouse where we purchased it said it will produce bananas and that is what we would like it to do. Now, in our home, it is 72 degrees all winter, and warmer in the summer. It is in a sun room with skylights and complete glass in the southern windows, so it stays pretty warm. We mist it with a spray bottle with water periodically as well. It seems to grow new leaves out of the top very often. It also has a small plant growing out of it near it's base that is about 1.5' tall now.

I would like to know a bunch of things about it:

1. How long does it take for a plant to produce bananas?
2. What will it look like when it's ready to produce?
3. Will this plant die once it produces bananas?
4. Should I snip off lower leaves as they start to turn brown, or just let them die and fall off on their own?

I have heard so many things about banana plants that I am unsure as to what is and is not truth. I have heard it takes 2 years to produce; I have heard that we must have 2 banana plants in order to produce (another person said that is not true). I have seen terms like "suckers" and "corms" and am unsure what these are.

Any help with the care of this plant, and expectations would be wonderful.

Thank you, in advance.

1. About 2 years from when a shoot comes up is right. It takes 12-15 months for the shoot to grow before the inflorescence comes out, then 3-6 months more to harvest. A potted plant that is 2'-4' tall coming home from a nursery is 12-18 months from harvest. Give lots of food, sun, and water to the new shoot. How strong it gets in the first 3-6 months determines how much fruit it can set a year later.

2. Uh, like it does now, but bigger...

3. The shoot that produces the inflorescence will. The rhizome should not. When the fruit has been harvested, cut that pseudostem off at ground level and allow the next shoot to grow.

4. I trim mine when they look fairly dead.

A corm is another name for the rhizome (the fleshy bulb part of the root). Suckers are the little shoots (pseudostems) that come up from the rhizome.

A plant shouldn't be let to get too big or production will fall. An easy plan is this: One pseudostem can be fruiting (2 years old), another can be growing (1 year old), and a 3rd can just be coming up. More than that should be cut off or cut away and planted separately. When selecting which shoot to keep, pick one a few feet from the others so that they don't compete for light.

In WI, let them get as much light as possible.