The Land Boat Ride

[nancyL]

Last time I was in The World (Dec, 2003) while on the Land boat ride, I remember hearing the tour guide telling us that banana trees only produce one bunch of bananas its life time. I was very surprised by this info, which is probably why I remembered it. I cant seem to find that information anywhere else. Does anyone else remember hearing that? Is there anyone who can confirm or deny that this is the case?
thanks!
NancyL

 

[Kaycee]

Hi NancyL! I don't remember hearing this on the Land boat ride, but we have a banana tree (in the house of course, since we live in Kentucky!) and what you heard is true. Once the tree produces fruit it dies. However, another tree will grow from the root ball. And if you split the root ball you will get 2 trees. Plus, during the life of the tree it will produce shoots that will grow into trees. So, even though each tree dies after it has produced fruit, there's always another tree ready to grow and take its place!

 

[danny1649]

 

[ladyjayhawk]

We rode on the Land boat ride just last week and our tour guide said the exact same thing. I thought it was an interesting fact too.

 

[nancyL]

Kaycee- You have a banana tree in your house???? In KENTUCKY??? Now where in the heck did you come by that interesting household plant? Do you eat the bananas off the tree(s)? How many bananas do you get a year (or however long it takes to make them come out of the tree) How long does the tree take to shoot out a new "tree"? Im thinking that would be a REALLY cool addition to my "tropical themed" bathroom in NJ. Plus I could pluck a banana while in the bath! lol

 

[Kaycee]

Nancy,

My DH brought our banana tree home from work. A guy he works with had one in his office, I don't know where he got it, but DH admired it and the guy said he had several at home and brought us one. Somehow, cool things like this are always happening to my DH.

Obviously our tree isn't as tall as the ones you see outside in Florida, they grow to their environment. We have a vaulted ceiling in our greatroom and the tree is in the tallest part so it is still pretty tall. We have several other tropical plants in our greatroom; we hate cold weather and like to pretend we're on a tropical island in the winter instead of in Kentucky.

Since we only have one tree right now, ours has bloomed but we didn't get any bananas. We've had it for close to two years, and it just bloomed about a month ago. It had shoots about a year ago, and I wish we'd planted those to get new trees, but we didn't know then that it would die after it bloomed. After it dies, we plan to split the root ball so we'll have two trees. Then maybe we'll get bananas. I'm not too sure about how that works though. For now, I'm just happy with my banana tree, even without any bananas.

 

[chamonix]

If another tree grows from the same rootball after a season of fruit production, I wouldn't think of it as "dying" after producing fruit. Its like any perennial plant, it dies back in winter, or after a cycle of flower/fruit production. I'm sure the Land guy is technically right, it's just not how I would phrase it. It "dies back", but it doesn't "die".
We have a banana tree as do many others in our area (near to Kentucky and in the same zone). Most people take their trees into the house in the winter but take them outside in summer. You can either do that in a large pot or dig them in and out. They have a surprisingly small rootball--actually it's almot nonexistent. When you buy one or dig one up you get a trunk with some roots attached. One woman I know found bananas on her "tree" during the winter as it lay in storage on her cellar floor. Most of the people I know don't get bananas ever though, just a beautiful plant with tropical foliage. I wish I could show you the trees that grow at the entrance to our state fairgrounds. They are huge, I have no idea how they keep them protected all winter. I think they must cover them with a temporary greenhouse or something! I will look for a picture. This is in southern Illinois btw.

 

[Kaycee]

Thanks, chamonix, for the info. I am obviously new to the whole banana tree community. All I know is that I just love our banana tree, and I was very sad when it bloomed and we were told that it would now "die." I was relieved to then find that we could grow another tree (or trees) from the root ball. I can't wait til we get even more banana trees!