Bananas (Musa spp.) Are a small group of herbaceous perennials bred out of one pair of species to the variety of crops currently available. Both dwarf and standard-sized bananas share a root system uncommon among fruit-bearing plants: They’re fed and reborn yearly from a fibrous root system that facilitates a reproductive rhizome.
Fibrous Roots
Plants typically have one of two different kinds of roots: taproots or fibrous roots. A taproot system includes a main root that grows straight down, binder and sending off side hairs as it grows — the most frequent taproot in the garden would be the carrot. Fibrous roots, on the other hand, develop a comparatively shallow mat, occupying the upper layers of dirt rather than penetrating deeply, leaving plants at a possibility of toppling in high winds or drying out during drought conditions.
Rhizomes
Rhizomes are specialized constructions similar to runners, but they develop underground. These modified stems can grow horizontally forever under perfect circumstances, but are generally confined by other crops and accessible nutrients. Nodes on the rhizome finally arise to form new banana stalks, which are frequently mistaken for brand new plants, but are only new stems on precisely the exact same rhizome as the mother plant.
Rhizomes along with the Banana Lifecycle
Bananas are frost-tender, but a lot of ornamental species may survive freezing temperatures due to their rhizomes. An individual stalk will die back to the ground in many locations, but the following spring, a fresh stalk will replace it. The rhizome works somewhat like a bulb in this fashion — provided that a rhizome has youthful buds forming as well as its length, the plant will continue to return every year. Even in places where frost is not a problem, banana stalks die back after fruiting. The plants that emerge close stalks with ripening bunches are replacements for the stalk that will shortly be spent.
Banana Propagation
Although a lot of dwarf ornamental bananas, like pink fruiting banana (Musa velutina), are easily grown from seed, you might want to have an specific copy of your mom plant. In that case, the rhizome of a potted banana plant may be cut into several sections when the foliage dies back, each containing three to five budding nodes, and replanted into different pots. The spreading nature of banana root systems also means a landscape stabilizer could already be sending new plants when you’re prepared for brand new members of this landscape — only sever the rhizome cleanly between the mother plant and the shoot with a pointed shovel, making sure you dig up a few roots to support the new plant.