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Propagation and Planting

Suckers are used for propagation, being taken when they have a stem diameter of 2 to 6 inches. The leaves are commonly cut off in nursery trade, but decapitation at 2 to 3 feet is satisfactory. The sucker should be dug carefully, using a sharpshooter or spade to cut the underground base of the sucker from the side of its mother rhizome. Large suckers can be decapitated at ground level and halved or quartered (vertically) to increase planting material.

Nurserymen transplant from the field into containers for retail use, so planting these bananas is much the same as planting any container-grown plant. Sucker transplanting should be at the same depth as the sucker was growing originally.

For ornamental purposes, bananas may be planted as close as 2 to 3 feet apart, but those planted for fruit production should be spaced about 8 to 10 feet apart.

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