Coaxing bananas to start growing

I've received 4 different banana offsets in DG trades this fall. As expected they were all shocked by the separation and mailing. I decided to pot all four, put them in the grenhouse, and watched as nothing happened for 4 weeks. As an experiment, I got out my trusty exacto knife and made an incision on each growing tip long and deep enough to expose the next leaf top and its characteristic wiry leader. Sure enough, every one of the four responded within a week and is now actively pushing the new leaf out. I theorize that the plant is responding to light reaching the new leaf. I have seen bananas remain dormant for many winter months without intervention.

Here's one of the four.

Here's another. Am I on to something or where they just waiting?
Dave.

This message was edited Oct 17, 2006 1:15 PM

Do you think maybe it just took that long for them to settle in and start new leaves and it was just coincidence? I planted some bananas several weeks ago and Im just now seeing some new leaves growing. I cant remember exactly when I planted them, but it was at least 4 weeks ago.

It took roughly the same 4-8 weeks before the bananas I transplanted to show any new growth. If you get two similar bananas, you could experiment...incise one of them and leave the other alone. I'm all for experimenting! SB

Thanks, Dave, for that tip - will try it!