Squashed banana and gladiolus plants

When Hurricane Dennis roared through last Sunday I had several hours of tropical storm force winds (landfall was about 100 miles west of me). It was too much for my very old privacy fence to handle, especially since we had only patched it up after Hurricane Ivan damaged it last September. Two sections fell completely, one of them squashing my young (4 foot tall) banana plant and several of my gladioli.

Now, let me say first that I am grateful to only have to deal with a few loose shingles, a busted privacy fence, and a few flattened plants from these storms. Many other people have *far* worse problems. Hopefully my turn won't come next week with Emily!

But regarding the plants:

(1) I know the banana will come back from the root; I'm not concerned about the plant's survival, though I expect it will set the plant back.

However, my neighbor told me that I should cut off the stalk at the break, then cut the stalk into roughly one-foot sections, and bury each of them vertically, leaving a couple of inches exposed at the surface. He said if I would do this, the sections would root and I would have a clump of banana plants at the end of the season instead of just one.

This sounded like a great opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade to me, so I did it. (Also, I had nothing to lose but a few minutes of my time; since the stalk was broken, the top growth would have just died if I'd left it there.)

So, has anyone done this before - will it work? If so, when should I expect to see new growth? Any tips? I'm assuming since they are bananas that I should keep them moist, and I am assuming that like any other cuttings I should not fertilize them until I'm sure they have an established root system. Am I on the right track?

(2) The gladioli are broken (not just bent) just above ground level, and their foliage is starting to die. Should I leave their foliage until it is completely dead, or can I cut off the leaves now?

Are they likely to die completely? If not, will they re-sprout now, or should I expect them to go dormant until next spring? Assuming that they live, when can I expect them to bloom again?

If it makes a difference, these bloomed about 2-4 weeks ago, and I used them for cut flowers.

Thanks for any advice,

Laura

NW FL, USDA Zone 8b; first frost date is late November.

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Laura
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When Hurricane Dennis roared through last Sunday I had several hours of tropical storm force winds (landfall was about 100 miles west of me). It was too much for my very old privacy fence to handle, especially since we had only patched it up after Hurricane Ivan damaged it last September. Two sections fell completely, one of them squashing my young (4 foot tall)

banana plant and several of my gladioli.

Now, let me say first that I am grateful to only have to deal with a few loose shingles, a busted privacy fence, and a few flattened plants from these storms. Many other people have *far* worse problems. Hopefully my turn won't come next week with Emily!

But regarding the plants

(1) I know the banana will come back from the root; I'm not concerned about the plant's survival, though I expect it will set the plant back.

However, my neighbor told me that I should cut off the stalk at the break, then cut the stalk into roughly one-foot sections, and bury each of them vertically, leaving a couple of inches exposed at the surface. He said if I would do this, the sections would root and I would have a clump of banana plants at the end of the season instead of just one.

This sounded like a great opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade to me, so I did it. (Also, I had nothing to lose but a few minutes of my time; since the stalk was broken, the top growth would have just died if I'd left it there.)

So, has anyone done this before - will it work? If so, when should I expect to see new growth? Any tips? I'm assuming since they are bananas that I should keep them moist, and I am assuming that like any other cuttings I should not fertilize them until I'm sure they have an established root system. Am I on the right track?

I won't even try to answer this one. It will take someone like Toni or Cereus or Zhan to answer this about the regenerative abilities of banana's. I hesitate to guess about the banana's ability to regenerate from a piece of stalk......but I've been wrong before.......

(2) The gladioli are broken (not just bent) just above ground level, and their foliage is starting to die. Should I leave their foliage until it is completely dead, or can I cut off the leaves now?

cut the leaves off as they've broken at the soil line. Find some granular bulb food at the local box store (Home Deprived or Lowes) and sprinkle some around the area where you have the glad's planted. It will hopefully feed the corms enough for next year's arrival and blooming. If you're curious, dig one up, and look at where the mother corm shriveled up giving live to the daughter corm on top of her. I dug up some gladiola's from an old yard years ago and the corms were stacked on top of each other! it was neat! I broke them apart and planted each one and got a nice clump of older magenta-purple colored blossoms that some little old granny had planted decades ago that had returned for her every year for who knows how long here in Eastern Tennessee.

Are they likely to die completely?

No, for you they'll be perennial.

If not, will they re-sprout now, or should I expect them to go dormant until next spring?

Had the foliage not been snapped off so soon, you would have known by the natural decline of the leaves. The leaves feed the corm for next year. that's why I said to feed about a tablespoon to half cup of granular bulb food scattered over the glads to suppliment the loss of the leaves to the corms under the ground.

Assuming that they live, when can I expect them to bloom again?

the same time they bloomed for you this year.

If it makes a difference, these bloomed about 2-4 weeks ago, and I used them for cut flowers.

So expect them to bloom for you mid June next year. You might dig them up and seperate the corms and make a larger bed of them, but don't plant them singularly. I hate seeing those single plants of glads around here flopping over pitifully. I'd much rather see a whole wad of them growing thru a support grid. Hope this helps.

madgardener, gardening up in Eastern Tennessee, zone 7, Sunset zone 36 where the gladiola's are perennial for us unless we get temperatures that hold below zero for a couple of weeks............(so far we haven't)

Thanks for any advice,

Laura NW FL, USDA Zone 8b; first frost date is late November.

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madgardener

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Bourne Identity

Thanks, will do.

Sorry, I wasn't clear about what I was asking. I know glads are perennial here; most of them I planted a couple of years ago, some are older than that.

I was wondering whether the shock of losing all of their foliage so soon after blooming (before the leaves died back on their own) would kill them.

Assuming the shock doesn't kill them, I was also wondering whether they would try to re-sprout this season, or just wait for next spring.

I know what you mean. These are already part of a big bed of glads; only a section of them were damaged by the falling fence.

I don't use a support grid, though, becuase I cut them for bouquets as they bloom. :-)

Thanks for the advice, Laura

Reply to
Laura

Yes, I know they spread underground and multiply; this is (hopefully) a way to speed up that process. I am hoping to eventually fill that corner of my yard with a banana grove.

I've already planted the stalks. I'll report back in a few weeks as to whether it worked.

Thanks,

Laura

Reply to
Laura

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