Some TLC for my Dwarf Banana

A banana leaf waiting to open

 I bought my Dwarf Banana plant (me buying an actual plant instead of starting from seed, what?!) last summer, and it was deemed to be used as a house plant.  Banana plants normally grow to about 7 metres tall but Dwarf plants will stay much smaller, and banana plants in general operate on the same rule as goldfish - only growing large enough to suit their surroundings (so if they're pot bound they won't get any bigger, making them great house plants).  Being that it was summer, I decided to leave it out in the sun for a couple of hours after re-potting it, so it could have some real sun before I brought it indoors.  Big mistake! It became so windy that the gorgeous, softer than a baby's bottom, leaves got torn up to shreds.  So in it came, and was promptly plonked in the corner of the living room (about the only free space for such a plant...it was an impulse buy!)

Well its not been looking great.  For ages it did absolutely nothing, and showed no signs of healing or producing new leaves.  When winter arrived it finally started a central coil - a new leaf which grows up and then gradually unfurls!  But the soil grew a fungus of some sort and attracted fungus gnats (oh joy) and many of the leaves were browning (a combination of the wind and gnat damage I believe)

So this morning I decided the house wasn't the best place for this poor plant any more.  I don't think its getting enough sun from the one window, and the gnats are obviously an issue.  So I emptied out the pot, cleaned it up and re-potted it into a new, slightly larger container with fresh soil and some perlite.  I had expected it to be root bound but it really wasn't, and even more unexpected was that it has started growing suckers!

I counted at least four new little sucker growths.  For anyone who doesn't know, banana plants typically put out little suckers next to them, much like the idea of a tuber or runner creating a new plant.  Some people tend to get rid of them, to focus the energy on the main plant, but as I've never had a banana plant before this I really want to see what they do!  So far the biggest one looks just like a coiled leaf as well.

I also trimmed all the damaged leaves and parts of the leaves off, because I noticed some of them had begun to grow fungus as well.  So its looking a lot more bare, but certainly happier and cleaner!  I put it in the greenhouse.  It's still pretty cold for the banana plant to be outdoors, but at least out in the greenhouse it will get much more sun.  So hopefully the new leaf will open soon and the suckers - we'll just have to see.