Ravenala madagascariensis propagation from suckers or pups

[Jesse]

I planted a Ravenala madagascariensis in my front yard here in orange, ca about 6 months ago and its cranking.  That's great but its also now has suckers or pups.  I would like to plant some of these suckers in my back yard since I am going for the single trunk look for my front yard. I have searched but I can't really find what seems to be a sure way to transplant these pups successfully. Anybody have any expert advice on this? TIA

Jesse

[doranakandawatta]

Jesse,

In tropical humid climate it's quite easy to separate suckers from the main trunk and roots grow quite fast.
In Sri Lanka, people say that if you forget your umbrella sticked in the floor, it'll make roots 
In California maybe the atmosphere is too dry and it's maybe more difficult .

[Jesse]

It might be too dry.  A guy a quarter mile east of me has two quite mature travelers. He said he dug his pups out and they didn't take. Just curious to see if I need to wait until the pups reach a certain maturity before I need to dig them out or if I have to unroot the whole tree and separate by hand as one google search result suggested.

[cagary]

I am just south of you in Rancho Santa Margarita and have a giant R. madagascariensis planted over twenty years ago, but any time I try to dig up a pup, I am amazed how little root is attached to it. Never had a survivor. 

Might be easier and certainly faster to go out and buy some five gallon size plants. They seem to be more commonly found in OC nurseries now.

[Kevin S]

 My neighbor in Hawaii gave me the plant on the right side.  It was started from a pup from one of hers.  So it is possible if you could get the growing conditions right.

[Jesse]

Ok maybe I'll wait till they get around 5 leaves before I split them off and I'll just baby them .