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I am growing a banana plant in my house. Some of my neighbors say that trimming or cutting fresh banana leaves from the tree before it has borne a fruit, would result in the banana tree not producing a banana at all. I need to know whether it is true, or if it's just a myth?

Also, if it's true, what is the reason behind it and how can I make the tree bear fruit?

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I'm not sure if what you've been told is entirely true - what is true is that the new leaves and fruiting stems emerge from the centre of the plant, pushing their way up through existing leaves, so its possibly true that you risk damaging new growth you can't see by trimming existing leaves. The advice generally with banana plants is to let withering or shrivelling leaves remain on the plant until they're completely dry and dead, which might suggest removing healthy leaves is not a good idea. There's no good reason for removing leaves prior to flowering, and its likely best not to do so.

This link describes how to grow a fruting banana indoors, but if you read it, you will see that it talks about specific varieties of banana for use as houseplants. Not all banana plants produce fruit anyway, and some are better suited to growing outdoors because of their size, or because they won't produce fruit as a houseplant.

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  • We have only cut half of the leaf, not the complete one. Does that have any impact? Jan 11, 2017 at 7:42
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    Unlikely I'd have thought, but best not take any more.
    – Bamboo
    Jan 11, 2017 at 11:33
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You can cut banana leaves but you need to keep a balance of the leaves in the centre. Like 4 to 5 leaves to balance the tree. Recently I was selling banana leaves and I cut without thinking and now I realize no bananas produced because of cuttin the leaves.

So cut always from the bottom keep the top leaves on but don’t cut naked meaning all the leaves off

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