Question
My neighbor is getting rid of her banana tree(s) (has 3 in one root) One is producing fruit right now. Strange as it may seem I live in Charlotte County too so this should be a very easy question for you...How deep and how wide around the plant should I go when digging it up and is this going to hurt the fruit? She has it in her wooded lot she wants cleared right now.

Answer
Well howdy neighbor,  If the mother plant already has fruit, this may mean its a pretty extensive corm, you may have to settle for excising the pups and transplanting them and leave the mother be; this is done by cutting vertically down with a long bladed shovel along the mothers trunk and cutting the pup away from the mother along with a portion of the corm and roots, then transplanting them,   don't forget to attend the gardening series at the extension office on Oct. 13th, one of the sessions will be bananas, and guess who is giving the lecture?.....where is this banana, if it isn't too far I might be able to take a look. Nick