Question
I have several banana trees that i am planting along the fence of my dog yard. In order to prevent them from spreading out of control I am planting them inside 5 gallon buckets which are buried in the ground. I left 2 inches of the bucket above ground and drilled the bottom of the bucket full of holes so it would not hold water. I have only planted one so far like this. It just rained and the bucket did not hold water. The banana plant seems to be doing fine so far. Do you think this will work? I realize the plants growth may be stunted. But I'm ok with that. The purpose of planting them is for privacy and to give my dog a little shade in the hot south Louisiana summer

Answer
Isaac, the banana needs to be out of those buckets, or they are going to decline down the road; I would put them in the ground and just pop the pups off, as they surface. You didn't mention what variety of banana they were, but they will get probably about 6 feet tall, before a pup breaks through the surface from the underground corm. You may want to allow a few pups to mature and cut the others off; this will allow you the shade you desire, while controlling their spread. You probably will lose them to ground level this winter; but hopefully they will regrow in the spring...good luck.. Nick