digging banana pups

Other plants we have or landscape elements like ponds.

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johnw
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

You certainly have those M. basjoos clicking Steve. Will you protect them only to the top of the barrel?

I got one back in late August and I'm surprised how much it's grown since and it's in a 2 gallon. I think it's had 5-6 new leaves.

This week I got 2 Ventricosa Rojos and 2 big Maurelliis, the latter got pretty beat up getting them into the VW. Hope they tolerate the dark and cold of the storage room.

johnw
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stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

I plan on cutting out the bottom of the barrel, and fitting the entire thing over the pseudo-stem, then stuffing it with as many leaves as possible. The pseudo-stems themselves will have shrink wrap wound very tightly to prevent moisture from getting inside, and once the whole setup is done, it will be shrink wrapped, and maybe tarped if I feel that it is necessary.

Ensete Maurelii is a lot harder to over-winter as southern window light is not enough to keep it alive, but your greenhouse with a bit of supplemental light should be adequate. Small 2-3ft tall maureliis just can't seem to tolerate dark and cool conditions. I also hardly watered them too, but they died for me last winter.
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

Argh. No room in the greenhouse for bananas I'm afraid.

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Alan_L
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by Alan_L »

Steve, you don't need to protect the entire pseudostem, just the bottom 2' or so -- at least with basjoo. At the Missouri Botanical Garden they have a nice "grove" of basjoo that's around 12' tall or more, and they just blow a pile of leaves over the area.

I used fencing filled with leaves. I'm pretty sure other people in the area do less with theirs and they still have the plant survive.
stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

Alan_L wrote:Steve, you don't need to protect the entire pseudostem, just the bottom 2' or so -- at least with basjoo. At the Missouri Botanical Garden they have a nice "grove" of basjoo that's around 12' tall or more, and they just blow a pile of leaves over the area.

I used fencing filled with leaves. I'm pretty sure other people in the area do less with theirs and they still have the plant survive.

Mine are already to the 13-14ft range by 8 inches in diameter so to get them even bigger, I want to give them a running start into next season. It's not all that hard to protect them given that I have plenty of 55 gallon barrels, shrink wrap, and bubble wrap to work with.
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

This morning.

Maurellii.

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tncry
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by tncry »

My plant in late summer. I didn't protect it, so it's gone. Nice plant though.

TC in PEI
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stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

Based on seeing a lot of ensete maurelii banana plants, it looks like the ones that get planted in the ground will typically get much bigger or grow a lot faster than the ones that are potted. Of course mine are potted, but I just got them not too long ago, and intend to stick them in the ground to upsize by May.

Here's how they look now.
Image

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Here are the pictures from 6 weeks ago showing how they have doubled in size, and look much healthier, even though they are growing indoors.
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by canadianplant »

Those are going to have some nice fat trunks for the spring :twisted:
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

Speaking of fat banana trunks a nursery here was dumping some Musas last autumn and gave me 2 big Rojos and 2 big Maurelliis all in 5 gallons pots. I was pleased until I got them home and tried getting them out of the car. They weigh a ton, by the cubic foot they have to be heavier than water or molasses.
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

TC - You had some great red colouration on that Maurellii! Amazing what sun will do. See how burgundy-coloured it was in the Valley.

I hear Montréal got a record amount of snow for 24 hours.

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stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

johnw wrote:Speaking of fat banana trunks a nursery here was dumping some Musas last autumn and gave me 2 big Rojos and 2 big Maurelliis all in 5 gallons pots. I was pleased until I got them home and tried getting them out of the car. They weigh a ton, by the cubic foot they have to be heavier than water or molasses.
Do you cut the leaves off and keep them dormant with cool temperatures over the winter? I'm not sure if this plant even requires a dormancy so if it is possible to let the leaves grow. I guess the justification for cutting off the leaves is that they contain a high water content, and can lead to rot over the winter if the corm is kept in a cool dray spot to go dormant. Anyways it looks like my maurelii plants will likely fill out their pots nicely by spring.

I'm wondering how big mine will get after getting planted in the soil. My guess is that they should at least reach 6ft by 5-6 inches on year one given they have a good start through the winter.
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by johnw »

Steve - I've not wintered them before but they're in the growing room in the barn about 6ft from the halide lights. Not enough light to make them grow but hopefully enough to keep them alive. Yes I cut all the leaves off except the terminal roller. You mentioned to turn the plant upside down before storing and it was surprising how much water had actually collected in the gorwing tip and leaf axils. They'd have rotted in a flash had I not done that.

Judging from friends' plants it appears to me that Maurellii is not as fast a grower as basjoo? Hardly a large enough sample to theorize about such matters though.
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stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

Once ensete maurelii is in the ground, I think it should grow at least as fast as musa basjoo. It just tends to grow shorter and fatter with larger leaves, and a different form.

Here's a pretty interesting thread on the propagation of this plant.
http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... 11&t=10867

I've tried this before, but failed as my corm was too small, and it was fall which was the wrong time of the year. One of the keys to succeeding in this propagation method seems to be to cut away as little as possible, and still damage the meristem. If I ever try something like this again, I think I would cut it vertically so I could save a lot more of the plant's energy, but I'm not sure if it works this way.

Anyways if you want more plants, then this thread does show how someone can produce lots of pups from a single plant.

Here's another nice thread about injuring the meri-stem with a razor blade.
http://www.bananas.org/f260/ensete-maur ... 686-2.html
stevelau1911
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Re: digging banana pups

Post by stevelau1911 »

John,

This video might help too. It seems like before you store ensete, they need to have their roots cut off, with fungicide applied to the bottom, and kept in a basement where they can basically turn completely dry. I'm guessing a dry basement with the lowest humidity possible, and temperatures around 15C would be about right.




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