Bananas

looks very similar to the two I rescued from the local supermarket a week after valentines - mine are only labelled "foliage plant" & hadn't been watered for a while (so I paid £1 each) - perked up after a couple of weeks in the greenhouse & some water:


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In other Banana news - Ive got Musa Balbisiania waiting to be potted on into a good home - I think it might be a bit hot in the greenhouse for them so I need to get on & move them outside somewhere:

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Not too hot for Musella lasiocarpa, which is up to the roof - was going to move it out this weekend but its looking like we might get a cold spell at the end of the week so it will have to stay in the warm for now:

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That might flower this year - it put on some serious growth from last year, when it looked like this:

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Finally - the four sikkimensis in the corner have survived the cold (down to 2'c one night) since being uncovered, still looking a bit worse for wear but lots of new growth coming. Might need the fleece again this week...

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Hey guys I opened up my banana last night looks a but tatty but all the pups survived so happy

 

Mine are still wrapped up - frost expected this weekend (although maybe chucking some fleece over them will be enough? Mine are Sikkis and not sure the leaves will tolerate any frost? Basjoo leaves might be more tolerant?

 

Mine were fine with temperatures down to 2'c & ice on the cars - I will probably fleece Friday night if I get home before dark but I think that they should be fine. Not sure how cold its really going to get here yet.

 

Indeed. 5-day forecast fine as a warning, 2-day forecast is what we need to actually make-a-decision - and Daily Express sensational-cast for lighting the fire

 

I will be watching weather like you say I check it most nights for frost as I'm a bricky and need to know if it's going to get frosty to cover the walls so I will be watching I have a old quilt that I can throw over it at night if needed thought it might be best to get it some air and light I could see condensation on the plastic in these hot days and did not want rot setting in
Do you guys feed any thing to give them a kick start when you uncover them I fed it once a week last year with nettel tea ?

 

Yours look like they have started to grow nick how long have you had yours
I also just bought a red banana at weekend but not planting out for a fare but yet as they tender but it's amazing will get a photo tonight

 

Nitrogen - so your Nettle Tea should be fine. I pee on mine!

 

I grew the sikkimensis from seed in 2012 ; I planted them out last year & they have done really well - Thats quite a good corner for them 'cos it is sheltered from the wind on three sides & gets the sun most of the day ; I do have to remember to water quite a lot though.

Musella lasiocarpa came from Jungle Plants, its three years old I think & so should be flowering age (fingers crossed). I do have a couple more sitting in the greenhouse that badly need potting on, but there are more important jobs in the queue at the moment.

As for feed - Like Kristen I use a weak nitrogen feed every couple of weeks at the start of the season. Unlike him I get mine out of a box:

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... but I would wee on the plants if it wasnt a bit .. exposed .. in my garden.

 

New
Ensete ventricosum maurelli

 

Propagating Ensete Maurelli - day 160

Richard - that's lovely. Maurelli has to be my favorite.


At the start of this thread I showed how on 20 November last year I cut a Maurellii rhizome into four essentially equal parts. Now 160 days later they have developed into four very unequal parts - shown above. The quarter on the left clearly contained the old growing point and has developed as a single plant - though there are a couple of small growths below the soil level that could produce pups - but they have done nothing for many weeks.

The middle two have developed very nicely with many pups, but the one on the right has done nothing. Its still firm and healthy, and has a few very small shoots below soil level. But they haven't grown any bigger over the last few weeks.


Its time to seperate them, and this is what I got from one of the centre pots. Some bits came apart singly with a little root. The two pieces in the red pots have no roots at all - so they probably won't survive, and the others I couldn't seperate. Being a greedy lad I have returned the rest of the rhizome, which is more than two thirds of the original, to another pot - just in case it decides to have a second litter. The other central pot produced essentially the same.

 

That's ace peter I don't know if I dar do that to it and it's such a stunning plant I'm hoping to bring it inside for the winters but I guess it depends on how big it gets as the mrs s was not to happy with the basjoo pup I have had in over winter just incase we had another bad year and I lost my ones out side
How do over winter yours peter

 

Thanks Richard. I now have a free standing garden room at the bottom of my garden (where the sun is). I heated it over the winter with a minimum temperature of 10C, and overwintered all my plants in it. I am hoping that they will continue to actively grow over future winters - though that could cause some space problems.

I had two large Maurelii last autumn. They were outside and hit by a bit of frost before my garden room was completed. One was cut up - as above, and I overwintered the other in the garden room, thinking it was still growing. But it seems to have died, as when I cut it back it was pretty rotten. I saved the base but it has done nothing since. I also have a Musa velutina which is growing happily - it was only small and inside the house during the frosty period. I have a couple of Musa basjoo (49p each) and a Dwarf Cavendish - which is currently making up its mind whether it wants to live or not.

 

Mine had their leaves cut off, because my Conservatory was not finished, so they had to go into the greenhouse. They look decidedly unhappy with lots of external rot. No idea if they will make it, or not. So my view, now, is that they either need to be stored dry (leaves and roots cut off and thoroughly dried out before storage), or the leaves left on (I have overwintered them frost-free before [with leaves on]) as I think that is enough to draw the remaining water out of the compost in the pot.

Last Autumn was really wet though, so they may also have been compounded by coming indoors much more wet than normal

 

Interesting Kristen. I can't work out exactly how bananas cope with winter. The method of cutting off all leaves and roots and thoroughly drying certainly works. That's what I did with the Maurelii which started the thread. I just cut it into four segments as well. But why the other one that I overwintered inside with its leaves on hasn't survived I don't know.

I suspect that the minimum winter temperature of 10C would normally be enough to keep it growing. But having been frosted beforehand it went dormant and then the extra temperature just made it rot faster. Outside, with protection from frost and rain, it probably rots very slowly and this is then overtaken by the new growth in spring.