Red Banana Plants

Hi wiseoldowl, if they're the same as the ones Morrisons are selling; Ensete Maurelii, then there are a few of us that have bought them including myself. I found this web page that helps quite a bit;

http://www.cooltropicalplants.com/Ensete-ventricosum.html

There is alink off that page that details overwintering them..

 

I`ve got 3 last year from my local market , they where no big then a foot almost look like cannas , they grow really fast in a hot summer ......the biggest one on the right is it almost 2mt hight ...what I did last year to overwinter I just dug them out , cut all the leaves and the roots , left upside down for few days ,left in a really small pot and in the greenhouse up to May ......I tryed to overwinter one indoor , strange thing didn`t get as big as the other 2 .
Apparently they are used as annual border as they are now cloned in Holland that`s why the price is so cheap.
But I `ve seen a 4 years old reaching 3 mt so that`s my target .
many peoples are simple dry the plant and restart in spring.

 

I kept one for a couple of years, but lost it the second winter, not sure why as it was kept dry in the same conditions as the year before.
Maybe it was slightly colder that year.

Other than that, they grow like the clappers and need potting on regularly during the growing season in order to do their best.

 

Pete I can actually see the difference between my manicured one and your wild looking one the trunk of mine is the same as your in the picture , but as I cutted down , my leaves are growing stronger , they had lots of wind as well but didn`t manage to shredding the leaves .
plus mine is in a shade position and no sunburn at all , I actually love this plant .

 

Its true Sal, but some say they prefer Ensete to Musa because the leaves dont shred so readily.
And they dont, but I've always liked the more natural look.
Look at any banana shots growing in the tropics, they are shredded.

That plant is only in its second summer, after that it died in my unheated garage.

 

Pete , I left mine upside down for 2 days untill all the water got out , as apparently the main reason for them to die , plus I was reading on banana.org that many people are simple dry the tuber , just like an eddoes and store in the dark for 6 months .
ps look at Dave from hardy tropical , this is what i did myself.

 

I got 2 of these from Crews Hill Gardeners Club last year. They seem to be doing well.

Dug them out in October last year and kept them bone dry, indoors, in a small pot.
I started watering again in March, moved the pots outdoors in May, and planted them in my new beds a few weeks ago.

I saw the "patchy"(green leaves wth red blotches) species in Amsteram flower market a few weeks ago. They were in a fancy pot and the stall holder refused to let me have the plants just in the plastic inner pots. So i left them.

 

My Musa Cavandish have some shredding and sunburn and they are in shade half of the day .. the ones in the sun are very shabby, like all Bananas and Palms here ... but that is natural here and no one takes any notice.

I bought some seeds from Chiltern in November last year of Musa velutina, a red banana (I think the bananas are supposed to be red) but I have had no success whatsoever with germination ... again, guess it's the heat as we had a warm, dry winter.

 

Sal, Dave does not say what temperature he keeps it overwinter, mine was dry, very dry.

But I think too cold.

 

Pete , mine where in the unheated greenhouse and while i was away the temperature went down to a -3/4 , as the bucket of water was frozen solid , that means that they can take some cold easy before die .
Overall before join the forum my main information source was internet , look at this video , his name is Kris I can find the video of him dry the plant but look how dry are the roots..

 

sorry found them .