That is a big mother!do you store it in winter?

I've been told and read here this variety doesn't produce many pups. What is your experience with them pupping?

The big one I happened to keep upstairs in the light and heat during the winter, so it kept on growing, although it lost most of it's leaves to spider mites. When I transplanted it outside in May, it had maybe three leaves at most, but sure took off once it had full sunlight. Since I took this picture, it has grown another two feet and has a few more leaves. I've never seen any pups from these. I believe they are always grown from seed.

Kevin

This variety doesn't produce pups.

I bought one of these to use as a houseplant. Has been doing great all summer, but a few of the lower leaves turn yellow, and then brown, so I cut them off. Is this natural, or do I have a problem?

i have one the same size and im in the same zone,its potted and I could barely move it in to the house,it takes up half my living room so what is the best way to overwinter this next year,can you bare root these in the basement like other bananas

I have two little ones. I'm curious how one propagates these. I would love to create a couple more from them.

~Tj~

Willy1der, I did the same thing with the banana in the picture. Luckily, I have an A-frame house with a vaulted ceiling that is as least 30 feet high. It is a monster in my living room! It stands 10 1/2 feet high from the floor. If you wish to overwinter it in your living room, you can always cut it back to a 3-4 foot stem, and let it start over with leaves, or cut it back and store it in your basement in an unheated, unlit room and it should stay dormant until Spring. If you do this, you should only water it maybe once in the middle of winter, otherwise the roots could rot. This plant does well storing water in its stem and roots without additional watering while it is dormant. Good luck!

Here's one of mine. I'm afraid it's too large to bring in this winter. The base of it is about 2.5-3 feet in diameter. It's over 10 feet tall. It's one of the focal points of our backyard.

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photos by Boca Joe

Dave, beautiful plant! Yours must be a little more protected from the wind than mine. Yes, it looks like it's the same size as mine. Of course, yours gets warm temperatures at night and humidity, which mine does not get outside in the summer. I'm sure this helps it look so good.

Kevin

We don't get a whole lot of wind in summer, except for occasional storms. But this one is in a somewhat sheltered location. It didn't grow as much in height as I suspected it might. But it did grow a lot in girth. It's in nearly full sun.

Basjoos grew taller. Those are basjoos on the left, so-called 'Dwarf Cavendish on the right! Black Magic EEs are about 7 feet; Lime Zingers are about 5 feet.

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Dave, your pictures are all beautiful! My musas just won't grow very tall in my climate, so I prefer the ensete. You are a master gardener!

Kevin

Dave, those "black magic EEs are incredible.

WOW i didn't know you could plant a banana that far north. i am moving to Sioux Falls in July and would love to plant one. i have been looking on the net and i cant find any other reference to it. where did you get the plant?

Hi Eric. I bought all of these Abysinnian banana as small 6 inch plants at a local nursery. This red variety (maurelii) cannot be propogated by seed, so they must be purchased as plants. You might ask your local nurseries if they can order these plants in for you. By the way, the plant in the first picture is now indoors. It has grown to about 15' tall now. I will replant it outdoors again in the Spring. Here is a picture I took of it today.

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Kevin,

Looks really healthy. When you plant it out, do you remove them from pot? Do you stake it? How deep do you plant it?

v1rtu0s1ty, I plant them outside sometime mid May, after danger of frost is past in zone 4. Yes, I remove them from their pots, and stake them until they are established. I plant them at the same ground level as they were in their pots. They seem to get established outside without too much difficulty. I fertilized them well and water them well about once per week by sprinkler, since we don't get much rain during the summer months.

Kevin

Hi, just bought a potted one thats about 18" tall. Was wondering how tall it could get in one season in central Mass. btw, I have great soil and sun. TIA

I just purchased one this past Saturday. Tag was labeled Ensette Banana. No other info other than basic planting instructions. I am hoping it is the same varity as what you have.

Steve, you bought one 18' tall? Wow. It should get 30 feet tall, in that case. My tallest one inside is about 22 to 25 feet tall, and is too big and tall to move outside. I chopped off all of the leaves on the other ones and transplanted them outside, but not my big one! Here's a picture I just took of it. It's a little blurry since it's at night time, but you can see the size of this thing. It could kill someone if it toppled over!

bamatufa, there are two typical varieties of ensete, the regular green variety that you can grow from seed (I have purchased them from Park seeds and planted with sucess), or the Maurelii variety which is the reddish leafed variety, and is only progagated from tissue cloning.

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You can get a ton of pups from the Maurelii variety. It requires cutting the pstem all the way down. Once cut down, you hack it up. Lots of pups will pop up where the pstem used to be. Here's a link at bananas.org that explains it better than I do.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ensete Maurelii creating pups