Bananas.org - View Single Post - Trying again with Ensete perrieri (from RPS)

bigdog · 02-19-2007, 05:53 PM

I got some more seeds of this in from RPS (rarepalmseeds.com) a couple of weeks ago. Lots of them looked no good, but he sent me 173 seeds when I ordered 100, so I can't complain. Anyway, I separated 100 and did the float test in some warm water for 16 hours. 41 of them floated, and 59 sunk to the bottom. I sowed them all anyway, but separated the floaters from the sinkers. They were sowed in Promix, in a flat with a humidity dome, at a depth of about 1/2 inch. I placed them in the greenhouse, which goes up to about 85F during the day right now, and into the low 70s at night. The humidity dome will trap some heat, so under it is probably around 90F+ during the heat of the day. If it gets too hot, I will use a humidity dome with holes in the top.

Sure would be nice just to get one or two of these babies to sprout! It is a beautiful banana, the only native banana of Madagascar. The other 73 seeds went back into the bag. Ensete seeds can stay dormant for so long, I figured if the ones I just sowed show no promise, I'll still have a few left to play around with. If the ones I have sowed in flats right now don't pop within a couple of months, I'm going to try some other things with them.

Anybody else order any of this new batch from RPS? Has anybody even ever sprouted one of them yet??

02-19-2007, 05:53 PM	#1 (permalink)
bigdog ******* bigdog's Photo Gallery** Location: Gainesville, FL Find me on the map! Zone: 8b Name: Frank Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,002 BananaBucks : 732,455 Feedback: 7 / 100% Said "Thanks" 212 Times Was Thanked 1,787 Times in 502 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 131 Times	Trying again with Ensete perrieri (from RPS) I got some more seeds of this in from RPS (rarepalmseeds.com) a couple of weeks ago. Lots of them looked no good, but he sent me 173 seeds when I ordered 100, so I can't complain. Anyway, I separated 100 and did the float test in some warm water for 16 hours. 41 of them floated, and 59 sunk to the bottom. I sowed them all anyway, but separated the floaters from the sinkers. They were sowed in Promix, in a flat with a humidity dome, at a depth of about 1/2 inch. I placed them in the greenhouse, which goes up to about 85F during the day right now, and into the low 70s at night. The humidity dome will trap some heat, so under it is probably around 90F+ during the heat of the day. If it gets too hot, I will use a humidity dome with holes in the top. Sure would be nice just to get one or two of these babies to sprout! It is a beautiful banana, the only native banana of Madagascar. The other 73 seeds went back into the bag. Ensete seeds can stay dormant for so long, I figured if the ones I just sowed show no promise, I'll still have a few left to play around with. If the ones I have sowed in flats right now don't pop within a couple of months, I'm going to try some other things with them. Anybody else order any of this new batch from RPS? Has anybody even ever sprouted one of them yet?? Last edited by bigdog : 02-19-2007 at 06:06 PM.