Hey there banana brethren!
Bet a few of you remember me from the past. Sorry for the hiatus, but I've been very busy with finishing school and seeking employment. I recently graduated from optometry school (YAY), so now I've moved back to Iowa again.
Just some updates on my botanical endeavors.....battled spider mites all winter, as usual, but came out well.
Current tropicals planted in fertile Iowa soil:
Elephant Ears:
-Alocasia porteii
-Colocasia 'Jack's Giant'
-Alocasia 'Borneo Giant'
-Alocasia 'Jurassic Dark' (new)
Corpse Flowers:
-Pseudodracontium hermandii (coming up now, hopefully blooming again, 3rd year)
-Amorphophallus bulbifer (hasn't done much beyond basic sprouts...we'll see. 2nd year with this one, no blooms yet, but it's still small)
Misc:
-Travelers Tree (was doing super well last year, then was dormant all winter indoors, and now it's been repeatedly 'scraped' by something unknown (possibly deer) and is down to two leaves. Still not really growing
-Licuala grandis (I have a couple small plants....growing very slowly)
Bananas:
-Musa super dwarf cavendish (was close to blooming, then was broken off by something recently (deer?) but regrowing from the ground, nice color on leaves)
-Musa dwarf brazilian (still a little guy, but he survived winter spider mites and is now doing well, nice color on leaves)
-Musa ice cream (went dormant all winter even though it was indoors, had to cut it off to move, never grew back, entire p-stem died and it hasn't done anything yet.....pretty sure it's done for
)
-Ensete ventricosum maurelii (new for this year...part of a planter with sweet potato vines. Hated my last maurelii, but decided to give it another chance (if it gives me any trouble this year, it's gonna be an 'annual' LOL))
Brand new bananas (arrived/planted today):
-Musa basjoo (attempting this one....maybe I'll try to overwinter it in Iowa...it manages in Missouri, so we will see how zone 5 treats it)
-Ensete glaucum (always wanted one....they're so beautiful)
-Ensete superbum (had one a couple yrs ago that unfortunately died when it was tiny....been looking for one for a while and found a healthy plant at a good price. Hopefully it will do well for me)
-Musa 'Praying Hands' (excited to have this one....3-4 foot sword sucker that looks very healthy thus far. Seems like a good parent/pup separation with some healthy roots....hopefully hot/dry conditions here aren't an issue.)
It's been super windy here recently as well as dry. Temps in the 70's/80's, so not too terribly hot, but not cool either. I really wish we'd get some decent rain; it's been weeks. Having to water things with the hose till that happens. I'm still trying to figure out what's happening to all my poor plants....I've had several 'vandalized' by nature recently. My best guess is deer....might be putting up some fences soon.
I'll try to get pictures of all of this some time. It's been too long!