Quote:
Originally Posted by all43
Looking very good, I'm yet to add a variegated musa that's not going to die on me and they are still quite expensive in the UK.
Are your plants in a poly tunnel and are you pots topped with gravel or is that the substrate you use?
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Hi, I have two greenhouses. One is the glass front of my solar home, the other is my main musa greenhouses, with a 16' ceiling, and glazed with a 5 ply polycarbonate. This diffuses the light, and seems to work well.
After spending many years with Dwarf Cavendish, which grows like a weed for me, in most any type soil I use......it was a hard shock with my first Florida and A'ea'e's a few years ago. I have lost many. I mean MANY, a lot of money down the tubes, but I have learned a lot, still learning.
My current 3, 10' high A'ea'e's I have going for two years now, are in a mixture of 1/3rd light fluffy potting mix, 1/3rd coarse, washed and sifted perlite, and 1/3rd coarse sand, again sifted, and washed.
I have also have put many more drainage holes into their 25 gallon pots, including some on the side, and prop them up an inch off the ground to allow air circulations underneath - and most important, WATER VERY LITTLE DURING WINTER SEASON.......
I would use pure sand, but I tried this, and it makes the pots just too heavy, I have future plans for a new greenhouse, and I am planning on a design that uses geo-thermal tubes underneath, allowing 3 feet depth of ground beds that are kept warm - I think all my Musa would do much better that way - growing here in the high altitude Rocky Mountains
I am now experimenting using an Orchid mix of bark, charcoal, and some various small stones, mixed with the above stuff for some new Florida pups I have, so far so good. This Orchid mix really makes for a very light, chunky mix.
For some reason, while both have been challenging - Florida variegated has been MUCH more difficult than A'ea'e for me in my situation.