sunsetsammy

Hello,

Just a little follow up to this post.

With the two rotted ensete's I decided to do the chop.

I started cutting back the 1st one and although the outer parts of the plant looked fine the inner most ring was still black. I kept cutting lower and lower trying to stay about 8 inches from the ground as Lodewijkp has said. At that point there was still some definite black there so I figured the thing was a goner and kept cutting lower to about 3 inches from the ground level. Still black. I decided it was probably a lost cause but I stuck the thing in a big pot with new soil anyway.

The second plant I figured I would try something different. What's to lose at this point?

I know I read it here somewhere but I can't find it now. I chopped the thing right down to the corm and then with the corm upright I cut the thing into 4 pieces. I took these 4 chunks and potted them up.

Anyhow this is over a month later and I'm happy to report that the 1st ensete is alive and doing well. About two days later I noticed the spot where I'd chopped was pushing out new growth. I couldn't believe it! My girlfriend thought the rest of the plant was shrinking around the center core. Sure enough though, it was growing and began pushing out a new very white leaf in about a week. Currently its in the ground pushing out new leaves. Its almost caught up to my other ensete that pushed thru the winter okay.

The 4 chunks of corm that I potted are also showing some action. I pretty much forgot about them until last week when I pulled them out of their pots for a look. All 4 pots are full of new white roots! Is this a good sign or am I just dreaming here? Is there anything else I can do to encourage new growth at this point? Fingers crossed.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.