Bananas.org - View Single Post - ensete maurelii red-creating pups

sandy0225 · 10-06-2008, 07:05 AM

I had several of the ensete maurelii plants that I received from tc this spring. Well one in particular, it needed repotting bad since it was 3 feet tall in a 4" pot. It kept on falling over and I didn't have time to mess with it, so I just kept on standing it back up, and it was looking pretty ratty. Broken leaves, etc.
So one day, my hubby was out in the greenhouse, so I got his knife and cut it off right at the base. I thought, well it'll grow back, and later this fall I'll have time to repot it. Then I remembered the posts about using large plants and destroying the growing tip to force pups to form. So I thought, I wonder if it has to be a large plant, or simply a well established one?
So I cut a big V shape out of the center of the plant growing in the 4" pot and then just for good measure I took the point of the knife and dug a big hole right down through the central growing point. Figured I'd probably killed it but like I have 20 more, so this one could be donated to science. And since I really wanted to make more plants, too, I did the same with a larger plant in a one gallon pot from last year that caterpillars and grasshoppers had it looking pretty bad too.
Well, both of them are growing this bumpy tissue in the center that looks like small corm nuggets--or at least it's growing something!Can't tell yet if it's going to make plantlets, but it sure is doing something weird, and definitely not dying yet. I took pictures of both, the first picture is the smaller one and the second picture is the larger one. They're in my gallery.

10-06-2008, 07:05 AM	#1 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 433,047 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	ensete maurelii red-creating pups I had several of the ensete maurelii plants that I received from tc this spring. Well one in particular, it needed repotting bad since it was 3 feet tall in a 4" pot. It kept on falling over and I didn't have time to mess with it, so I just kept on standing it back up, and it was looking pretty ratty. Broken leaves, etc. So one day, my hubby was out in the greenhouse, so I got his knife and cut it off right at the base. I thought, well it'll grow back, and later this fall I'll have time to repot it. Then I remembered the posts about using large plants and destroying the growing tip to force pups to form. So I thought, I wonder if it has to be a large plant, or simply a well established one? So I cut a big V shape out of the center of the plant growing in the 4" pot and then just for good measure I took the point of the knife and dug a big hole right down through the central growing point. Figured I'd probably killed it but like I have 20 more, so this one could be donated to science. And since I really wanted to make more plants, too, I did the same with a larger plant in a one gallon pot from last year that caterpillars and grasshoppers had it looking pretty bad too. Well, both of them are growing this bumpy tissue in the center that looks like small corm nuggets--or at least it's growing something!Can't tell yet if it's going to make plantlets, but it sure is doing something weird, and definitely not dying yet. I took pictures of both, the first picture is the smaller one and the second picture is the larger one. They're in my gallery. __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!