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View Full Version : I need some Help!


parillo12
12-27-2012, 11:57 PM
I just bout a "Ensete ventricosum abyssinian banana" and I don't know much about how to grow that verity of banana, I grow musa basjoo and I wanted to try something different, can I get help of how much water, sun light, and other stuff it might need!!

LilRaverBoi
12-28-2012, 12:28 AM
Pretty much identical care as basjoo...except it's not nearly as cold tolerant. Then again, I believe you'll be fine in zone 9-10. Water when dry, fertilize heavily, as with all bananas, but less in the winter. As much light as you can give it.

Did you get the regular ventricosum or the ventricosum 'maurelii?' Maurelii has reddish leaves.

parillo12
12-28-2012, 12:38 AM
Regular ventricosum Abyssinian banana tree

parillo12
12-28-2012, 12:59 AM
Pretty much identical care as basjoo...except it's not nearly as cold tolerant. Then again, I believe you'll be fine in zone 9-10. Water when dry, fertilize heavily, as with all bananas, but less in the winter. As much light as you can give it.

Did you get the regular ventricosum or the ventricosum 'maurelii?' Maurelii has reddish leaves.


Regular ventricosum Abyssinian banana tree

parillo12
12-28-2012, 01:56 PM
This is the plant, it's the one on the red wagon

Illia
12-28-2012, 07:52 PM
Welcome, and nice bananas! In your zone you know you can definitely grow edible type bananas too.

parillo12
12-28-2012, 10:24 PM
What is a great type of banana that grows fast and has edible fruit, like the bananas from a store?

Illia
12-29-2012, 01:19 AM
The bananas from the store, unless you're eating specialty ones, have nothing on the many varieties you can grow for yourself. Flavor is unbeatable.

All bananas grow fast, it's the fruiting and time til flower that varies. For your zone I'd recommend, just for safety, some slightly cold hardy beginner varieties such as Namwah, Rajapuri, Brazilian, Mysore, Misi Luki, or Orinoco. If your area never gets frost, or only very rarely mild frost, you could also try the storebought Gran Nain variety or maybe even the Manzano/Apple type. (which, in California, I think aren't too hard to find in stores)

If you experience rare to no freezing below 30 degrees, your choices in bananas to grow are numerous. And this forum is a great place to start looking around when it comes to other's descriptions and experiences on which variety is best for what needs. I don't have any experience in which variety fruits faster, personally, but I find that reading others' experiences online can help narrow the search.

Just remember, nearly all bananas like plenty sun, lots and lots of water, and lots and lots of fertilizer. (natural or commercial)

If you're looking for instant bananas, a non-cold hardy variety well known for a quick but small output is the Veinte Cohol. If you're willing to wait the normal 1-2 years, Namwah is a pretty good start. Most people grow it because of the fact that the famous "Ice Cream" bananas sold are often Namwah, which are superb in flavor and not too slow to fruit from what I've read. They don't give you as many bananas as the commercial varieties like Gran Nain and Williams, but they're said to taste much better, and are definitely a lot hardier to possible freezes.

parillo12
12-29-2012, 02:45 PM
We rarely get frost, it's been a some what worm winter.