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View Full Version : It's alive...now what is it?


pmurphy
08-04-2013, 09:34 PM
Last April (2012) I was given a very, very sick banana with the name "red" attached to it. However it was so sickly that all the color was gone, just pale green and yellow. Well it continued to deteriorate no matter what I did; it was infested with ants and aphids, the leaves turned brown and crispy but I continued to hang on to the plant, cutting back and repotting until earlier this month I was all but ready to admit defeat. But there was one last reprieve because I was too busy to dispose of what was left so the pot continued to sit on the deck.
But lo and behold there was still a spark and look what I found a couple of days ago.....
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=53978&size=1

Now the big question is what exactly is it? I am suspecting red abyssinian ensete ventricosum but the leaves look different from the one I already have. Or is it just that it is so young and only 4" tall?

banana13
08-06-2013, 09:48 AM
I think ensete maurelli.

pmurphy
08-06-2013, 12:39 PM
I think ensete maurelli.

You are probably right....guess I will just have to wait until it gets bigger
Thanks :)

LilRaverBoi
08-08-2013, 10:46 PM
Ensete ventricosum 'maurelii.' Nearly positive.

And the growth point must have gotten seriously messed up/damaged cause they normally do NOT pup (no Ensete does). So you're kinda lucky to have multiple plants rather than a single one.

pmurphy
08-09-2013, 08:51 AM
Ensete ventricosum 'maurelii.' Nearly positive.

And the growth point must have gotten seriously messed up/damaged cause they normally do NOT pup (no Ensete does). So you're kinda lucky to have multiple plants rather than a single one.

This is what I am thinking its just that the leaves somehow look different....I guess I will just have to wait and see as it - or I should say they - get bigger. FYI, I took another close look last night and it appears there are a total of 4 pups now; 2 are only about 1-1/2" tall.

mm4birds
08-09-2013, 09:32 AM
could it be a cannas?

LIBananaGuy
08-09-2013, 08:08 PM
Looks more like a canna .

pmurphy
08-10-2013, 09:03 AM
No, the parent was definitely a banana and if I recall (it was a year and a half ago) about 3ft tall with a touch of red at the base of the p stem.
It just slowly deteriorated; starting with the leaves (which had more yellow than green) turning brown and dry at the edges. This "dryness" started at the edge of the leaves and worked inward until the entire leaf was gone. It also had an ant colony in the pot....when I repotted I think there were more eggs than soil. Once I finally got rid of the ants (and the aphids they were farming) the plant seemed to just slowly faded away, losing one leave after another - it had about 8 to start with - until all I had was a stump. And even the stump slowly deteriorated until all that was left is what you see - several times I had thought of just making a clean cut to see if it would regrow but just never got a round to it. But then the stump still had a bit of color so I thought there was still hope for it, and I have been just too busy to get rid of it.......good thing :)