Olafhenny
10-07-2013, 08:02 PM
This is about an experiment to propagate Ensete Maurelii without destroying the mother plant.
It did not work out – this time. I have not given up though and intent to try again next year with
a different approach, but first I have to get it through the winter, and that is another experiment.
Sometimes we can learn more from failures than from successes, so I decided to give an account
of what I did:
The premise:
From postings here I have learned (this is my first E. Maurelii), that when the PS is cut off the stump
sprouts a number of Pups. So I thought, if I cut a piece of the corm off a live plant, it should also
grow. Also there was some indication, that pups may grow out of injury.
The morning of the "surgery":
I had already dug a hole for my “passive heating system” (PHS) very close to the E.M., so that I just
had to remove only a small amount of soil next to the corm, so I could lean the heating cage into
it today.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54835 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54835&ppuser=7269)
First I laid out the surgery tools
Then I removed the last bit of soil from the corm. - Ooops, no corm! There were just some white
roots, seemingly coming straight out of the bottom of the pseudo stem.
Well, I can’t stop now, the show must go on!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54837 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54837&ppuser=7269)
So I bravely sliced a section off the PS and dusted the wound with antifungal powder.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54834 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54834&ppuser=7269)
I did the same with the slice and tossed it into a pot.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54836 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54836&ppuser=7269)
Stuck my PHS into the prepared hole, so it would be there for the winter...
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54839 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54839&ppuser=7269)
...and backfilled it.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54838 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54838&ppuser=7269)
The slice seemed to grow at first, pushing out a root, where I did not expect it
However, I made a number of mistakes on this first attempt:
• I should have placed the slice on its side in the pot, instead of cut face down.
• I also placed the pot containing it in the shade (good) but close to a sprinkler, thus over-
watering it, forgot about it and in the end it all rotted away, new root and all.
• There was nothing sprouting out of the injury at the plant.
Next year I will probably try to slice a wedge out of the plant bottom, trying to get to the centre,
but not beyond it. And I will certainly pay more attention to the origin of the E.M., Abyssinia
(now Ethiopia), is hot and only about 20” of annual rainfall, mostly bunched together June through
August. The rest presumably pretty dry. Accordingly, I will try to get the wedge started in peat
moss, similar in moisture, as when I store canna-lily rhizomes during the winter.
But first I have to get it through the winter here in HZ6 outdoors. Another experiment for which
I will employ my www.bananas.org/f2/permanent-banana-shelter-winter-spring-17855.html, and the PHS, which I installed
beside the E.M. and which is described in more detail here: http://www.bananas.org/f10/my-passive-heating-system-19056.html.
It did not work out – this time. I have not given up though and intent to try again next year with
a different approach, but first I have to get it through the winter, and that is another experiment.
Sometimes we can learn more from failures than from successes, so I decided to give an account
of what I did:
The premise:
From postings here I have learned (this is my first E. Maurelii), that when the PS is cut off the stump
sprouts a number of Pups. So I thought, if I cut a piece of the corm off a live plant, it should also
grow. Also there was some indication, that pups may grow out of injury.
The morning of the "surgery":
I had already dug a hole for my “passive heating system” (PHS) very close to the E.M., so that I just
had to remove only a small amount of soil next to the corm, so I could lean the heating cage into
it today.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54835 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54835&ppuser=7269)
First I laid out the surgery tools
Then I removed the last bit of soil from the corm. - Ooops, no corm! There were just some white
roots, seemingly coming straight out of the bottom of the pseudo stem.
Well, I can’t stop now, the show must go on!
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54837 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54837&ppuser=7269)
So I bravely sliced a section off the PS and dusted the wound with antifungal powder.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54834 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54834&ppuser=7269)
I did the same with the slice and tossed it into a pot.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54836 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54836&ppuser=7269)
Stuck my PHS into the prepared hole, so it would be there for the winter...
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54839 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54839&ppuser=7269)
...and backfilled it.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=54838 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=54838&ppuser=7269)
The slice seemed to grow at first, pushing out a root, where I did not expect it
However, I made a number of mistakes on this first attempt:
• I should have placed the slice on its side in the pot, instead of cut face down.
• I also placed the pot containing it in the shade (good) but close to a sprinkler, thus over-
watering it, forgot about it and in the end it all rotted away, new root and all.
• There was nothing sprouting out of the injury at the plant.
Next year I will probably try to slice a wedge out of the plant bottom, trying to get to the centre,
but not beyond it. And I will certainly pay more attention to the origin of the E.M., Abyssinia
(now Ethiopia), is hot and only about 20” of annual rainfall, mostly bunched together June through
August. The rest presumably pretty dry. Accordingly, I will try to get the wedge started in peat
moss, similar in moisture, as when I store canna-lily rhizomes during the winter.
But first I have to get it through the winter here in HZ6 outdoors. Another experiment for which
I will employ my www.bananas.org/f2/permanent-banana-shelter-winter-spring-17855.html, and the PHS, which I installed
beside the E.M. and which is described in more detail here: http://www.bananas.org/f10/my-passive-heating-system-19056.html.