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View Full Version : Siam Ruby, great indoor banana


brettay
06-16-2009, 11:15 PM
I keep my bananas indoors in a wet lit room during the winter months and move them outside for the summer. While they do quite well, they typically appear a bit on the unhealthy side by the end of the winter. This year I decided to keep one of my Siam Rubys inside during the summer and it is doing absolutely great. It doesn't have the deep burgundy red color that they develop outside, but it still has an interesting greenish/dark red color. Most importantly it looks extremely healthy and is growing like crazy. I am getting a new leaf every 1-2 weeks and it has 5 pups which are also growing very quickly. It adds a great tropical feel to the room. Here is a picture of it a couple of weeks ago. It already has a couple of extra leaves since this picture was taken. Highly recommended!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/uploads/3165/siamruby.jpg

Nanagirl2k8
06-17-2009, 01:08 AM
Just lovely!!!

What size pot are you using?

Bob
06-17-2009, 08:05 AM
It sure looks healthy enough.

Jack Daw
06-17-2009, 09:16 AM
Doesn't the weaker light supress the coloring?

brettay
06-17-2009, 10:28 AM
Doesn't the weaker light supress the coloring?

The color is not as dark as it would be if it were outside, but it still has a green/dark red color to the leaves which is very attractive.

It is in a 10 gallon pot.

-Brett

fergus banana
06-17-2009, 10:58 AM
pretty.
bananas look so much better indoors!

The Hollyberry Lady
08-24-2009, 05:41 PM
Oh I am so excited to hear that Siam Ruby can make a great indoor plant too! I am going to be receiving one soon, but I want to put it outside for the summers, so I can see the intense red color.

What a gorgeous plant, Brettay!!!


: O


How is it doing now?...

LilRaverBoi
08-24-2009, 06:31 PM
I've never had many issues growing my bananas in the winter indoors in Iowa. The issue with indoor growth without grow lights is this: South-facing windows will give you the optimal amount of light during the day. Also, during the winter, the sun is lower in the sky and comes farther in the window. Moreover, the farther north you live, the more the light will shine in at any given time of year. In Iowa, my room receives a decent amount of direct indoor sunlight even in the heat of summer. However, here in MO, only 5 hours south of my home the sun doesn't shine in my window directly at ALL during mid summer. It has now started to shine in a bit again.

So the feasibility of indoor growth depends on your location, the time of year and the direction the windows face. Some species will also do better with lower light levels than others.

Looks like your plant is healthy and is doing well, so I guess it's working fine for ya! Hope my plants do equally well this winter when I have to move them inside!

revensen
10-08-2009, 12:48 PM
I only wish my Siam Ruby's looked like that inside. Mine look like they were run over by a truck. How long does an outdoor banana take to stabilize indoors? How much leaf loss it to be expected?

moonboy87
10-08-2009, 02:37 PM
That is a beautiful and happy looking plant, brettay!
*sigh* I really can't wait until I get a siam ruby, they are just so beautiful.
What about being indoors causes it to loose it's color?

stumpy4700
10-08-2009, 04:05 PM
That is a beautiful and happy looking plant, brettay!
*sigh* I really can't wait until I get a siam ruby, they are just so beautiful.
What about being indoors causes it to loose it's color?

It needs direct sunlight....the more the redder it gets.

mskitty38583
10-08-2009, 04:42 PM
nice looking ruby! the one i had last year....sniff sniff....passed away. but i was determined to have at least one in my collection. so i went to johnsons nursery in cookevegas and bought 2. they were 4 ft tall and just so lovely at a whopping 40.00 each. then i got to looking around and they had some of the weirdest looking basjoos i had ever seen. they were blood leaf bananas but marked as basjoos. so i told the attendant there that they had miss named their basjoos and gave them the website here( so he could look it up for himself). the store manager was so impressed (he said he knew nothing about nanas or tropicals) and he gave me a 25.00 discount on both of mine. your colors are a little darker them mine, mine have been in the shade for 2 weeks to get them used to indoor lighting. congrats on yours looking so beautiful!! hopefully mine will look like yours in a few months.

LilRaverBoi
10-09-2009, 12:46 PM
I moved mine in a week or two ago. Looks great in the community room where I'm keeping it. It's still growing well...no issues.

How long does an outdoor banana take to stabilize indoors? How much leaf loss it to be expected?
They don't really have to get used to it like living outdoors. You don't have to reduce the lighting before moving them in or anything....just take em in and they'll do fine. Might grow slightly slower with reduced light, but they tolerate it pretty well as long as they're in a sunny window. Moving from inside to outside, however, does take some careful transitioning to reduce sunburn. As far as leaf loss, I haven't ever had any.

The Hollyberry Lady
10-09-2009, 02:38 PM
Well I am proud to report that I now have a Siam Ruby plant - thanks to Bob!


: )


Even though it had a few issues at first, not to mention the other night I had a little accident with it - it is now beginning to come back to life!

After seeing all the gorgeous pictures of this plant, you can well imagine how excited I am. It seems like it's a hardy little thing, coming back like it did, when I thought it might die!

I hope mine looks as lovely as Brettay's beauty! Right now, it isn't too promising, but I am hoping it will grow into something wonderful real soon. We'll see...


: )

damaclese
10-09-2009, 02:49 PM
i just moved my SR indoors for the winter i have an enormis 14ft high window that faces south and thats were she will be untill march 1st she is aready gorwing a new leaf the Ae Ae is seting nexst to her how ever AE looks vary unhappy not a smig of groth for 2 weeks but it got pretty beat up in that last wind store losing all but three of its leafs and it got mites on top of it i think i have that under control which bring up a good point when you move out door plants in spray for insects at raguler intervols

The Hollyberry Lady
10-09-2009, 02:55 PM
Yes, and a great way to do this is to use dishsoapy water to water into the medium, killing all the soil bugs, but not harming the plant's roots. Be sure to use plain dishsoap, not anti-bacterial.

Also, giving the plant's leaves a thorough 'soaping' and then rinsing well, will be beneficial in ridding outside plants of bugs, before bringing them in.

A great alternative to using pesticides.


: )

natej740
10-09-2009, 06:14 PM
I just got mine on Wednesday....Here it is....Kinda blurry though. I need to clean the lens on my pre...

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=24715&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=24715&ppuser=5962)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=24714&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=24714&ppuser=5962)

The Hollyberry Lady
10-10-2009, 06:29 PM
That is just gorgeous, Nate! Great you got one.



Uh...mine is not picture worthy right now, unless Bob tries to embarrass me, that is. Lord knows I'd deserve it!

When it becomes a little more "photogenic", I will take a shot of it...

You will be happy to know though Bob, that it started growing again!


: )

cherokee_greg
01-15-2010, 10:12 AM
Here is a update on my Siam Ruby in the house. The leaves came in green. Im sure it wants to be outside.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=29024&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29024&ppuser=5959)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=29023&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29023&ppuser=5959)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=29022&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=29022&ppuser=5959)

saltydad
01-15-2010, 01:49 PM
Good luck guys. I unfortunately have found Siam Ruby for me to be a poor indoor grower. Even with a large bay window, it does fine for the first half of the winter, but always ends up flopping over. Sometimes the main plant dies and only the pup survives.

LilRaverBoi
01-15-2010, 03:29 PM
Good luck guys. I unfortunately have found Siam Ruby for me to be a poor indoor grower. Even with a large bay window, it does fine for the first half of the winter, but always ends up flopping over. Sometimes the main plant dies and only the pup survives.
Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what's happening to mine! It's all droopy and the stalks bend over to the side. It should be alive still, come spring, but the main plant is probably a goner for all effective purposes.

cherokee_greg
01-15-2010, 05:18 PM
wow how sad. I hope mine makes it.

David Harritz
06-02-2012, 09:58 AM
As well as i know the Siam Ruby seems to be seen very rarely and need to do hardwork to grow the banana. As this type of banana is rarely available so obviously it will lack the information regarding it.