Georgie

Hello everyone. I'm new here and I'd welcome some advice please. I was given some Musa seed earlier this year (variety unknown) and to my delight one germinated. I now have a plant with about 6-8 mid-green leaves which is around 18" tall. I very much doubt it is a hardy variety so I intend to pop it in the mini greenhouse over winter. Can anyone identify the genus please and give me any tips? Thanks. G x

Zac in NC

Glad you came over here at my suggestion. Welcome.

Enjoy the smilies. They are fun.

Zac

Georgie

Yes, I made it. Thanks Zac.

G x

Taylor

HAH! Remember on AIM Zac??? "Invite him to Bananas.org"

Zac in NC

That was before but yeah, I am doing my part for the site as far as recruitment goes.

Zac

mrbungalow

In my opinion, the plant is way too young for identification. They tend to show their real characteristics when they have some size, planted in the ground. So far it looks just like my "musa helen" of the same size. But I suppose it could also be cheesmani or nagensium, or anything with a waxy pseudostem. It is not likely to be clean nagensium, since clean nagensium seeds are not on the market these days (and are supposed to be white?).

Unfortunately I do this all the time. Plant seeds/seedlings and forget to label. Once, I thought I had sprouted 100 itinerans when in reality it was regular ornata! Illustrates the importance to label what you plant! In the past years I have gotten better though!

Erlend

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Mark Hall

Georgie nice to see you over here as well. Sorry if I misled you with my guess of Balbisiana Ijust didn't think the leaves were pointed enough to be Nagensium still these guys are the experts

Mark

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Time Flies like an Arrow.....Fruit flies like a Banana.

Georgie

Hi Erlend. Thanks for your advice, I guess I'll just have to be patient then. Just to put the record straight, I didn't lose the label. The seeds were a present from my friend's children which were in a kit called 'grow your own bananas'. There was no clue at all to the varriety though.

Hi again Mark. Yes I saw your suggestion that it might be Balbisiaria and I've made a note. But there are more votes for Nagensium on the other site at the moment.

G x

MediaHound

Hi Georgie, I can't get you a positive ID on the plant, but I just wanted to welcome you aboard.

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

Georgie

Thanks Mediahound.

G x

mrbungalow

Could this be where it was purchased?

http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_comp...own_plants.cfm

I suppose it could be nagensium, but that would be really spectacular as it is kind of rare in cultivation. Balbisiana is also a possibility. Do you remember what the seeds looked like?

Here is a discussion going on about musa nagensium seeds on this forum.
Musa nagensium seeds for reference

BTW, warmest welcomes to the forum!

Erlend

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Georgie

Wow, now I'm seriously impressed. That was exactly the kit I was given. But does it help? The seeds, as I recall, were either very dark brown or black. There were 5 or 6 but only one germinated.

G x

mrbungalow

I vote for Musa Velutina first, musa balbisiana second.

The reason for this is that Musa Balbisiana is considered one of the easiest to sprout, and since this kit is intended for children, that should be an asset. My reason for doubt is the red colouring on the plant. Balbisiana isn't supposed to have red.

Musa Velutina is also easy to sprout, but stays reasonably small and flowers early. (Fun for kids, easier for parents!) It can also contain a fair amount of red in leaves and stems. Can be variable. Search for photos on this site.

Could also be Musa Acuminata since this species contains red colouring, but then again, so do many other species. I don't know if musa acuminata can be that powdery though. Also, Musa Acuminata is commonly believed to produce edible bananas (wich is wrong, but still a strong marketing-tool.)

In any case, it looks like you have a beautyful plant!

Best of luck!
Erlend

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Georgie

Thanks again, Erlend. May I ask a few more questions? I assume that this Musa (whichever variety it is) will not be frost hardy in its first year, even though I live in London with a garden which rarely, if ever, gets below freezing. The only way I can give it protection is in my mini greenhouse which is unheated. I'm assuming I should keep it dry now until spring and wrap it in a few layers of fleece. Is that right?

G x

bigdog

I think musa velutina can be ruled out. I've never seen that much wax on a young (or older) m. velutina. Pretty sure that isn't not musa cheesmani or m. nagensium either. They both have purple midribs on the underside of the leaves, which that plant doesn't (at least from what I can tell...can you take a picture of the underside of the leaves please?). I don't think that it's m. acuminata or m. balbisiana either. M. coccinea and m. beccarii can both be ruled out also.

My vote is for some form of musa ornata. The leaf bases are unequal-sided, which rules out a lot of species.

Zac in NC

Yeah I agree with Frank that it isn't velutina. In fact, I have never seen a velutina with a waxy bloom ( no not the flower- its a botanical term) on the pseudostem like that at all, they have all been glabrous and all green. <- Pink nanner for velutina....

Zac

mrbungalow

Bigdog and Zac are right. I jumped to conclusions a bit too fast.
Musa Ornata. It certainly fits the description here:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/mornata.htm

Cheers

Erlend

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Georgie

Hi big dog, thanks for your advice. I'm sorry but taking advice from another forum - possibly unwisely - I have already taken off all the leaves apart from the growing tip and put the plant in my mini greenhouse. I only have two other pictures of the plant but I'll post them here in case they help.



The Musa in situ



Naked!

G x

wim

I took a look at http://www.fatbraintoys.com/toy_comp...own_plants.cfm

They are also selling a number of pitcher plant seed-kits, for kids. Given how long it takes a pitcher plant to grow from seed to an adult, flowering plant (+- 7 years), this doesn't seem like a great gift for a kid. The first years they only grow to 1"-2". Only after they develop big pitchers that are capable of catching significantly big insects, that those plants grow 8 inches a year.

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With kind regards
Wim

mrbungalow

Yeah, probably not what you want for your 8ths birthday. Seeds that take years to become a plant! "Gee, Thanks for the gift.!"

Georgie; The guy on the other forum who adviced you to cut off the leaves deserves a good onion up the nose! When the dark season comes, it will need as much green as possible for energy absorbtion to maintain metabolism.
I like to think of leaves as sails. Without sails there's nothing to power the ship.

Erlend

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