Vette-kid

Listed on ebay from bk interplants. They claim 1 meter full height and no fruit. Plant is a dramatic red with green specs. I can't find anything else on it. Any idea what this is and what is hardiness might be? It's a beautiful plant.

edwmax

Please post a link to the plant.

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Vette-kid

Sorry, took me a minute to figure out how to get the link from the app


Very RARE Musa Banana "Super Red Variegate" Beautiful Red Leaf +Free Phyto!@ | eBay

Gabe15

Appears to be a 'Siam Ruby', once insanely expensive and rare, now common and cheap. This one looks like it could be a non-tissue cultured very red selection, but maybe not, either way I wouldn't go through the hassle to import it, they are already in the US.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

wolfebc

That's a Siam Ruby. Better off to buy one in the USA.
The more sun they get the redder the leaves get. so some
plants will look more red than others, depending on how much
sun they are receiving. I grew this plant for a few years.

A lot of the Aglaonema plants sold on Ebay are the same way.
You can have one plant and grown under different lighting conditions,
it can look like 3 different ones. They take advantage of this to
increase their sales. They know some people will want to collect them
all .

Vette-kid

Looking at Siam ruby, it appears to be much taller (6-8?) than the 3 ft this claims. A dwarf Siam ruby?

edwmax

Thanks, it wasn't showing in my eBay search.

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wolfebc

No, this is a good example of why you shouldn't believe everything
you read. That is a mistake in the listing. That it simply just a Siam
Ruby, and will not be any shorter or redder than any one you would find to buy in the US.
Monrovia sells them to nurseries throughout the US, so shouldn't
be too hard to find.

Just about all the listings BK has on Ebay say "Rare, hard to fine" but they
are not so rare really. There is usually an abundance of all plants readily
available and if on the odd chance something is sold out, it won't be long
before there is more for sale. some of his super rare Aglaonema plants are
actually very common in Thailand and you might see several tables full
of one plant in a nursery in Bankok, that BK is advertising as (Rare,
hard to fine" and has "only two available", on the listing.

Another thing about importing Banana plants from Thailand is you
should be prepared to buy anywhere from 5 to 10 bulbs to get one
to actually grow out. There are very hard to get to grow and even
with several years experience, I still have issues getting them to grow.
Your best bet is save your money and when a US seller comes up with
some available, buy them from the US. There will be no Customs issues,
no Permit requirements and a good seller will sell with the rootball attached
to the plant. This makes it real easy to grow out. Every variegated
banana plant from Thailand can be bought in the US, Just a little
harder to find.
You are very lucky that you are in the US and there are a lot of resources
there to buy banana plants from. We don't have that luxury here in Canada.

cincinnana

Siam's and similiar

This plant is for sale at many big box's 15.00 and up but they sell very, very fast

The Monrovia's plants which are of better size and quality are in the 75.00 range for a multi plant packed 3 gal+ container.
These quality plants sell fast also.

Better nursery's in the panhandle area should carry them.
Most nursery's on the treasure coast also have them.

Locally I have seen them sell for as little as 7.00 in a 2gal container at end of season clearance.

Wolfebc is very correct in saying lighting conditions change the coloration of the plant.

I have Bordelons in full sun and mostly shade and the plants look different at the end of season.
Of course there is that size difference which I could call the small ones a Dwarf variant.

A dose of 46-0-0 will change the color even faster on variegated plants

For me the plant tests the indoor growing skills a bit.

Tall plant, lots of heat and light are needed

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Vette-kid

Interesting info! Glad I asked here first!

cincinnana

Just to show you how different the same plant can look.
In a month they will look different still as new leaves replace those old ones.
Each leaf can look different.

I could sell you these rare dwarf variegated plants.
I have red with green and a green with red variation.
And the one in the middle is green on top and red on the bottom.


Two of the plants are the same. by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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wolfebc

I like the Red with Green, very cool looking plant.

cincinnana

SoLd.......

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a.hulva@coxinet.net

The picture is definitely a Siam Ruby. I have found them to be difficult to raise, but I have difficulty raising anything.

wolfebc

I found them difficult also. They seem to require a lot of warmth and
do not like coolness and with low light and under fluorescent light, the plant
will be all green.