Las Palmas Norte

Too big and heavy to dig up, I erected an insulated plywood encosure around my Ensete ventricosum 'Maurellii', complete with xmas lights for frosty nights. I cut this back to a stump last fall and it's grown slowly since and I've had to add more height to the structure. Seems to have worked in my zone 8 garden.

Cheers, Barrie.

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winter07-08 001.jpg (58.3 KB, 75 views)

dablo93

looks great!
I have now some ventricosum seedlings and maybe I will also do it like that with one of them.
what are the advantages/disadvantages of doing this?

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Las Palmas Norte

The biggest advantage is not having to dig it up in regions where a typical winter would kill it. It's a laborious and time consuming job, not to mention, hard on the lower back to unearth these as they get larger.

The biggest disadvantage is for someone who's not good with power tools. It's a simple project but it's not for everyone I guess.

Cheers, Barrie.

bikoro child

hi..is that not expensive with all these lights ? I'm located in Z8 too and my ensete is overwintered like my basjoos in situ with some plastic bags on it...

dablo93

Hi bikoro, didn't you had very cold weather around 15 decembre?
here it was between monday and friday below zero, between the 0 and -6 C.
it was the first time in many years that we did Ice skating again
but for the plants it was a terrible period (many died)
will a ensete survive that?

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redtail_2006

Over here in the uk we generally have to dig them out because like last nights temp was -6/-8 in places.I dig it up ;pot in up;bring in the house.The only thing is;in the house the leaves get smaller instead of bigger!.Here is a pic just before i dug it up.

dablo93

yes the same for here but northern france and Vancouver haves around the same temperature as in UK and benelux

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bikoro child

here i had -7°C in that cold time...This protection is enough for temperature like -10°C but never forget to mulch the ground in heavy quantity...(1foot thick)

Las Palmas Norte

With this protective structure not a hint of trouble with our one night winter low of -3.7c (25.3f) and no mulch.

Cheers, Barrie.

Las Palmas Norte

A late spring update for my Ensete ventricosum 'Maurellii'.
Dispite a bizzare snow fall in mid April and generally cooler than normal temps, this one pulled through with some leaf damage evident on the oldest lower leaves. The winter protection method seemed to work fine.
Once the warmer weather stablizes this should explode with new growth.

Cheers, Barrie. (Lantzville)

Attached Images

June12-08 002.jpg (827.3 KB, 32 views)

Lagniappe

That looks great Barrie !
I had considered doing this with mine (Maurelii)to try and get a larger plant this year .
I gotta tell you ,this is my favorite . It has to be the least affected by cold of all my Musa and Ensete . I keep them unprotected with very little in the way of mulch .After the first frost the leaves die back leaving only the unsightly psuedostem .I only remove the leaves after they've gotten completely dry . On some plants I leave them altogether.
This is the first plant to break dormancy here .I had one to reach 9' (tip of the tallest leaf) before my other plants showed any growth . They seem unstoppable once they've broken dormancy stubbornly chugging along despite several light frosts and even a freak snow .

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mskitty38583

oh thats beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ive only started growing musas...but eventually i would love to try the others...i want a little experience with these first. that is a beautiful plant.

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Las Palmas Norte

Beautiful in time perhaps ... a potential prospect until then. I recall seeing a post on one of the web-sites a few years ago from an enthusiast in Portland (OR) who managed to winter and grow these to quite a substantial size. A very striking and stately sight.

Cheers, Barrie.

pharazon

I too am wondering about the energy costs incurred by the use of Christmas tree lights. Did you use incandescent lights, or LED?

Las Palmas Norte

Incandescent lights ... the old style type Xmas bulbs. Initially I thought a string of 25 would be needed but about 20 minutes later the temp inside the enclosure was 80f.
I backed off the bulbs until I could get enough lit that temps remained in the 42- 48 degree range. The final result was three ... yup 3 bulbs. Cheap you bet.

Cheers, Barrie.

Chironex

When I first joined this forum, I was only interested in growingedible bananas. But, I have to say that after seeing the beautiful inedible ornamentals, I have become a big fan of them. Thanks everyone for expanding my mindset and ridding me of myopia.

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