Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Thanks Jeff, appreciate the info!

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

I think fresh seed is a big part of the key here, I just couldn't get them to germinate (have last batch of 20 seeds in at the moment).

great pics, love to see it confirmed as Perrieri, then maybe you can sell us all some nice fresh seed :ha:

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

I think I have at least 10 now planted in the ground. Once they flower, I would be happy to share seeds with anyone, whether we can confirm the id or not. If all 10 eventually flower, there should be plenty of seeds. :2722:

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Count me in, no matter what it is! I just like the plant a whole lot!!!!

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Ooooh..me! Me! Me! LOL.

All kidding aside, I can't recall reading whether this Ensete has basal hermaphrodite flowers or not. I know quite a few of them do, so chances are good that this one will also, meaning that you should get seed with just one flower blooming. And with ten flowers blooming, you should have LOTS of seed! Yes, please count me in for a couple hundred of them...if you end up with more than you know what to do with, that is.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

LOL, I don't know how long it will take them to flower. It may be another year or more. But when the time comes, I'll be happy to share them.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

A couple hundred? Sheesh, bigdog what are you growing there, a plantation? LOL (just kidding, I know your thoughts on how many seeds it takes to get one to germinate)

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

I understand what you mean, out of 100 seeds I only got around 25 or so to germinate. I can't remember exactly how many, but it was around that amount. To be honest, I didn't really take very good care of them for the first 6 months - they sat in heavy shade under a tree and got very stretched out. Some of them were weak and died off, others got too wet during the rainy season and rotted. They responded much better when I moved them into a sunny area. I also gave a few of them away to friends and that left me with about 10 which are all planted out now. So out of 100 seeds, I am left with 10 plants. You need a good quantity of seed to end up with just a few plants.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

The operative words were "got around 25 or so to germinate"!!! We would be happy just to have a few germinate at all. Out of 150 seeds, I have not had one germinate. So I may need a few thousand! (joking of course, but with fresh seeds I would hope to get a few to germinate out of 50)
I am hauling out the plastic containers and regular old dirt this time around. It seems to work better than all of this sterile stuff we have tried.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Scot, I'm sure that fresh seeds would guarantee better results. I don't know how old the seeds were that I got from RPS, but I ordered them right after they were first offered (with a large palm seed order!) and they must have been pretty fresh for me to have that many germinate. All the seedlings popped up at the same time a few months after sowing them. Then no more for the next six months and I figured the rest of the seeds were duds so I tossed them down a hillside near my shadehouse. I dropped a couple seeds onto my potting table and a couple months later one germinated, just laying there on the table among a little spilled soil and plastic bags! I planted it out during this past rainy season. I forgot about this one when I posted the photos of my larger ones.

This photo was taken a few months ago, it's gotten fatter since then.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

For what it's worth,I just got my E.Perrieri seeds from Mother Natures Garden store(Jeff posted the ebay link). They advertised 30 seeds, sent 72 along with some free M. Manii and some agave seeds. If successful I'll post a follow up with a few:woohoonaner:'s along with it!

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Bob, great to hear you got some seeds. I hope that a lot of them germinate for you! Keep us posted.

Oh, and I didn't post the link, Mark did. I just commented on it :)

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

I took a few more photos of my largest E. perrieri today.

Close up


As this plant grows larger, the midribs are much more yellow. It seems to be losing the orange/red color.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

I got a bunch of those seeds and have yet to get one to germinate. I have also placed several into embryo rescue, but so far, none have really shown any signs of growth.

I don't know how old those seeds are, but they may have been from the originals sold by RPS 2 years ago.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Scot, you are probably right about the seeds. I can't imagine there is ongoing seed collection in Madagascar for this banana.

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

We have had E. perrieri seeds a couple of times, the last time was August or September 07. We have some plants growing at a friends farm in Mada now and I hope seed quality will improve this way from the wild collected seeds when we get the first harvest. The species is easy to tell apart from the seeds as they are distinctly warty, not smooth.

Best, TOBY

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

See my posting in Seed Germination in the thread, "Trying again with Ensete perrieri"

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Thanks, but I am not sure what you are trying to say there?

Best, TOBY

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

[quote=Toby;63264]We have had E. perrieri seeds a couple of times, the last time was August or September 07. We have some plants growing at a friends farm in Mada now and I hope seed quality will improve this way from the wild collected seeds when we get the first harvest. The species is easy to tell apart from the seeds as they are distinctly warty, not smooth.

Best, TOBY
QUOTE]

Hi Toby,
So any idea when RPS will offer the sds of the E perrieri again? I missed them the last time.

Tog

Re: Ensete perrieri
 

Hi Tog,

I really hope we will get some plants to flower this year.

Best, TOBY