51st state

has anyone managed to germinate these monsters? I understand the need for daytime/nightime variation but bearing in mind where in the world these come from I'm not sure whether to just keep them warm all the way, anyone got any views?

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chong

I have not tried growing M. textilis (abaca) from seed, however, I grew up in the region in the Philippines where the majority of the world's supply of abaca rope used to come from. The mean temperature in the region is 85F (29C), with summer highs of 95F (35C), and winter lows of 74F (23C). Typical daily range (lo to hi) rarely exceeds 10F (5.5C). So, I don't think you'd need to vary the temperature necessarily, since the since the daytime and nighttime temperatures of the plant's native area do not vary very much, anyway. If you want to try varying the temperature, however, you might just put a timer in series with your thermostat to turn on the heater during the day, and off at night. (I'm assuming that your propagation mat is in a room with the temperature set at 70F-72F (21C-22C)).

Here in Seattle, WA, I've successfully germinated M. glauca with a heating mat set at 85F (29C) constantly.

51st state

yea thats about what i figured. i was looking at the climate stats for manila at wunderground.com and came up with 31 C day/23 C night
i'm using a soil warming cable laid at much closer density than normal to give me the heat and controlling it all with a programmable stat with a probe originally designed to control underfloor heating cables, so i can pretty much program in whatever day/night temps and times i want and away the system goes, irrespective of outside temps. great in theory we'll see what it does in real life. as long as theres not a power outtage it should be ok.

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jeffreyp

interesting...from wikipidia

U.S. 'Marihuana' production permit, from the film Hemp for Victory. In the U.S.A., hemp is legally prohibited, but during World War II, farmers were encouraged to grow hemp for cordage, to replace manila hemp from Japanese-controlled areas

mrbungalow

Where did you get the seeds from? What do they look like?

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51st state

Hi Erlend

from a guy in Costa Rica, on ebay.

they look like marbles, closest thing I've seen is the seeds of Ensete Ventricosum.

I just uploaded a couple of photos to my gallery, the coffee cup should give you an idea of size

If I can germinate them It'll sure give the neighbours a surprise!!

Kev

Attached Images

musa_textilis2.jpg (75.2 KB, 23 views)

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mrbungalow

That picture of the plant looks like regular Ensete Ventricosum. In fact, I am sure it's ensete ventricosum.

I don't think true seeds of Musa Textilis are supposed to be big, nor is the plant. Musa Textilis is said to be closely related to Musa Balbisiana (According to The Musacea), and it's size is moderate, from 2.5 to 4 meters tall.

Hope you didn't pay too much for those seeds! Looks like a scam to me. (The reason why I never buy from e-bay)

Erlend

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Gabe15

That is definetly Ensete ventricosum. Musa textilis and Musa balbisiana are not closely related at all. M. textilis is from section Australimusa (2n=20), M. balbisiana from section Eumusa (2n=22). They are related in both being used for fiber but not related to each other. I have true Musa textilis seeds, I will try to find them and get a picture posted later. They are very ditinct, about the average size of a normal banana seed but they are very unique shaped.

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

mrbungalow

I'm sorry, I was reading the text a bit fast here, seems it was Cheesman himself who thought it was a form of Musa Balbisiana! Read more here:
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/mtextilis.htm

51State, now that we know you have Ensete seeds, you don't strictly need to alternate temps.

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D'Andra

I put my E. Ventricosum seed in a small plastic tray of earthworm castings. Then I floated it in a larger bin with water heated by an aquarium heater at 78f. I made a wire and plastic wrap humidity tent. Set grow lights on a timer for 16hrs/day and added water to the larger bin every few days.

It watered itself, kept it's temp stable, and germinated all the seed.
Never changed temps.

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D'.