Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

I don't really see much info about this variety & to my understanding it's a pretty rare ornamental banana.
Wellspring Gardens is currently selling some tissue cultures so I went ahead and bought one.

Anyone else growing this variety? Any more info or tips would be appreciated.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Great question,
The plant is a fantastic addition to any landscape.
I have them in beast mode in containers zone 5b.
Grow the plant like you would any of your other tropical plants.
The zone which you grow your plant is an awesome choice and it will reward you .....as long as you do not kill it.
Treat like a basjoo is you have prolonged cold spells.
The plant is a beast in your zone.....ty taylor has been growing this wonderful plant for a bit........great pro grower who will answer your questions.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

check out Rmplmnz 30 footer at 2:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL1kBjbtisM

here is his thread:
http://www.bananas.org/f2/rmplmnz-ga...r-14729-7.html

i have one also
it was my biggest plant summer 2020

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Amazing! They grow massive that's awesome!
Good to know that they seem to grow very well for you as well
Thanks for the find and sharing

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

I picked mine up (Thai black,Mekong, Aroids) from Brians Botanicals, a few hours away outside Louisville KY just south of my location, 12 clams for a quart plant bursting the thin poly container:)

This same vendor has one of the most interesting collections of large foliage
plants which you had mentioned in a previous post, some with great variegated patterns.
All for sale
They have a webpage.....but expect wait times for a response .

Great plant to have in the garden......

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

This sounds like a beautiful plant. Anyone been able to overwinter it in the ground in colder zones...like 7ish?

I hear rumors it may be hardy to zone 6 (not holding my breath) but haven't been able to find any confirmation.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

I’ve never lost a corm here planted outside. Including this year when it hit 7F! Just mulch/hay for protection. Not much. Since it’s a true Musa Balbisiana I would hope it would be fairly cold hardy! My actual pstems here ususally die back in winter. Very very stout and tall Musa!

When younger they are more green. When they get taller keep the pstem cleaned up of old dead leaves, etc. I also notice the sun seems to make them darker. Beautiful Musa!

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Thanks Ty, appreciate the input. Sounds like it might be worth a try here with some extra protection.

Oh boy, I guess that is another one for my wish list:04:

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

It looks like Wellspring still has them for sale if you want to grab one before they run out.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Hey Valor_X - Thank you very much for the heads up. Alas, I am in Canada.:coldbanana:

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

The plant is a beast...
Thread

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

How's yours looking? The one I got isn't too bad. They may very well be brothers! Here's mine, just shot a few minutes ago.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Mine is doing very very well growing in the shade under my porch.
It's currently about 2ft stem and 3ft to the top of the leaf.
Mine still has a green stem since it's in the shade but I will need to start acclimating it soon.

Here it is under the early morning sun (the only sun it gets atm)



And here it is next to the Grand Nain you gave me that turned into a monstrosity .... :ha::ha::ha: JK
See if you can count the leaves on that thing :ha:
But at least it's also nice and green :)

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Mercy that Thai looks fab. Good grief. When did you get it? I thought my little fella was doing good but DANG.

At some point you may have to separate those nains. I have a pot full that looks like that except everything is getting really big. I'm just going to leave it and let it do what it do. It's quite the conversation piece haha, and looks good around the pool.

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

here's my monstrosity, and that was 2 weeks ago so add a few more leaves to it

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

I got it delivered on April 2nd along with a Veinte Cohol. They were tiny little TC's but very healthy and started off slow but then took off. It's amazing to believe that it was just a tiny TC at the rate it has been growing.

The Veinte Cohol was actually growing faster than the Thai, but since I moved it to the ground in the sun it slowed down. Shade really helps TC's grow.
I gave the Thai a bit of fertilizer for the first time and the last leaf came out just a bit curled back - nothing too bad. Still growing great.

And about the nains I think I will wait some more. They are so many and way too close together I would just butcher any corm it has. Maybe all the nains can work together with all the leaves combined and help the corm grow lol

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

it left mine in the dust. Well done

Re: Anyone growing Thai Black?
 

Here is a pic of one of mine from last year. Mine seem to be darkest when young, with the pups being completely black. Although it is somewhat cold hardy, its not to the degree that it will survive in a zone 7. It should also be noted that this one was the slowest to leaf out after getting burned by a light freeze.