sunsetsammy

Okay, so I'm in one of the local nurseries today looking for some elephant ear plants. I head to the waterplant section to find what I'm looking for.

I was just there a couple days earlier and was surprised to see a bunch of familiar looking banana leaves. Apparently a new shipment of banana trees came in. Mostly little baby Basjoos, some dwarf cavendish, and a couple ensete maurelli. Even more surprising to me was that they had all of these bananas growing with the pots either half or totally submerged underwater.

I checked the tags on the plants and only the ensete said "Likes moist soil but not soaking." I've heard and read many times that bananas don't like their feet wet. Am I mistaken? Is it different for small plants?

Anyhow I usually wouldn't care about something like this. If I'm at the plant store and see a potted cedar or something else tipped over I wouldn't think twice about it. However these were bananas and up until this year they have been really hard to find around here. I really do like these plants and it p!ssed me off to think that these guys might be murdering all these banana plants.

So I take my elephant ear up to the till and after paying I asked the lady politely why all their banana plants are being grown as waterplants? Her response was "Oh, those aren't REAL banana plants they are just look alikes." I said "Sorry but I grow those exact same plants and I'm quite sure they are bananas. I'm not an expert but everything I've read says that bananas don't like their feet wet."

So she says "I'm not sure lets call the expert." So the expert comes over and the woman at the till explains that I'm curious about the banana plants. The expert says "Oh that's how banana plants like it. They ARE waterplants." I responded with "I really don't think they are. I grow those plants and read about them all the time." She replies with "Well, have you ever been anywhere tropical cuz I can assure you that they do grow in water!" At this point she seems quite annoyed with me questioning her "expertise".

"Oh well" I said, "I'm not trying to start an argument. I hope that someone comes and buys them all real quick before they rot." Then I walked out with the expert glaring at me!

Now I normally don't get confrontational but some of those plants were looking pretty sad and I really just wanted to help.

Am I wrong? Can bananas grow as waterplants?

If not, was I wrong for saying something? What would you do?

austinl01

Cannas can be grown as water plants. Maybe they really weren't bananas?

__________________
Austin
Arkansas River Valley

Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F
Extreme Winter Lows: 5-15°F, Extreme Summer Highs: 100-112°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

natedogg1026

Sammy, I gotta agree w/you on this one. I've never heard of such a thing. I know they can handle a LOT of water but probably not a good idea to have them completely submerged. Maybe if they got some major aeration goin on they'd live for a while but I would not consider them water plants. They often grow near water but that's because they are such heavy drinkers. Lets see what some of the experts have to say.

__________________
Banana's are a safe addiction. Right?Maybe I need classes.

chong

No, the fruit bearing bananas that we are growing wil not grow as water plants. The only banana plants that I know that will grow in water is the aquarium type banana plants, which are not Musa sp.

From your description, I can only assume that the plants you saw are recent arrivals, wherein the soil in the pots have dried out. By soaking them for a few hours, it will saturate the soil, as well as, any undamaged, shriveled roots. Saturation of the soil to the point of swelling will ensure a thorough and even distribution of the water through the soil in subsequent waterings. I do not believe that they (the nursery people) are intending to keep the bananas submerged in the water all their life.

Regarding the so-called experts that you talked to, I will quote Gen. Patton, they are "NUTS!" Wish I could have been the one talking to them. I was born and raised in the tropics. The people that you talked to are not knowledgeable about plants. They are clerks who are experts in inventory and merchandising. When it comes to technical aspects of plants, most "managers" of the plant section in nurseries or hardware stores like HD and Lowe's, don't have a clue about tropical plants. The person that asked if you've ever been in the tropics, that's his(her) way of establishing credibility by intimidating you. Particularly if you've actually never been to the tropics. The person probably gave you that "matter-of-factly" look while he's saying it.

It's like two different garden center managers and one interiors section manager at HD, on separate occasions keep offering me lime, when I asked for sulfuric acid. they asked me what I need it for. I told them I need to lower the pH of my soil. Fine, they said this is was you need, pointing to bags of dolomite lime. I told them that those would make my soil pH higher. Then to defend their position they showed me the description of dolomite lime, which starts out as "This product will sweeten your soil if your soil is acidic." But I told them that my soil was alkaline, which means that the pH was high. If I put lime in, it will raise it more! I want it to go acidic.

Finally, another employee( a go-fer, not an expert), who had an aquarium, overheard us and asked me what I was looking for. When I told him I was looking for sulfuric acid to lower the pH of my soil, he offered to show me what he uses for his aquarium because it was safe for the fish. OK, I told myself, what the heck, I might as well look. He found a bottle of acetic acid and showed it to me. And instead of reading me the description, he asked if I thought it might help with my soil. The label said that it contained 27% acetic acid and it was safe for aquarium plants and fish. I told him yes, and gratefully acknowledged his kind help.

I was lucky to run into a non-expert to help me. Not try to show me off. Otherwise, my 3 trips to HD would have been for naught.

Randy4ut

Tammy,
You done good... Bite your tongue and leave with the satisfaction that you are right and they were by no means right. Only thing you may want to do is to go back and tell the 'expert' that you are a member of the International Banana Society and that you got to talking to some friends of yours on the forum and thought it would be a great addition to our society if she, the 'expert', would come on board and enlighten all the other banana "fiends" all over the world on how to care for bananas. Invite her to visit our website and help in any way she can. Just a thought. Some folks simply know less than they think they do and like to try and intimidate others with their knowledge, or lack there of... Good job!!!

__________________

damaclese

had to be a Home Depo right! they are ((&*^&^#^$) u cant ask them any thing they think they are so cool with all ther advice but take it from me after they did a kichin remodal wish cost me over 27grand for a 10 by 12 room
and resalted in my having to talk to the vice precident of costmer servis and never geting most of it resalve all tell you one thang about HD the VP told me that they are on the verg of Bankrupsy and that it was as a direct resalt of there bad responses to costomer servie conplants
I was shocked to say the least that he would say this but i think it was a last dich atempt to get my sipatheas as he was afrad i was going to name him persanaly in a law suit (i dont know were he Got that idea) lol sorry im goin on and it probly wasint even a HD they just get my gote but i have to thank your for trying to help the poor nanas of the wold and you wander why they planet is in such bad shape hmmmmm! profit over intalect

__________________
Helping to foster understanding for the learning disabled

musa_monkey

Very bizzare, in my experience to much water only leads to on thing rot and plant failure.

mskitty38583

i have learned from my own experiences....too much water will kill a nana if its left to sit in it. these so called experts make me so angry. and i think randy is right, invite her here and maybe shell learn just like the rest of us about a thing called root rot. and i dont believe you have to go to the tropics to understand the needs and wants of tropical and sub tropical plants. she was just trying to make herself feel more important and superior to you. glad to see you stood your ground( pardon the pun) and stood up for all nana nuts in the world without punching her square in the nose. kudos, kudos.

__________________
WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION

momoese

Gabe once posted a picture of Bananas growing in water. I think it can be done.

D_&_T

Sandy I believe had one in her pond last year or at least at the edge(potted), but don't remember the variety.

__________________

chong

That would be a sight to see!

sunsetsammy

Hello original poster here.

Just for the record the place wasn't Home Depot.

Anyhow I visited another nursery today and they also have a bunch of Ensete Maurelli growing underwater!! They have them right along side all of the canna plants.

I asked one of the staff how long they've had the plants in the water like that and she said they've been there for 2 or 3 weeks. These plants however didn't look as bad as the ones at the place yesterday.

I was going to inquire once again at the till but there were a lot of people there and I wasn't wanting to make a scene.

It's really weird. They are definitely ensete. The tag says so and there is no mistaking those leaves.

Maybe there will be less of a crowd next time and I'll ask what the deal is.

Gabe15

I've seen this at nurseries too, and as Mitchel mentioned, I have seen 'Orinoco' growing pretty much in water with no problems. If there is enough heat and sun to pull all that water thru the plant, it shouldn't be a problem. 99% of water taken up by plants is lost thru transpiration, and they can take up a lot, especially something like bananas with such a large leaf area. The reasons plants need certain amounts of different things like sunlight, water, warmth and humidity is because they are in a struggle to keep a balance essentially. However, if one or more of these things are missing there are things you can do to help keep your plant growing. If the humidity is very low, this means it will be losing water much quicker than normal which can be helped by giving it more water. Basically, the things which lead to increased water uptake is heat, sunlight, wind and low humidity (probably a few more im not thinking of right now), so if you have some of these elements affecting the plant, than you may be able to get away with giving it way more water than it normally needs, such as growing it semi-aquatically. I think what it really comes down to though is oxygen availability to the roots. Being submerged in mud is much different that in water. I don't think you will have problems growing banana semi-aquatically if you maintain some root contact with dry soil or the air, or maybe oxygenate the water (pretty much getting into hydroponics here, which bananas can do great in). If you want to experiment, you could try just slightly submerging a potted plant, or planting at the edge of a pond as in the photos. However, most of what I just wrote is speculation (though I have seen it done), and if you try this and your plants die its not my fault!

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

chong

Now I'm homesick after looking at those pictures. And I agree that bananas will grow at the edge of a pond or river, creek, etc. Notice from the pictures, too, that that's as far as they will go. They will even grow on a small 5'x5' island in the middle of the pond, as long as the mat is elevated from the water most of the time.

My impression from Sunsetsammy was that the bananas at the nursery were soaking in water. Unless the container was pretty small that the water content got soaked up pretty quickly(like daily), those 'naners are goners.

Gabe, your suggestion to place a plant at the edge of the water will work, as long as it's not IN the water. When I had trays of TC Orinocos in 4" pots, the tray had drain holes 1/4" up from the bottom. This kept 1/4" standing water in the tray which my first thought was to give moisture from under the pots. But as the plants grew, and sometimes I forget the scheduled watering, I noticed that while the top of the soil was dry, the plants were OK. This was because they had stretched their roots below the pots and were all over the tray, in the water, until they soaked it all up. On thing to point out is that the pots had a layer of pebbles at the bottom under the soil.

mskitty38583

wow is all i can say, but you still run the risk of rot. and i for one do not want to subject my nana to death. lol. the pictures were amazing. jmo

__________________
WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION

Zacarias

Ok this happened to me! I live in Phoenix AZ and went to a local nursery (expensive, they think they are the bomb....) and saw water plants. Sure enough, they had three dwarf cavendishes soaking in water and labeled as water plants. It even told you how deep to plant them in water. Now it was mid 80s then and now is mid 90s. I feasibly see how they COULD do well but like mskitty says, it can be a risk especially for us growing nanners in non-native conditions even if it is hot. I'm plenty happy with giving my bananas tons of water in this weather but soaking indefinitely?... hmm

Zach

sunsetsammy

Hey Folks, Sam here again.

I stopped in the 2nd nursery again to buy a couple more plants and maybe talk to the staff about those ensete's that are totally submerged.

Before I did though, I looked at the tag. On the front it shows a beautiful ensete maurelli. However, on the back, sure enough, just as Zacarias has said, there were planting instructions showing how deep in the water the plants should go. There was a diagram showing a plant with its pot totally submerged and something that said "DEPTH LEVEL 1".

**However at the bottom of the tag it said "Likes moist soil, but not soaking wet."

Huh?? Talk about conflicting instructions!

With the tag showing it as an aquatic plant I didn't care to argue with the staff. I guess I'll just watch these plants for the next little while and see what happens. I drive by this nursery everyday on the way to work and stop in there often.

xavierdlc61887

wow must be easy to just take a pup off with little effort :P

Gabe15

If you liked those photos, take a look at these. I saw this plant on a hike I went on today, I had also seen the same one about a month ago in the same condition, it seems to be doing just fine. This one however is actually in the middle of a stream, not just on the side, and though its not in the deepest part (fairly shallow, about an inch or two only in this part), it is completely surrounded by running water at all times and in very, very wet soil. They seem to do just fine with lots of water like this under certain circumstances. Of course this wont work all the time, but it can be done.

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

NanaNut2

This is so interesting. Now I'm not as worried about the 'water holding' soil that my new Maurellii is in. After all, this is the soil that it had been growing in for months for the seller. In the summer when inside temps get into the 90's, I was growing my first SDC partially submerged in water (4 inches) for the first 2 years. It stayed healthy. I only lost it in the winter when a storm took out our power for days and temps dipped below 40 deg F.

And by the way, HD is on the verge of bankruptcy. Its been all over the news. If an area can't support a particular chain store, then they would be right to close it. However, I'd hate to see it take down the whole chain.

__________________
NanaNut2