maltose

Hello,

I split a small basjoo sword sucker from a large mother plant last fall when I dug up the main corm to overwinter in my basement.

The corm is about the size of a potato. The top slowly shriveled back over the winter as it was stored in in the basement in loose potting soil at about ~55 degrees F and low-light conditions, which I expected.

I potted it in a 1-gallon pot with fresh potting soil in mid-January and brought it into my grow tent, where I maintain 82 degree temps during the day with high humidity and ~68 degrees at night. I have kept the soil damp. The corm hasn't grown at all in 6 weeks, and the small pseudostem has only continued to shrivel up.

I pulled it up out of the soil to investigate a few days ago. The corm appears totally healthy, it is firm on all sides and doesn't appear to have any rot. The meristem seems perfectly fine too. It hasn't put out any new roots whatsoever in the last 6 weeks despite optimal conditions.

Why would this corm refuse to grow like this? What should I do to get it going? I'm thinking of rinsing it off and trimming off the little bits of dry roots from last fall and just sticking it back in the 1 gallon but I'm just really surprised it's done nothing for so long despite seeming healthy.

beam2050

one december [december before last] i dug up a monthan because i knew it would not make it thru the winter. just a corm,it took till the end of march to push a pup. planted in a 3 gallon pot with next to dry soil, i never watered it, just left it alone.

i now have 8 in a different spot it's much happier in.

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cincinnana

You're doing everything right it just requires more time to sort itself out.
My plants/swords do the same with many not showing growth for 4 months indoors.

You may try this if you wish.
Bring your average soil temperature up to 80+ and keep it there without any temperature swing and see if that moves things along . You won't know for another month or so if that helps. A consistent SOIL temperature is what your plant is looking for. Your current average air temperature of 75 isn't enough to encourage growth for that particular plant.

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maltose

Thanks for the help. Do you think planting it deeper will make any difference? I've had the top of the corm exposed with the meristem a centimeter or so above the soil line. I'm thinking I'll try burying it an inch down this time.

beam2050

no, what cinncinnana said.

you know you can throw it on top of the soil and it will grow? something about aeriation. but you will not force it to grow, when it is time it will go. have patience.

here is a pisang raja i have been growing in aquarium rock no soil. i just water it from time to time. aeriation. most of the time there is no water in the pan, this picture was taken after watering with compost tea..

Attached Images

P8040243.JPG (377.3 KB, 23 views)

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

Iowa

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Growing Musa Orinoco since 1993 - Added 2018-Basjoo, Zebrina' Rojo, Ensete Red Abyssinian - Added 2019-Goldfinger - Added 2020-Kokopo (Short Cycle), Double (Mahoi), Highgate, Super Dwarf Cavendish - Added 2021-Pisang Ceylon(Mysore), Musa Margarita, Ensete Ventricosum - Added 2023 - Siam Ruby

sirdoofus

Excellent info, thank you. I have a similar situation with a matooke corm. The mainstem faded to nothing over the winter and being a little worried about it I pulled the corm. When I did, the corm was fine with 4 nicely progressing growing points coming off of it.

I wasn't exactly sure what to do so I put it back almost exactly as I had it, which is course material surrounding the corm with some regular potting soil below the course stuff, about 1.5-2 inches or so. I don't know if that is necessary or even a good idea (I read it on the forum somewhere and it sounded like a reasonable idea), I just figured the evaporation might maintain a little bit of moisture for the corm and it might provide a moister medium for the roots when they do get down there.

Hopefully I will see one of those points popping up above the surface soon.

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PR-Giants

It's a common practice and also probably the quickest way of getting a corm to start producing roots is to submerge it in warm water. Roots should start appearing in less than 48 hours.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Do you mean to leave it submerged for the whole 48 hours? Would any additives to the water (liquid fertilizer, hormones, etc.) be beneficial?

PR-Giants

Yes.

No additives needed.

I'm sure there's a certain temperature that's most advantageous.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Thanks for the idea. I have had a few corms languish but in some cases I am sure there was a bit of impatience involved.

sirdoofus

So I am looking for a little direction as this is a new experience for me. I am considering doing the soak for my matooke corm but am a bit hesitant as I really don't want to bugger it because I don't have a backup.

The growing points I noticed when I pulled it haven't shown up above the surface yet, but at least one of them had progressed beyond the horizontal and was growing vertically (don't know why I didn't take a pic of it at the time, I should have).

I did not notice any obvious new roots but then I am ignorant enough not to be sure one or more of the growing points might be headed down?

It's been maybe two weeks, possibly a little more and I am wondering if it would be prudent to give it more time or if a soak might be a better idea to prod it along?

Any thoughts? What would you do?

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sirdoofus

Came back from a few days out of town and found this nice little ray of sunshine coming off my matooke corm

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CentralFLtropical

I’m at the same stage as you were with a large praying hands corm. I can see a pup forming but it’s been out of the ground for a week or so. The person I got it from dug it out and also told me that one time he dug some corms, forgot about them, and they started shooting new growth on top of the soil in Florida heat. I guess they are pretty resilient!

sirdoofus

So what you are saying is that it is not in any planting medium at all at the moment? Throw us a pic if you feel so inclined, pics are always welcome. And good luck with it, I am sure it will grow well for you, esp if it is a big corm and it was recently dug out of the ground.

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