The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

Well I decided to protect my E. Glaucum for a few reasons.... it has really shown it grows well in cool weather and I got a lot of encouragement from members so...why not give it a shot. I've been pretty lucky with things so far. If it lives and produces seed , even though it wont be official I'll give the seeds out to members as "E. Glaucum var. "Bob"...." like Ante suggested:ha:

I hammered some garden posts in the ground and attached 3/4 PVC pipe to them with zip ties:



then added some christmas lights...( just have to figure how to get some electric out to it and then mulched with shredded leaves and added a layer of banana leaves cut from the garden last week:


and still more leaves on top of that while I started building the tent covering( I'm hoping it will create a compost that will warm up as it decays as well as just insulate the ground here:


the tent starts to go up with another layer of PVC joined across at the top:


finally and with great difficulty on a windy day I got it mostly wrapped...needless to say I ran out of plastic and the clips that hold it to the PVC( Got them from Charleys Greenhouses online) but it's almost done and think I may have done just enough to protect this fairly cold tolerant variety for the winter here. We'll see.... I plan on adding even more autumn leaves as they fall this week and I wait for more snap clamps in the mail for the PVC pipe and get some plastic to finish it off.

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Haha, U did it again!
:woohoonaner:

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Super awesome Bob! I hope it works out for you. Just wondering - do you need to leaves on for the winter? Might be easier to protect without all that height and bulk. If the goal is to get seeds, how will you protect the flower spike? Does photosynthesis need to take place?

Was this one grown from seed? If so, and if I understand banana naming, there should be no reason you couldn't name it E. glaucum 'Bob', but not var. 'Bob'. You have the only one of that in the world, so go for it! If it was a from a pup, or tissue culture, then that's different.

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Way to go Bob!!!! :woohoonaner:

I hope it works out well and it seeds for you!!!! Btw,i think it would be best to only add dry leafs arround its pseudostem and not wet as rot may set in. Its not natural for it to stay wet that high up and may have rot problems...

I wish you the best of luck with it and many more Ensete glaucum from your own seeds!!!

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Total cool! Keep us posted. Thanks again for the DVD.

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

And let's be honest, Bob, that Ensete is 1 foot too big to dig up. ;) Good job and good luck!

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Hi, That looks great. I dug my bananas up today. It looks like it gets some protection from both houses. Do they still make the Christmas lights with the small incandescent bulbs like that? I threw out all my old ones because the wires were getting brittle. How many winters has that banana survived there? I'm suppose to be in the same zone here in the Boston area and I didn't think that would be an option here. :woohoonaner:

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Excel. we need to know if this works.
Digging up Big Ensete's is taking longer and longer each year

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Geez, Bob...put a little effort into it, why don't you?! ;)

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

This Ensete was actually sprouted from seed about exactly 2 years ago. Last year it grew to about two foot tall in a pot and then this year just took off. Yeah they still make these lights though not too many use them . These wer brand new and purchased at a local agaway.

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Any updates on the project? I see your temp. index is low, does protection works for now?

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

A lot of the tent got shredded at the top in high winds last week leaving some holes in the plastic and the leaves were "burned" from the cold. The flower bud is still ok though and I'll be recovering it today with heavier plastic and more of the clips for the PVC so it should be more secure.

I'll try to get some pics this afternoon and maybe put the lights on for a test too.
If I can just keep it alive and get some seeds next year I'll consider it a success even if the plant itself looks bad from the cold.

Re: The Ensete Tent ( long winded with lots of pics)
 

Good job. Sometimes I think you get the inspiration from the show called "Dexter". ;)

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

Actually my inspiration for a long time was that guy "Roland" from Germany.

If he can do it..... I can try( I think it gets a bit colder here than at his place). Wish I could read German though. I spent many hours staring at and studying the pictures in his site the past few years.

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

Feel free to ask me if you need a translation of the parts you don`t understand. :)

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

Bob, just a thought. One year I mulched heavily with fresh leaves and after winter when I removed them it was a black mushy slimy stinky mess. I'd keep anything green or wet away from the p-stem just to be safe.

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)
 

ok , here's the final version. I took all the old plastic off. It was shredded anyway. Then recovered with a single sheet of 6mm construction sheeting as well as reinforcing it with pvc and rope purlins for extra support:


Here's a close up of the garden clips that hold the pvc on place:


and last I figured I'd try out the Christmas lights I'll be using when it gets below 15F or so:


I also added some water jugs inside for additional warmth. I'll probably do as Mitchel suggested and pull the leaves slightly away from the base of the p-stem to prevent rot.

Hoping for a mild winter!:ha:

Re: The Ensete Tent (long winded with lots of pics)