I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

iv been chatting with Gabe over the summer as to why my Maurellii has turned bright green when it was so dark purple at the beginning when i first planted it
i thought enisaly it was the PH so i dosed it with allot of sulfur and iron that had no affect as i was only able to get the Ph down to 6.8 and ideally it needs to be 6 so after that i thought well maybe its a light problem so i erected a shade cloth over it and well you guessed it no affect then i decided to feed the H out of it and guess what after two feedings at two week intervouls its new leaf is fairly deep purple so the food I'm giving it is vary high in Nitrogen and Potassium it one of the ones Richard sells i don't know which one as Scot gave it to me with out the packaging its blue thats all i can tell you and its water soluble you all will have to ask him what he sold Scot as he did not answer my last email on the subject he probably missed it is all so I'm not criticizing him any way thats what if discover its not scientific but it dose aper to be why they turn green Nutrition plain and simple i new it had to be something easy like that but it took all summer to figure it out that all just thought you all would like to know this

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

Very interesting... I have wondered about this. Let us know if you keep feeding it and it keeps it's color. That would be a pretty major discovery I'd say. I sent one to a member here this year and it turned green.. I had no idea why and was a bit embarrased because of it.

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

The fertilizer from Richard for bananas is 20-5-30

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

you shouldn't feel embarrassed its really not your fault there is the slit possibility that its related to heat but from what i have read in every ones posts i don't think its that I'm 85% sure its either N or K or a combination of both Pete lives in a fairly hot climate and his stays red what are you feeding yours and how often? this could verify my observation

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

This is my first year raising any kind of bananna. I was concerned of plant burn from fertilizer and the cost of feeding them miracle grow. I decided to feed the guys 8-8-8 garden fertilizer. I only fed them just before big rains. They grew great but I wonder now if they could have had better color. [IMG][/IMG]

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

I use 12-12-12 fertilizer once a month and spray them down weekly with miracle grow liquid fertilizer...I get a deep rich burgundy color!!

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

I fed mine Espoma Avocado/Citrus fertilizer 5-2-6. The ones I still have here kept their color well.

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

well based on the number of comments so far it looks to be holding true in my mind keep posting every one we need to figure this one out for sure

Gabe seamed to indicate thou not definitively that no one knows the answer to this one so we could be on the brink of a new understanding in ornamentals
you know theres not a hole lot of research going in in this Field

I'm all for trying to learn the secrets to Musa but Enset are important too

Since over looks esthetics all the time but the appreciation of beauty is inherently healthy for are minds and not just are belles

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

there are many factors that lead to the burning of plants over all drainage is a big factor how often you have to water how hot the ambient temp is i will say this if your new to Bananas no mater what kind they are heavy feeders this was hard for me to learn i chronically underfeed my plants until this year iv had Ventracosum before but never any Maurellii until this spring so i did not not know that i had to feed them so heavily yours look fairly good but they could be darker purple maybe you should try to feed them a bit more and see if it helps although Enset as a rule do not grow at the accelerated rate the Musa do they still out pace most plants also they have extraordinarily large root systems as well as one of the biggest corms so again i say they need a fair bit of food to be healthy

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

It could be partly the heat too. My ensete in the greenhouse with the pool greened up quite a bit and it was getting the same fertilizer as the others 24-8-16, but the difference was it was in the greenhouse with no exhaust fan and no shade cloth. We couldn't hardly keep enough water on any of those in there, they were sitting in no holes flats and needed water 2x a day sometimes when it was hot and sunny. Now that the weather is cooling, it seems to be doing better colorwise. Maybe when they're grown real hot and real dry conditions they need more fertilizer?

Re: I think i known why Maurellii turn green?
 

Yes we have vary hot and dry condtions here at the high point of summer i was watering 2 times a day for the Enset but i had backed off the firt in the heat