sirdoofus

We did see a few smoke billows from distance we were told were charcoal operations. If that's what they were, they looked pretty small but I don't remember any remarks about legality.

There is no shortage of cultivated wood, mostly eucalyptus, but others, including pine and what I believe to be teak were also around. I suspect most charcoal made in the areas we were in is probably from those, or other, purpose grown sources.

Especially near the national parks, Uganda seems to have done a pretty good job at including local communities in ways that provide direct economic benefits to maintaining the natural environment and therefore tourism. Because of that type of programming, it seems those communities have largely bought into the idea that protecting the wild areas is in their best economic interest.

So, while I am sure it still happens, I suspect there is less destruction of wild lands in those areas and hence, less charcoal making using illegally harvested materials.

But then again....what the heck do I really know!?!

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Bananas. org is back on line again today but has been off for a few days once again. The following is an old message I was in the process of posting when this site went off again so these plants have grown since then.....
Well My Uganda Ensete seeds broke soil on January 11 and the below pics were taken yesterday Feb 7. So in less than a month the plants are about a foot tall from soil line to leaf tips. One has 3 full leaves and a new one emerging. The other one is working on fully opening it's 3rd leaf. It's hard to see the finer roots in the pic but you can see they have a strong root system. I only took them out of their pots because some roots were coming out the bottom of the cups they are potted in and I needed to tuck them back in. They are strongly seeking light. I have them in a south facing window where they get a couple hours of sun a day and light from a small CFL bulb till about 10 at night. If you look at the left side leaf you can see another leaf peeking out from below it and doing a great job of hiding itself. These things are beasts! I am going to have to repot them again this weekend. Also am getting a grow light to get them the light they crave.

sirdoofus

That's awesome, I am so happy they are growing for you Thanks for posting. Remind me again how many seeds you were able to germinate so far. If I remember correctly you had seeds from 2 groups germinate?

And keep the updates coming! - assuming the site cooperates

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

I had one seed of group "B" and one of group "C" germinate on January 11. All others are still sleeping. I soaked all seed for 3 days in distilled water on a heat mat with temps set for 85F. The mat is inside a small insulated cooler so the temps were held to 85 pretty well. It rained on that 3rd day so I collected rain water and then let the seed semi-dry for 2 days and then soaked them again for two days in rain water. Water was changed with fresh water every day. They were then planted in a well draining commercial planting mix that was not packed down and was left, not wet, but just moist. The planted seed were then put in the cooler on the heat mat. The mat was set to 85F but also goes off at 10:30 PM until 6:30 AM. It can go down to 72F over night in the cooler. Last week I raised the temp to 87F. Now that bananas .org is back up I have read that some Ensete need constant temps so if no response from the other seeds soon I will take the timer off and let the temps be constant at 86F just to see if a change works. I am a little skeptical that is the key because seeds do not experience that in nature but it's worth a try if it has worked for others.

sirdoofus

Cool, I'll be interested to see if the two groups have different characteristics.

I hadn't heard that about constant temps....maybe I'll give it a try on my sleepers too.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

I had not heard that either, but read it in the germination forum of this site last night. It does not make sense because that is not something nature does but sometimes nature can fool us. I am wondering if letting the seed dry out again and then re-soak again is something to try with maybe one seed. I have had some success with scoring palm seeds and will probably try that with one seed of group "A" if nothing happens with them.

sirdoofus

Just had 2 more C seedling pop up

Both from a slightly later sowing I did in early December

One of them I tried cold stratifying (1-2 seeds from each group) by sowing them then leaving them on my garage floor for 2 weeks then in the fridge for 2 weeks. I don't necessarily think that was helpful per se, but it seems not to have hurt.

Both batches sown in pool filter sand and have been on continuous 24 hr heat for almost a month now, intermittent heat prior to that

So that's a 40% germ rate for the C group so far....I am happy with that but wouldn't say no to more.

Still keeping my fingers crossed for some A and/or B seeds to wake up

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Good news! Seems like the "C" group is the most successful even though they were the floaters. Can you remember if they were the ones that were from the most dried out or oldest looking plant? I am assuming the seed bearing plants were all dead or almost so. No further sprouting here. About 2 weeks ago I went to steady heat instead of an off time.

sirdoofus

The C group of seeds was taken from the most recent fall of the three. You can see in the pic a few posts up what the flower looked like....all dead but still some obvious structure. And I picked those seeds directly out of the pods (I had to dodge the irritated spiders)

The A&B groups were take from older falls (I didn't take any pics of those two for some reason I am now not sure about) which had mostly disintegrated. The seeds I picked up were the ones mostly sitting on the soil surface, but there were a number of more relatively buried seeds and very young sprouts intermixed in the the immediate area which were, by my interpretation anyway, obviously from the same flower.

I didn't take seeds from any plants that were still standing. I might have except I didn't really see any with 'fruit' that looked mature enough.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Well that is just the opposite of what I thought it would have been. Since the "C" seeds were floaters (not all were) I would have thought they were the more dried out ones. Just grasping for clues for why some are sprouting better than others. Probably going to end up just being an internal random timing of the seeds to give better survival to the species. Patience is the real key I guess.

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

The two Uganda Ensete plants I have are showing black markings on their trunk. They started a few weeks ago and have been spreading and getting darker. See my gallery. Can not seem to post it here.

sirdoofus

I replied to this yesterday but for some reason I don't see it today - weird.

That is really cool. I was hoping some of the seedlings would be black stemmed varieties (assuming that is proper coloration and not some problem showing up). I did take a closer look at mine and noticed some black on the outer margins of the lower p-stems, still very minimal though. Your plant is a beast, it's a lot bigger than any of mine, so probably too soon to tell for sure. However, that looks very promising.

Thanks for the update and please keep them coming!

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

I thought at 1st that the plant was having trouble with some fungus or some other malady but soon realized it was the color of the banana trunks in your pics. The color was sparse at 1st but each new leaf got more and darker color. After each leaf fully develops the color does not spread any further in that leaf. It is only on the petioles and what is now the trunk. Definitely not a disease. I was hoping for that beautiful color, shown in your pics, too but was surprised to see it so early. Plants are still growing strong but have been competing for light against my AeAe and Florida so are not getting all the light I would like. Will move them to my greenhouse in a few days.

subsonicdrone

ok i finally can report some progress
noticed these last night... yay!

sirdoofus

SWEET!!! That's fantastic. And you got an A to sprout, nicely done. I am very happy they are doing something for you. Please keep us posted on their progress.

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Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Way to go! With your "A" sprout you have proven all the seed groups are good. Prepare your pots and soil now because these things like to grow fast. Please tell us your sprouting method.

subsonicdrone

the day the seeds arrived i was pumped up and said i would plant them later that evening... but i did not get around to it until about a month later

then it consisted mostly of ignoring them, watering occasionally
they are in community pots
they were wet and then placed on the floor (concrete floor..kind of cool.. with foam puzzle pieces and pots on top of that)

then about 3 weeks ago i put the pots up on my stadium shelves where the HPS light would shine directly on them to warm the soil when the lights were on
i also soaked them at that point

i am happy with the timing because both times i germinated ensete ventricosum seeds over winter in the past... they grew like crazy and then died just before being brought outside in the spring

subsonicdrone

another "a" popped up

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

You the man! Sounds like your method is.... get excited about the seeds, then ignore them, then give them a little attention again but not too much, and then give them a little love but don't let them think they have you totally hooked yet, and lastly show them that you and they are a couple. Sounds like the way I met my wife. Ohhh no. Are these plants going to end up being a pain too!

sirdoofus

Ensete (C) seedlings heading outdoors (daytime anyway) to start the hardening off process....yay!



Looks like we are going to see rising overnight temps in the next 2-3 days, and hopefully that means we will be seeing the last seasonal frost shortly.

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