Variegated Musa at 8000 feet........
 

Hi folks - here's a few of my container grown, variegated musa plants going into this fall, in my Greenhouse, here at 8000 feet in the Southern Rockies, I'm up to over 30 musa varieties now, and around 100 or so containers full of musa everywhere you look.........first pic shows a Tanee, and 3 A'ea'e's (they made it through their first winter, going into their second)....next pic a group of new pups I recently acquired...... 3 VDN's, 2 Nono's, 3 Florida's a Namwah Ghost & A'ea'e .....I have been culling out a few of my more common varieties, and adding more, and more variegated types the past few years......(no need in my limited space to have a dozen Dwarf Cavendish's)

I was encouraged by PR-Giants to get on Instagram, so I did create a page. It's going to be all musa, no personal/political type stuff - so if you are on Instagram, I invite you to follow me, and I will follow you! It's all new to me, in the future, I plan on adding a lot of "musa stuff"......

https://www.instagram.com/ac.summers.nm/

My goal this next year is to get into the "top 100", banana growers, above 7000 feet, north of Albuquerque, south of Denver, west of Amarillo,east of Phoenix.......

Re: Variegated Musa at 8000 feet........
 

Looking very good, I'm yet to add a variegated musa that's not going to die on me and they are still quite expensive in the UK.
Are your plants in a poly tunnel and are you pots topped with gravel or is that the substrate you use?

Re: Variegated Musa at 8000 feet........
 

Hi, I have two greenhouses. One is the glass front of my solar home, the other is my main musa greenhouses, with a 16' ceiling, and glazed with a 5 ply polycarbonate. This diffuses the light, and seems to work well.

After spending many years with Dwarf Cavendish, which grows like a weed for me, in most any type soil I use......it was a hard shock with my first Florida and A'ea'e's a few years ago. I have lost many. I mean MANY, a lot of money down the tubes, but I have learned a lot, still learning.

My current 3, 10' high A'ea'e's I have going for two years now, are in a mixture of 1/3rd light fluffy potting mix, 1/3rd coarse, washed and sifted perlite, and 1/3rd coarse sand, again sifted, and washed.

I have also have put many more drainage holes into their 25 gallon pots, including some on the side, and prop them up an inch off the ground to allow air circulations underneath - and most important, WATER VERY LITTLE DURING WINTER SEASON.......

I would use pure sand, but I tried this, and it makes the pots just too heavy, I have future plans for a new greenhouse, and I am planning on a design that uses geo-thermal tubes underneath, allowing 3 feet depth of ground beds that are kept warm - I think all my Musa would do much better that way - growing here in the high altitude Rocky Mountains

I am now experimenting using an Orchid mix of bark, charcoal, and some various small stones, mixed with the above stuff for some new Florida pups I have, so far so good. This Orchid mix really makes for a very light, chunky mix.

For some reason, while both have been challenging - Florida variegated has been MUCH more difficult than A'ea'e for me in my situation.

Re: Variegated Musa at 8000 feet........
 

Namwa Ghost grow slowly but fruit at around 36 inches. I originally thought it was a Super Dwarf Namwa but it was just a chlorophyll deficiency.

It will be interesting to see at which height your Ghost fruits at.