revensen

I have an Ensente Maurelii that has gotten a major aphid infestation and showing signs of rot near the crown. I've seen two ways of propagating this banana on this site, first is cutting at the soil line and slicing a "v" shape. Second is actually slicing up the corm into several peices and then planting.

I'm wondering which is better? Will either work? Will there be an issue with the aphids after cutting up the ensente? What are the steps after doing either of these? Do you just let it be, do you water it?

Any help would be great.

Thanks!

Abnshrek

I'd let it dry up like no watering for a while, and hit it with sulfur dust or insecticidal soap. :^)

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revensen

Well I cut up the corm of my Maurelii this weekend. I used the advice from the other Maurelii propagation threads. The corm was slightly larger then a softball. I ended up with about 5 slices of corm. I want to know the depth to plant these corms?

Abnshrek

I wouldn't bury the whole thing. I myself have buried several to deep so now I just cover the roots and just enough to support the base of the corm so it doesn't move (less than an inch, more like a 1/2 inch..) I also make sure the corm is on higher ground than the rest of the dirt surrounding it so there's less chance of rot. :^)

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revensen

I had the cut up corms in small containers on the heat mat. I had left a little of the pstem on corm and this was just peeking through the surface. I noticed a terrible smell last night and it turned out to be all five of the corms completely rotten. Kind of wish I would have done the v cut technique.

Dalmatiansoap

But why did you slice it?

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Abnshrek

Yeah it wasn't like he could eat it anyway :^) Mise well experiment...

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revensen

When I brought it inside in late October it had about 7 or 8 leafs measuring 12 inches in width and about 5 feet in length. Where the pstem meet the soil it was about one foot in width. In the last four months it lost all but 1 leaf and the pstem shrunk to about 6 inches where it meets the soil. It was having a hard time supporting it's one large leaf. I've also been battling aphids and spider mites all winter with it. I've kept my basjoo's and siam rubys growing with no problems but the ensete did not do well. At the time I thought I had three options, 1. the plant continues to decline and dies in the pot. 2. do the v cut method. 3. remove the plant from the pot and slice the corm up. I choose option three and it backfired. The smell of the rotting corm's was terrible. I was amazed at how bad it was. It smelled like someone died in my basement.

Abnshrek

You could've dry stored the corm, then when it warmed back up you stick it in the ground or pot it.. so really you had 4 options.. Corms hybernate pretty good even in a dry soiled pot :^)

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Dalmatiansoap

Yes, but sliceing Enstes corm doesnt make any sence ant that cant be an option. It doesnt produce pups from corm as Musas. Even if U cut Musas corm in slices U have to catch an eye in slice to produce a new growth.

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Abnshrek

Well Ante that's not all true. If you chop the top off an Ensete it has been known to pup out & the only way I understand. :^)

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Dalmatiansoap

Yes, thats true. If U chop the top with V cut, that "might" happend but Im talking about sliceing Ensete corm. Just cant be productive that ways.

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revensen

I'm surprised you say it doesn't work when you posted several times on a thread that describes this process.

Propagation through corm cutting

It's post number three where Jack describes this method. Further down he says he read somewhere that this was the number one method of propagating the ensete.

Gabe15

They mostly describe the technique for the genus Musa, not Ensete. The difference is that in Musa you are damaging the apical meristem and thus breaking the apical dominance of the corm and allowing the preexisting axilary buds to develop into shoots. In Ensete, you break the apical dominance of the corm by damaging the apical meristem, but since there are no axilary buds that will form into shoots, it initiates a process of shoot organogenesis from callus tissue that forms. In this case, the corm is best left whole. If you cut the pseudostem down to just above the meristem, cut a slice thru the meristem just to damage it, then shoots will form in the center of the corm.

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mm4birds

I experimented this winter with 3 ensette maurelli - one in a heated greenhouse, one by a sunny southern facing window and one left potted in a cold but not freezing attached garage (min temp 45F). The one in the greenhouse got aphids which I sprayed with soap/oil mixture several times but they continued to appear and the plant started to deteriorate, so I finally brought it into the shower, sprayed heavily with water and put it in the garage. The plant by the window had the same problem but not as bad. The one in the garage which has not been watered since late Oct has been doing great with only drying of it's lower leaves but with a very strong center leaf still showing the red color. Since moving the other 2 plants into the garage (NO WATER) they have started to show new growth in the center (green due to the low light-15 watt flourescent for security). The conclusion I have come to is: let these plants go dormant over the winter (unless you live in a warm region) and they will grow like crazy come warm weather. The same may not be true for other banana plants.

Lagniappe

They go dormant, but not as well as Musa. I've had problems with mine trying to push leaves on any warm winter day, only to have them burned by the frost.
On a positive note, because of this they are fast to regrow in the Spring.