sandy0225

mine in the basement were starting to dry out a little, so I've been watering them more often. I'm watering (using a hose and sprinkling down the bare roots) twice a week now and now they are pushing up new leaves.

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
check out our new online store at our website!

Max363

Two weeks ago I put my two maurellii and my biggest Bordelon outside on the front yard/grassy shoveled mailman path for some fresh air on a 50F day, even though there was about 1.5' of snow still lingering. I just want to toughen them up and to remind them that they are not in Abysinnia any more!

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Dean W.

Great photos!!! Keep us updated.

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cherokee_greg

My maureliis are doing good

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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
http://gardenjot.com/garden/view/1980/Gregs-Banana-Farm

jack hagenaars

I mulched mine this year...and it survived zone 8....all be it it was a mild winter...

jack hagenaars

I spoke too soon....it finally bit the dust........

Max363

Jack - It just is baffling to me that you are so far north of here and yet you are at least zone and a half warmer! ... anyway three months since my last post down below, all the snow is gone :-) the babies have all been in the ground about 8 weeks and the two reds are now neck and neck in size! I can't even remember which was the smaller one in my post from March. It has recovered from its shrinkage this winter, since they were the exact same size in Nov. at the hard frost. One shrunk somewhat in the house over the winter but now they are even again. The Bordelon from the picture in that March post has not put on many new leaves or gained height but it hasmade a few very nice pups that are doing very well.



Hopefully by the season's end, the Maurelli will be taller then the Brugmansia -which in the pic above is in it's second bloom cycle for this year and is about six foor tall.

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I think this was the smaller Maurellii who has worked hard to catch up !

I'm anxious to see the progress of other members Red Abysinnians, especially those who stored them bareroot in cellars and such - I might be forced into that type of winter storage this year - especially if it continues to be a rainy growing season!

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nucci60

my potted maurelli did very well the past two winters in the basement with very little light and water. it is crowded in with Basjoos and a sikki near one small basement window.That banana and a raja puri stay nice and "fat" all winter , while the basjoos seem to get thin by spring.

Clare_CA

Here's mine. I think it's been in the ground for about nine months. It was in a one-gallon container when I bought it.

natej740

Heres mine...It looks weak compared to Clare's...lol

Max363

Nate - actually your Maurellii looks great - I'm guessing you've overwintered it at least one year already? First of all it's in a pot and they need more attention in a pot than in the ground - secondly we are growing fancy banana-cousin plants in the Midwest! - I heard that bananas are only slightly harder to grow for pplz in Ca than dandelions are for us in Ohio or PA! ;-) My neighbors said I was cruel when I put it out my bananas when there was still snow on the ground (but on a 50 something degree day) in late Feb (the pic is further down in this post) - I want my bananas to be tough - they need to know that they are no longer in Abysinnia - where ever that is! LOL

I still would like to see the progress of a Maurelli that someone kept wrapped and semi-bareroot over the winter in a basement or garage - especially since I may have to keep it over next winter that way because of the size they are packing on!

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nucci60

both your maurelliis look great. You cannot really "toughen " your plant. It is at least a zone 8 banana, and exposing it to unnatural cold will only harm it. they overwinter in a basement much better than basjoo. I keep mine potted because they can get very big and heavy if planted in the ground.

Clare_CA

Nate, your Maurelli looks great. Max is right that we can just stick them in them in the ground here and forget about them, and they get huge! You growers in colder regions have to go through so much to protect them and grow them well. My hat is off to you. It takes a lot of work to protect them in the winter. My friend Don in Kansas has a huge one, and I believe he stores his bananas in his basement every winter along with many other tropicals. He has a tropical paradise every summer there in Kansas. I think he's here on this forum once in a while, and he posts a lot over at Dave's Garden. I'll see if I can find the thread where he posted his Maurelli recently.

Max363

Hey Clare - Thanks for being such a good sport! I sell a few bananas and a lot of cannas on ebay - often to people from the southern states, who often when they buy them write and say that if they had to dig them up and store them every year ( after all my tropicals spend more than half their lives in my garage!! - LOL), they would never grow them - Yeah it's a lot of work growing tropicals up north - but given the rewards of such lush foliage and colorful tropical flowers, I think it is sooo worth all the effort!

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Max363

Thanks Nucci, and I do know that bananas really cannot be toughened, but hey I like to think they can be toughened; after all us yankee tropical plants enthusiasts are delusional by definition! LOL We hear all the time: "You can't grow - (fill in the blank: bananas, palms, papaya, brugmansia trees, southern magnolias, crepe myrtles, cotton, etc. etc.) in Pennsylvania!!" Hmmm - I wondering why traffic slows down out front when the Brug is in full bloom!

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nucci60

Max, I feel your pain because I try to zone push myself. I do find the maurelii easy to store. I only leave the lead leaf on stick it in the cellar upright. It still grows a couple of leaves over winter. he problem with living in zone 6 is, you can't even trust putting plants in the garage (at least not in an old garage) for fear of freezing. When I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, I would just shake my head watching palms growing through cracks in the sidewalk with no care.

Max363

I guess I am especially blessed then that my garage is an integral one - and directly beneath my living room - should something go wrong with the heat in there - I know about it fairly quickly! - WOW! I wish palms grew in my sidewalk cracks instead of Norway maples or crab grass!

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Kevin

Thanks for all the pics and info people! Very nice! So, I guess the one in the link I posted in the first post here is not Maurelii, but what is it? Looks very odd with bright green leaves with red mid rib and red on the back of the leaf. I don't want to order it if it really is not right.

LilRaverBoi

Well, on the topic of temperature, I really don't think they can be toughened. However, if you're talking sunlight or wind, they definitely can be toughened up. Plants grown indoors are much more frail and susceptible to sunburn and wind damage than plants growing outdoors for a while. just tossin' that out there.

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
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I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Max363

Kevin -the plant you originally referenced in this post is - if you pardon the expression -a "generic" or perhaps species ensete ventricosum: it has beautiful wide green leaves with the distinctive red rib on the reverse side of the leaf. It can be grown from seed - as I did myself last year, or bought as a small or larger plant. From what I have read or seen, the ensete ventricosum - var. Maurellii is like the red/black leafed cousin of the greenleafed-red ribbed variety and is obtained from tissue cloned plants - or by slicing a mature plant to a stump and then gutting heart out of it!! <--This rather brutal propagation method has been described and documented here on another thread. Both are beautiful plants worthy of your attention, so you cannot make a "wrong" purchase. The Maurelli type is commercially more expensive due to the difficulty in propagation, but there are often listings on here with very reasonable prices for Maurellii starter plants. I hope this helped make it a little clearer to you now ... and sorry for being one of the hijackers of your thread!

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