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gianluk · 09-10-2007, 08:34 AM

Hi, I am new on this great web site for bananas lovers.

I am a plant hobbist with an interesting collection of species of all sort of plants, bushes, trees, cacti, bananas..., from very old ones to seedlings, extremely rare to common ones, with over 300 species and 4 to 500 specimens right now, going up.

I got my eyes on a banana plant a couple of years ago and started some try outs which sadly failed. So, I started seeking for cold hardy bananas, which I can safely(or almost) grow outside here in Italy, zone 8.

Last year I seeded a bunch of Musella Lasiocarpa, Musa Sikkimensis and Ensete Vetricosum, without apparent success. Then one day of last winter I got a lot of Sikkis sprouting in my indoor pots. I saved two of them, which two months after planting them in the garden, grew like nuts from 5cm to more than one meter in hight (which in feet would be from 2inches up to 3 feet). Amazing.

All the seeds I seeded in open land didn't sprout, yet didn't got why they didn't.

A few weeks ago, walking around the property I noticed a strange herb in the middle of the lawn. Man, it was a banana! Probably some birds picked the seeds and lost it somewhere... Great. It's growing slow and it's still little, but after that I found three more. I think they are E.Vetricosum.

Right now, I am about to start a nursery of Sikkimensis, Lasiocarpa and Itinerans, which I found to be more suitable for our climate here. All you can buy in our nursery right now are just M.Paradisiaca and M.Cavendish or Dwarf CAvendish.

I hope some more experience member here, can give me good tips to get my little private hardy bananas nursery going.

Thanks to all in advance.

Best,

G

Ps.: I will post pics ASAP.

09-10-2007, 08:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
gianluk gianluk's Photo Gallery Location: Verona, Italy Zone: Zone 8 Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 30 BananaBucks : 7,800 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Hi everybody! Hi, I am new on this great web site for bananas lovers. I am a plant hobbist with an interesting collection of species of all sort of plants, bushes, trees, cacti, bananas..., from very old ones to seedlings, extremely rare to common ones, with over 300 species and 4 to 500 specimens right now, going up. I got my eyes on a banana plant a couple of years ago and started some try outs which sadly failed. So, I started seeking for cold hardy bananas, which I can safely(or almost) grow outside here in Italy, zone 8. Last year I seeded a bunch of Musella Lasiocarpa, Musa Sikkimensis and Ensete Vetricosum, without apparent success. Then one day of last winter I got a lot of Sikkis sprouting in my indoor pots. I saved two of them, which two months after planting them in the garden, grew like nuts from 5cm to more than one meter in hight (which in feet would be from 2inches up to 3 feet). Amazing. All the seeds I seeded in open land didn't sprout, yet didn't got why they didn't. A few weeks ago, walking around the property I noticed a strange herb in the middle of the lawn. Man, it was a banana! Probably some birds picked the seeds and lost it somewhere... Great. It's growing slow and it's still little, but after that I found three more. I think they are E.Vetricosum. Right now, I am about to start a nursery of Sikkimensis, Lasiocarpa and Itinerans, which I found to be more suitable for our climate here. All you can buy in our nursery right now are just M.Paradisiaca and M.Cavendish or Dwarf CAvendish. I hope some more experience member here, can give me good tips to get my little private hardy bananas nursery going. Thanks to all in advance. Best, G Ps.: I will post pics ASAP.