mnorell

Steve—

The post I read indicated that on some of those seasonal varieties they can literally push a flower at the seasonal trigger-time no matter what. I guess the idea is that the growth-bud has initiated below-ground just prior to flowering time. When the plant gives the go-ahead to flower, it just flowers and pays no attention to whether there are no leaves or ten leaves! Also, one grower in Puerto Rico told me that in his experience if foliage is cut back severely, even if a stalk is cut down to the ground, if an inflorescence has been initiated below-ground it will generally still push out, but it may be a dwarf. (But of course cutting a stalk down in tropical conditions vs. having one killed back in a freeze or long-term chilly conditions is another thing altogether, and certainly may yield different behaviors… I would think it at least plausible that this could cause shock below soil-level and abort the inflorescence.) Perhaps this is what happened with your rostrata, and it just took a long time to emerge from the top of the stem? I know that in California, on some of the species/varieties I was growing, they were so touchy that sometimes even removing one leaf could cause the whole stem to stop growing. Very strange.

As far as Musa coccinea goes, I do have hope for at least one of my clumps, but I just have wondered about all this fussiness that is bantered about with soil requirements (acid pH, etc.) and that it may require some shade. That’s why I have one in a good amount of shade (but receiving a few hours direct sun) and another in full sun, to compare their rates of growth. Unfortunately I just set out the full-sun specimen six weeks ago, from a good-sized 3-gallon specimen I ordered from Florida, and it’s still recovering a bit from the transplant and new environs. The one in the shadier spot, with peat-moss added, is doing better and looks quite healthy, but it’s still just 4-5 feet tall, with leaf-blades about 2 feet long, and has put out two pups and about 9-10 leaves since spring. I’m assuming I will see a flower by October, as I’ve done leaf-counts on all blooming plants I’ve seen in greenhouses, in Miami, etc. and they seem to uniformly push about ten leaves and then the blossom. This was a decent-sized specimen I ordered from Stokes. I would happily drive to Stokes and pick up larger plants, but it’s 2-1/2 hours from here to New Iberia and they’re not open on weekends. Not easily doable for me during the week.

I’ve searched for fernandezii with no luck on the web, and still can’t even find a photo (and it’s not in the Berry/Kress guide) but am going to try to find that and several others for next year. Also, are you familiar with H. rostrata ‘Ten Day’? On the Plant Group Ltd’s website, they state: “At last we have one that is a good cut and blooms year round.” That year-round statement makes me wonder if it wouldn’t be worth procuring for testing, and whether it’s as hardy as the seasonal rostrata. Also, they mention that x nickeriensis has a “semi-aquatic” habit and that piques my interest in terms of whether it might be more able to fend off problems caused by soggy soil during the cold months.