Quote:
Originally Posted by wolfebc
I really enjoy your posts and admire your eagerness to learn.
Have you ever done any experiments to try and encourage a
banana plant to variegate?
I have a Dwarf Giant that occasionally puts out a leaf with a streak
of a different color. I would like to try and encourage it to variegate.
Any thoughts or ideas on this would be greatly appreciated.
Also have you done any experiments on dwarfing banana plants? This
would be super beneficial to those of us that live in an area that is too
cold to grow most cultivars year round in the ground.  |
I have done no experiments to encourage variegation. I do know that many, if not most, variegated plants are chimeras. All of the variegated cannas that you see in my photos are chimeras. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics). I am familiar with an unstable chimera, heliconia 'rubricaulis." It tends to lose it's variegation if grown too fast. If your Dwarf Giant is a chimera, maybe, it will produce more variegation with less light and fertilizer to reduce its growth rate.
I have dwarfed banana plants by using chemical plant growth regulators that are GA antagonists. See my post here:
Oh no!! I broke my banana!! Is it over????
also my photo here:
Ornata Bronze