Quote:
Originally Posted by sunsetsammy
Okay, so I'm in one of the local nurseries today looking for some elephant ear plants. I head to the waterplant section to find what I'm looking for.
I was just there a couple days earlier and was surprised to see a bunch of familiar looking banana leaves. Apparently a new shipment of banana trees came in. Mostly little baby Basjoos, some dwarf cavendish, and a couple ensete maurelli. Even more surprising to me was that they had all of these bananas growing with the pots either half or totally submerged underwater.
I checked the tags on the plants and only the ensete said "Likes moist soil but not soaking." I've heard and read many times that bananas don't like their feet wet. Am I mistaken? Is it different for small plants?
Anyhow I usually wouldn't care about something like this. If I'm at the plant store and see a potted cedar or something else tipped over I wouldn't think twice about it. However these were bananas and up until this year they have been really hard to find around here. I really do like these plants and it p!ssed me off to think that these guys might be murdering all these banana plants.
So I take my elephant ear up to the till and after paying I asked the lady politely why all their banana plants are being grown as waterplants? Her response was "Oh, those aren't REAL banana plants they are just look alikes." I said "Sorry but I grow those exact same plants and I'm quite sure they are bananas. I'm not an expert but everything I've read says that bananas don't like their feet wet."
So she says "I'm not sure lets call the expert." So the expert comes over and the woman at the till explains that I'm curious about the banana plants. The expert says "Oh that's how banana plants like it. They ARE waterplants." I responded with "I really don't think they are. I grow those plants and read about them all the time." She replies with "Well, have you ever been anywhere tropical cuz I can assure you that they do grow in water!" At this point she seems quite annoyed with me questioning her "expertise".
"Oh well" I said, "I'm not trying to start an argument. I hope that someone comes and buys them all real quick before they rot." Then I walked out with the expert glaring at me!
Now I normally don't get confrontational but some of those plants were looking pretty sad and I really just wanted to help.
Am I wrong? Can bananas grow as waterplants?
If not, was I wrong for saying something? What would you do?
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No, the fruit bearing bananas that we are growing wil not grow as water plants. The only banana plants that I know that will grow in water is the aquarium type banana plants, which are not Musa sp.
From your description, I can only assume that the plants you saw are recent arrivals, wherein the soil in the pots have dried out. By soaking them for a few hours, it will saturate the soil, as well as, any undamaged, shriveled roots. Saturation of the soil to the point of swelling will ensure a thorough and even distribution of the water through the soil in subsequent waterings. I do not believe that they (the nursery people) are intending to keep the bananas submerged in the water all their life.
Regarding the so-called experts that you talked to, I will quote Gen. Patton, they are "NUTS!" Wish I could have been the one talking to them. I was born and raised in the tropics. The people that you talked to are not knowledgeable about plants. They are clerks who are experts in inventory and merchandising. When it comes to technical aspects of plants, most "managers" of the plant section in nurseries or hardware stores like HD and Lowe's, don't have a clue about tropical plants. The person that asked if you've ever been in the tropics, that's his(her) way of establishing credibility by intimidating you. Particularly if you've actually never been to the tropics. The person probably gave you that "matter-of-factly" look while he's saying it.
It's like two different garden center managers and one interiors section manager at HD, on separate occasions keep offering me lime, when I asked for sulfuric acid. they asked me what I need it for. I told them I need to lower the pH of my soil. Fine, they said this is was you need, pointing to bags of dolomite lime. I told them that those would make my soil pH higher. Then to defend their position they showed me the description of dolomite lime, which starts out as "This product will sweeten your soil if your soil is acidic." But I told them that my soil was alkaline, which means that the pH was high. If I put lime in, it will raise it more! I want it to go acidic.
Finally, another employee( a go-fer, not an expert), who had an aquarium, overheard us and asked me what I was looking for. When I told him I was looking for sulfuric acid to lower the pH of my soil, he offered to show me what he uses for his aquarium because it was safe for the fish. OK, I told myself, what the heck, I might as well look. He found a bottle of acetic acid and showed it to me. And instead of reading me the description, he asked if I thought it might help with my soil. The label said that it contained 27% acetic acid and it was safe for aquarium plants and fish. I told him yes, and gratefully acknowledged his kind help.
I was lucky to run into a non-expert to help me. Not try to show me off. Otherwise, my 3 trips to HD would have been for naught.