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Originally Posted by Tropicallvr
I think that plat is around 5-6 years old. They grow quite rapidly in the right conditions.
Didn't you say earlier that you live in S.Florida before? I have heard that they don't do well there. The one in the picture was taken in the highlands of Mexico where it frosts in the winter, and has pretty cold rain in the summer, so it's more of a subtropical environment. On the same trip there was Ensete ventricosum at lower elevations(more tropical), but they looked terrible. Ensete glaucum also get's fairly big, but withstands tropical heat, and is really easy to sprout from seed. Also Musa 'Saba' gets huge, so if that's the effect you want you might want to check out those two.
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I think thats one of the big reasons they do so well, if not even better than most of florida in the more subtropical to even warm temperate areas. There are quite a few of those growing here in people's yards (I have one in a pot) and they come back every year, and get HUGE, 20' tall or more. They seem to like the period of cold / dormancy.
The one problem that is common with them up here, espeically when it gets extremely humid which if often does here in midsummer, is crown rot. It usually does not kill them, but it sure can cause them to put out a string of 3 or 4 bad/ damaged leaves. It probably has to do with its much more upright leaves, that act as a funnel and hold more water in. When it does not evaporate quickly, you get crown rot.
Mine is just a first year plant, and is getting HUGE already.