Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Hi,

I am trying to grow Ensete outdoors this year for the first time. I know it's an awful year to pick - the coldest for over 10 years, blah, blah, blah, but I had no choice because one of my plants was simply too big to bring in.

I have lost the leaves, but the pseudostem in still hard, despite one frost of -9 C and another at -5 C

Has anyone else done this in the UK winter climate? or tried to do it? Please let me know details of attempts, Ta.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

I don't really know about UK, ut one guy fromCzch republic (average -20 in winter) left one Ensete glaucum outside, just to see, how it goes. It took 4 nights of -12 in a row and still survived. Lost all the leaves though and was getting over it half the spring.

Hope it helps.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Mine is Ensete Ventricosum Maurelli

Does anyone know if that is more of less cold hardy than Ensete glaucum.

I am wondering whether to cover it with garden fleece????? - more to keep the wet out of the leaf bases than for cold protection, as I notice they all have pools of water in them.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

That's a bigger problem, I know only about one person, that can answer well enough for you to be sure. No more words, see the link.

Bilder 2007

or the index page

Bananen, Anregungen u. Tips.

Contact him, he tried a lot in Europe, also with Maurelli. let us know, how will it do.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Wow! he does very well, but it looks like he digs his up in winter and replants in spring. I think the winters are milder in the UK than in Germany, which believe it or not, makes it harder here!

If dug up, they will not go dormant and grow lots of leaves ( about 1 every 2 weeks) using up all their reserves and are very weak or dead by spring. I think mine will probably overwinter outdoors without digging it up, but am not sure how much protection to give it. Adding protective fleece takes light off and it is anything but dormant at the moment, even though every leaf it puts up gets killed by frost and will do until about March probably.

This is a problem in the UK as bananas are hard to overwinter here because it is not cold enough for them to go dormant, but cold enough to give them problems, and worse still, wet and damp to rot them and soak fleece protection etc! Also we have quite a lot of extreme winds here.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Jack Daw, can't thank you enough for posting this. I had seen it when I first joined and couldn't remember where. I'm using this for next years model for my back yard,only not as much(maybe).

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Bob, "maybe"?:ha:

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Holy schnitzenbruben! That Ensete Maurelii is gorgeous!

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Mine are dug up and hiding from the cold in the polytunnel. they do go pretty much dormant in UK winters. the water in the leaf bases would worry me. It's a bit late to start protection but horticultural fleece is your best bet.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Is that the same as ENSETE VENTRICOSUM abyssinian banana?

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Jack, is that guy from Czch republic you're talking about the guy from bananenhobby.de?
I would like to see pictures/ read his report on a glaucum overwintered in that climate! I even have trouble with them inside, at 5 deg C!
Kind regards,
Remko.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

I have grown Maurelii,Montbeliardii and plain Ventricosum all out side unprotected and all three survived. They were very late to re start in the summer and never made good growth for the rest of the season. The lowest temps were-8

If protected you should be fine. Its a bit late now as we have had some very cold nights and damage may have been done. Fleece would be a good option like Kev said. Failing that a tempory rain shelter over it and then a fleece wrap round to keep out the wet and the cold.

Here is a link with a little info on what has come through for others in the UK
Hardy Tropicals - View topic - cold hardy nanas

If you click on search you will find other threads with pictures ( mine inc)

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Re:- Is that the same as ENSETE VENTRICOSUM abyssinian banana?

Yes, but it is a red variant.

It may be colder in many UK areas, but here in coastal Devon they don't. Mine is definitely not at all dormant. All leaves were killed a couple of weeks back but it has grown a new one and opened it already and a new one has started in the middle. Tonight we have minus 2 degrees C forcast, so I might be back to no leaves again by tomorrow. I think if it did go dormant, it would have a better chance as it is using up it's reserves keep trying to grow.

The pseudostem is 95cm circumference, so I doubt it has reached 0 degrees C in the centre, even when the air has been -9 degrees C for 3 hours!.

Very wet here. Torrential rain and flood warnings yet again last night.

Sat I will try to dry out leaf bases with tissues and see if I can thread garden pleece between them to cut down how much rain gets in.

Having said that, it seems reasonably happy so far and has had water pools in it's leaf bases all autumn and winter so far. I guess my main concern is that it is using up all it's resources by keep growing endless leaves which promptly get damaged by frost every time within 2 weeks of each leaf opening.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Yeah! So is the girl standing in it/behind it! Also, did you see the size of the fig he was holding??? I'd love to grow a fig that got that large. I'm growing the Celeste fig now but they don't get much larger than a big marble.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

My figs never ripen. Eventually they just rot, but are not at all soft.

Perhaps I am growing the wrong variety?

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

the Wiki says just about every thing you need to know about this plant here is a cut and past i wrote most of this my self

==Description==
Botanical Name: Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' (en-SET-ay ven-tri-KO-sum) also known under the common names of False Banana, Red Abyssinian Banana, Red Leaved Banana, Wild Banana
Ensete Ventricosum belongs to the family Musaceae sub-species Ensete. There are approximately 37 species in this genus.
The wild form of Ensete ventricosum is widespread in tropical Africa from Ethiopia, through Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania south to Mozambique and South Africa (Transvaal), and west to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Ensete is cultivated for food only in Ethiopia, where it was first domesticated possibly about 8000 years ago. The center of Ensete cultivation is in the mountains of south-western Ethiopia.
Ensete Ventricosum 'Maurelii' is a banana-like perennial has large paddle-shaped leaves, that range in color from deep claret brown to red-purple to pale green, produced from the center of the plant, having thick midribs with bright red undersides. White flowers are borne in inflorescences 3 to 4 feet long. Fruits are banana-like but dry and unpalatable. At maturity in approximately 5 years, they can reach heights of up to 30 feet, but are more likely to grow to approximately 20ft.
Ventricosum are grown primarily for the food value of their corms in their country of origin (Ethiopia). The corm being a rich source of high-grade food starches reaching a mature weight of approximately 40 kg.
In Europe and most of the western world this species is grown as an ornamental. Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' is a sport of the normal green Ensete ventricosum not a distinct or separate species. To reproduce it must be either tissue cultured or the corm must be divided to produce the red offspring. It does not normally grow true-to-type from seed the offspring of the seed will most likely be of the common green variety. However, they can produce red offspring from seed but the chances are 1 in 10,000.


==Cultivation==

*Mature Height - 6'-10', 20'

*Survival Zone -9-11

*Fruiting Zone - 9-11

*Cold Hardiness -9
*Wind - moderate

*Sun - lots of sun

*Taste Description - N/A, however the corm has been known to be cooked and eaten.

*Personal Notes - dose not like high Humidity

*Growth tips -
Easy from seed.
This banana will not naturally pup. You must cut the meristem stem at soil level to fours pupping. allow to dry out between waterings. Do not wet crown of plant rots easily. Like fairly strong sun but can tolerate up to 60% shade. like high temps. Not suitable in highly humid climates. Comes from a dry cycling highland plains area. If grown in pots dose OK but not grate do to its rather enormous root system. Has a tendency to go dormant in low light. Will die if attacked by aphids and not treated right away. repot every 3 months or when roots show out bottoms of pots typically 3 to 4 times a year rapid grower feed 10-10-10 keep firt away from corm if potted better to use water soluble firts to prevent burning of the corm

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

xyzzy, a trick here is when the figs get about as big as they're going to put a bit of olive oil on the blossom end . Don't understand why but it seems to work.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Ta for that Bob.

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

Glad to be of service, I too saw it some time ago but only now, after 3 hours of searching, I found the link, just as someone was asking for the Maurelli.

I believe that Maurelli pictures were the best I have ever seen of Maurelli. Especially with that lovely girl in there :)

Cheers

Re: Anyone growing Ensete outside in the UK?
 

I would really like to help you, but it's all in German and I can't really translate it not feeling asamed :)
He's from Germany, seems like a nice guy, he also has some links on his web on other German nana growers.

Scroll down in here.

It says for Ensete glaucum something like:
Wintering: At about 10°C. It has to be overwintered in especially dry conditions. You have to get it inside (he porbably gets it to the cellar) than "Ensete ventricosum Maurellii". Temperatures around 0°C affect the leaves badly.

Hope to have helped somehow. It seems, the word DRY was stressed, as if he had soem really bad experience.