51st state

will a single E V growing in ideal conditions set viable seed, or does it need a second plant for pollenation?

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Abnshrek

all by its lonesome.. you can make it pup by cutting the pstem off too. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

51st state

Reason I ask is I have a large E V Montbeliadii which I need to propagate and I'm really not confident of giving it 'the chop'.

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Gabe15

E. ventricosum is a very variably species, and even though its inbreeding, there is a chance the seedlings will not be like the parent (since it is unlikely it is homozygous). The only (low budget) way to make sure that the plants you produce are the exact same is to induce suckering.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

51st state

At what stage of the growing season would you chop then? late spring or the height of summer?

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Gabe15

I've never done it personally, but I would do it as early as you can, so if in the spring its growing well and there is no risk of low temps that would stop it from growing, I would do it then.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

LilRaverBoi

I've read on this site that the only species known to successfully pup from the ol' 'chop' method was E. Ventricosum 'maurelii.' That might not be entirely true, though...but that's what I've read on here anyway. Thought I'd share cause I'd hate to see you chop it and get nothing.

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Gabe15

The forced suckering method has been used for thousands of years on the cultivated enset of Ethiopia. I think people tend to do it more with 'Maurelii' because it is more common than the less-red form, they are just different color forms of E. ventricosum, but they are the same species. In Ethiopia in one district alone there are over 50 known varieties, so there are likely many many more out there too. There is diversity in the wild populations, and even more diversity in the cultivated populations since they have been grown for food for a very long time.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

sandy0225

I'm with Gabe, cut it off at a time when the plant is happy and wanting to grow. Then when it gets thwarted in its plan to grow a nice central stalk, it puts up pups because it really wants to grow somehow. Even if it's not the original plan it wanted to do. BTW, I found unless you really dig down in the center of the plant and destroy the growing center shoot, it will just push up a chunky pstem out of the center just like any other banana you cut off. Then it won't make pups.

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Sandy Burrell



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51st state

As Gabe says there are many many forms of E V out there. I have tried to source direct from the Ethiopians but to no avail as yet. I really want to get hold of a 'Hiniba' which is a green form that grows even bigger than the red 'Montbeliardii', in fact a grower in Holland describes Monty as large and Hiniba as a tree!!
Once the Mrs. has calmed down over the latest Indian shipment I'll try and contact them again.

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