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Main Banana Discussion This is where we discuss our banana collections; tips on growing bananas, tips on harvesting bananas, sharing our banana photos and stories.


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Old 03-12-2016, 12:56 PM   #21 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Just curious if you have checked out the roots and have any pics?
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Old 03-14-2016, 03:32 PM   #22 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

They look great, thanks for sharing.
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Old 03-21-2016, 02:24 PM   #23 (permalink)
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

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Originally Posted by gtcns4 View Post
The last pic of the smaller plant with slimmer longer leaves is soposed to be a florida a friend gave it to me and it seems to be growing well also.
Thanks for the pictures. I have a Florida and a Manini as well, but they both have slender leaves, never round like yours. I wonder if I may not have a true Manini. I'm looking forward to seeing progress of the two growing side by side.
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Old 03-21-2016, 07:57 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Smile Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

cool post !
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Old 07-22-2020, 04:44 PM   #25 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Hey everyone!

I'm currently going through this exact same process and just wanted to ask a few questions.

I have one musa aeae rooting in pure perlite in a 1 gal pot. It is from Thailand and arrived with no roots or leaves. It arrived with about 12" of pseudostem. I have gotten about 1/2" inch of growth on the top so far. I have been using a heat mat and watering daily.

Now I have it in a humidity bin with the heat mat on the outside and a piece of cardboard on top of the heat mat. My thermometer reads 90f at the bottom of the pot and 85f air temp in the bin. Seems like this is basically the ideal temperature.

Since there is only perlite, should I start fertilizing weakly once a week? Everyone says not to fertilize rooting corms, but they are all growing with some amount of soil. I don't want to harm the roots but I wonder if it would appreciate some nutrients. It has been rooting for a month already so I'm leaning towards a strong yes for diluted nutrients (1/4 tsp per gallon.)

I'm also wondering if I should place a saucer underneath and leave a micro layer of water (1mm) so that the perlite can continuously wick the moisture up for a few days. I'm getting the feeling that it wants more moisture because it has slowed down slightly. I may try watering twice per day to see if it speeds up. I have many plants in various gritty mixes that really took off when I started watering more often this summer!

If it doesn't do much in the next two weeks or so, I will pull it out and check the roots and transfer to some mix of bark, soil, perlite to get it going faster. I may even do this in a few days since I just realized it has actually been exactly one full month since it arrived.

If anyone has any advice or insights, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thank you
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Old 07-22-2020, 05:32 PM   #26 (permalink)
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Quote:
Originally Posted by EnlightenedGardener View Post
Hey everyone!

I'm currently going through this exact same process and just wanted to ask a few questions.

I have one musa aeae rooting in pure perlite in a 1 gal pot. It is from Thailand and arrived with no roots or leaves. It arrived with about 12" of pseudostem. I have gotten about 1/2" inch of growth on the top so far. I have been using a heat mat and watering daily.

Now I have it in a humidity bin with the heat mat on the outside and a piece of cardboard on top of the heat mat. My thermometer reads 90f at the bottom of the pot and 85f air temp in the bin. Seems like this is basically the ideal temperature.

Since there is only perlite, should I start fertilizing weakly once a week? Everyone says not to fertilize rooting corms, but they are all growing with some amount of soil. I don't want to harm the roots but I wonder if it would appreciate some nutrients. It has been rooting for a month already so I'm leaning towards a strong yes for diluted nutrients (1/4 tsp per gallon.)

I'm also wondering if I should place a saucer underneath and leave a micro layer of water (1mm) so that the perlite can continuously wick the moisture up for a few days. I'm getting the feeling that it wants more moisture because it has slowed down slightly. I may try watering twice per day to see if it speeds up. I have many plants in various gritty mixes that really took off when I started watering more often this summer!

If it doesn't do much in the next two weeks or so, I will pull it out and check the roots and transfer to some mix of bark, soil, perlite to get it going faster. I may even do this in a few days since I just realized it has actually been exactly one full month since it arrived.

If anyone has any advice or insights, I'd greatly appreciate it!
Thank you
Getting bananas from Thailand is always tricky because the treatment they undergo to pass phytosanitary inspection is quite harsh. They take a while to start growing again. Each time you mess with it, you will just set it back. In your climate this time of year, watering it lightly daily is fine as long as it is well drained. It's cold, wet, low light conditions that kill them. Once it's actively growing, put it in a well drained potting mix. Any slow release low nitrogen fertilizer will do fine once its growing. They aren’t that hard to grow once started. I think people just get too paranoid when it's their first one given the high price and literally pamper them to death. Just cut back on water in the winter and water more in the summer when actively growing. Nothing special aside from that is required. I make my own potting mix with 1 part peat, 1 part coco coir, one part pine bark mulch and a dash of perlite for things that like extra drainage. Everything from Amorphophallus Titanum to aeae’s do well in it.

Last edited by exovetek : 07-22-2020 at 10:26 PM.
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Old 07-22-2020, 11:48 PM   #27 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate your insight into corms imported from Thailand. I will refrain from pulling it up to check the roots. It is slowly growing so I'm happy to let it do it's thing. Still curious about fertilizer though...

You suggest low-nitrogen fertilizer: what if I'm not interested in ever getting this plant to fruit? I normally use Foliage Pro and Osmocote Plus on all of my plants. Will this just encourage more leafy growth or do all bananas want more P or K in general?

When should I begin fertilizing a plant in pure perlite? Maybe I'll dilute to 1/8 tsp per gallon just to give it a little something. The seller advised waiting until the third leaf was out, but they generally tell people to root in 50/50 soil/perlite.

Thanks again for your help!
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Old 07-23-2020, 01:55 AM   #28 (permalink)
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Quote:
Originally Posted by EnlightenedGardener View Post
Thanks for the quick reply! I appreciate your insight into corms imported from Thailand. I will refrain from pulling it up to check the roots. It is slowly growing so I'm happy to let it do it's thing. Still curious about fertilizer though...

You suggest low-nitrogen fertilizer: what if I'm not interested in ever getting this plant to fruit? I normally use Foliage Pro and Osmocote Plus on all of my plants. Will this just encourage more leafy growth or do all bananas want more P or K in general?

When should I begin fertilizing a plant in pure perlite? Maybe I'll dilute to 1/8 tsp per gallon just to give it a little something. The seller advised waiting until the third leaf was out, but they generally tell people to root in 50/50 soil/perlite.

Thanks again for your help!
Some people claim that high nitrogen fertilizer turns an AeAe all green. I'm not sure if this is true, but I stick with a 12-12-12 balance to be safe. Something like osmocote flower and vegetable. I dont think a diluted fertilizer will hurt. If it's growing well, then once it has one or two leaves, I would put it in potting mix. It wont do well in perlite long term. You can add some extra to the potting mix if you want, but no more than 30% by volume.

Last edited by exovetek : 07-23-2020 at 02:18 AM.
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Old 07-25-2020, 02:27 PM   #29 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Quick Update:

Since growth had slowed over the past week and the brown tip on the newest leaf spread from about 1/4" to a full inch, I really felt like the perlite wasn't providing enough moisture, even with daily waterings. So today I pulled the plant up and saw a single, 4" root! I was hoping for more, but at least it has rooted somewhat.

I then repotted into a smaller pot with a modified 511 mix (bark, potting soil, perlite). The idea was to increase moisture content but maintain drainage, and also to get the corm closer to the heat mat. The smaller pot will also dry out more quickly than if I had used the same pot as before. In the original pot, it was probably planted 4" from the bottom and now it is maybe 1 1/2" from the bottom. I'm hoping that the added moisture and heat really kick it into gear.

It's possible that there is still a risk of corm rot, but I've propagated many many plants and anytime they have as much root as I saw today, they really take off in a proper potting mix.

I'll come back and post some photos at some point this week.
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Old 03-29-2022, 08:00 AM   #30 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Interesting thread. Any updates?
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Old 04-19-2022, 01:17 PM   #31 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Wow, completely forgot about this thread! So it appears I have 2 years worth of updates to try and remember and deliver concisely. In the interim, I did create a blog post with photos and a YouTube video all about this journey. Links here for those who are interested.
https://johndennery.co/blog/rooting-...-from-thailand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp-W4yFQg_k


Most importantly, the plant is alive and growing! I progressively moved it into wetter mixtures as it seemed to always be thirsty. The leaves would start to droop slightly when I could still see moisture just below the soil surface. The leaves it puts out now are about 3 ft long and the pseudo stem is about 3 ft tall as well.

This plant seems to be a spider mite magnet! There were many times when treating for mites where it was just easier to remove several of the lower leaves.

It was growing very happily and quickly in a 2 gallon pot of a mixture that was:
2 parts bark, 1 part miracle gro, 1 part coco coir, 1 part pumice. Rather a nice, all-purpose mix, actually!

About a month ago, I switched it to a passive hydroponic setup and it is finally growing again after a very grumpy transition period. What actually happened is that the leaves got very droopy and, since they are quite long, the midrib would snap and so I had to remove many of the leaves. I believe that, if I had just cut all the leaves in half preemptively, I may not have lost any in the transition. As it sits currently, there is a single half-leaf remaining and the roller has just started to unfurl as of this morning. So I shall soon be able to report on the effectiveness of passive hydroponics for musa care. I am using chunky diatomaceous earth as the growing medium, sifted between 1/12"-1/4". All of my plants are growing in this way now.

For anyone rooting a corm: If I ever do this again, I would definitely try rooting it in a passive hydroponic setup straightaway. Watering the perlite was too much work. Had I simply setup a saucer with an inch or two of water, I think it would have been much easier. I would be tempted to use perlite for this since it has such an excellent proportion of moisture to air.

The recap I had at the end of my blog post describes a different method I would definitely try - hah! But I am fully transitioned to passive hydroponics now so I am not the same person who wrote that post lol!

I hope this helps you all and also, a huge thanks to everyone here, especially the OP that helped me on my journey to rooting this plant which I most desperately wanted to root successfully!!

Cheers
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Old 04-21-2022, 09:45 AM   #32 (permalink)
 
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Default Re: My first Manini Corms in 100% perlite

Great video. Reviving a bareroot form like that is no easy task. Good job.

Bill
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