wxman

These grew great for me last summer, reaching four feet by October from seedlings. Grew them under grow lights in the basement from October til April and they grew slow, but steady. Planted them back out the last week of April, trimmed back the leaves so they wouldn't desiccate since I disturbed the roots. Of course, the leaves sunburned so I hacked them off at the very end of April.

Averages for the month of May have been 61.8 for highs and 45.2 for lows. The past week has been warm and we hit 90 yesterday, last nights low was 75 and we were up near 90 again today. Here is ALL the growth I got from end of April to now. I expected them to start flying with the heat, but that has not been the case -- these grew lightning fast for me all last summer.







As you can also see, I've been having to keep trimming the old petioles. Brown mush starts on the end and slowly works its way down, so I've been hacking that back every week or so to prevent it from spreading to the healthy tissue. I'm hoping they are just rooting in and one day will start flying? Dunno... I'm getting impatient.

Marisha - Atlanta

Until now you have not had enough heat for your ensete to take off. Now that your in the 90's start adding more water and you will have a monster before you know it.

nannerfunboi

i agree with marisha.. wow..you are having 90F temps??
lucky u..
we FINALLY had a day in the mid 70sF..
i dont plant out my bananas until early june.. we can have
a last frost here..and my nanners are doing so good..
my biggest glaucum and maurelli are putting out 7' leaves now..
so im hoping with full summer they will get really huge!!!
im amazed how fast the leaves grow.. one leaf unfurls and in couple
days ... surprise... theres another shooting out inside it..
as long as u have warm,sunny days i think u are going to be the
envy of your neighbourhood..

palmtree

My bananas are also taking a long time, but thats with an average high in the upper 70s for May and this past week having temperatures in the 80s and 90s! My ensete shrunk soooo much, its only a foot tall (was 7 feet tall last october). I hope it gets to a good size. So far it has 2 new leaves and its been outside since mid April.
Your Ensete looks very robust so as long as you keep getting heat, you will keep getting leaves. Weather permitting, it should be a giant by July!

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Location: New York City, zone 7b

Bananaman88

I think it is your soil temps that are probably hindering growth at this point. Regardless of the fact that you have been around 90 degrees a time or two, that is air temperature. It will take a few weeks for soil temperatures to warm up as long as you are having lows in the 40's. I'm sure they'll take off for you once prolonged warmth returns.

eric27

Hey Tim,

Yeah it's not enough heat for long enough. My basjoo, and everything else, is just creeping along here. We are about 3 weeks behind, when last year we were 3 weeks ahead! I agree the ground might be too cool yet. I was digging on Monday and I had a raised bed and the ground was so cold. The cold rains we had Sunday really cooled the ground off here. The ground cools off fast here this time of year-but takes longer to warm up. Just the opposite in the fall. Don't worry now that warmer temps are here for good they will take off.
Eric

jjjankovsky

perhaps you shocked your plants and they are trying to recover...how warm were they at night during their sunbath under the lights?

perhaps a more austire winter, then a better transition into the soil in the spring without the trauma?

ArchAngeL01

Just give them a little time to adjust and they will be fine. Nice Lawn by the way.

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Brad

orinoko

Thankyou for the post,

I definately don't have enough heat here for Ensetes. I am in my first year of growing them, Its just a small seedling which arrived end of may. It IS slow growing and I believe heat is the factor.

I have a new leaf so something is moving.

I am so concerned about what to do with this seedling its indoors, outdoors when the sun shines.

I agree, you have a beautiful space there. I really love the beds they are in as well.

Good luck Tim but I am sure where you live you won't need it.

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cheson74

They start off pretty slow but will take off once the soil temperature heats up. Mine gained alot of size during the last month of September here in south jersey.

I tried to overwinter mine under the crawl space of my house but they turned to mush. It was a pretty wet, cold winter here. I ended buying 2 more the spring to replace the 2 I lost.

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wxman

Hmmm. Here is how they look today. I had to cut the old petioles further down again due to them turning brown and mushy. The rest of the old petioles are lime green and sickly colored. Despite what it looks like, they have pushed almost zero growth since the last set of pics. The newer leaves look sickly too. At what point do you throw in the towel? I am hoping for a decent-looking yard sometime this summer, lol.

I know it can't be just the soil temps, because the little bananas I planted are moving. The ensete --- stationary.





This is the best looking one --- not moving though.



Feel like I'm getting screwed here. They were beautiful last fall. I work hard to keep them going all winter and now they slide into the gutter.

Marisha - Atlanta

when bananas stall even with lots of heat, the roots are growing. Don;t give them any water until you see them push up some nice growth. If you give them any water now, they will rot.

sandy0225

yep, I think you've probably been watering too much. Ensetes like drier roots than others. I think they're from Africa originally, but I'm sure someone here probably knows. Anyway, when it gets warm they will go crazy, but until they decide to grow, there's nothing you can do to push them. They are probably rooting in real good though. Also, stop trimming on them. You're not going to have anything left soon...lol...

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
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nannerfunboi

i agree with sandy.. we really havent had but a few "warmer" days here in utah.. ive left all my tropicals out overnite for last 4 days..
my ensetes are going great.. but i have backed off on the watering some
except on real windy days..which has been drying them out more...and tearing the leaves... *^*#$**^ LOL
only my 2nd yr growing nanners.. but last yr..when "summer" finally showed
up with the heat.. my ensetes grew like weeds !!! i was extremely pleased
with the size they got.. hoping to have even bigger plants this yr..
i am keeping my "real tropical" plants in make shift greenhouse still
so coolish nites dont stunt their growth.. (thai giants EE,other EE's)
best to ya..