Quote:
Originally Posted by xyzzy
Mine doesn't get marks on it's leaves until about -3 degrees C, but -9 degrees C kills it's leaves completely, even the midribs. -6 C kills leaves but not the midribs. It has been very wet all summer and thrived in it and the leaf bases have been full of water all year and it seems to be doing OK at the moment - so far at least.
I suspect the advice given is more crucial for small plants. Mine is not quite as big as the very big one on the website, but is bigger than all the other smaller ones he shows.
I have no way of bringing it in because it is too big - in summer the leaf tips reached 16ft high, but it is just the 6ft stem at the moment, with I new leaf pushing out the top.
Mind you, they say Monstera Deliciosa needs 10 degrees C and it doesn't. It doesn't get leaf damage until -3 C. Most years mine flower in the garden in january. They also say bilbergia nutans is a tropical indoor plant, but that is unmarked by -12 C!
Anyway, I'll try to cover it from the rain more as it looks like they don't like wet too much. Best not to give it a harder time than necessary!
- not if I want it to get as big as the biggest one on the German website. Slightly cautous though, because it may prefer fresh wet and well aired, than stagnant damp and poorly ventilated due to being covered???????????? Any ideas???? Could the good ventilation be why it is not having a problem being damp?????????? I think most fungi/bacteria don't like continous changing fresh water with each rainfall, nor fresh moving air.
After all, clothes washing in a washing line does not go smelly if out all week, but indoors it is infested with bacteria which make it pong quite rapidly.
I have never tried growing Ensete glaucum though. E Superbum does not overwinter out doors here either.
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I too live in the uk (Wiltshire) and have an Ensette Maurelli that's getting rather large indoors. I bought it last year and it was under a foot but now the tip of the top leaf is approaching 6 foot. This has got to be the most vigorous plant i've ever grown! It's currently sitting by the front window right next to a radiator and loving it. I accidently left it outside when the frost first came and all the leaves died bar one, I quickly brought it inside the next day hoping to save it and to my suprise it's grown another 6 large, beautiful and healthy leaves :-)
If it keeps growing at the rate it is I think it will easily get to 12ft by the end of the summer which may be a touch too big to bring inside so I would be very interested to know the outcome of yours xyzzy.
ps. Thats great to hear about the Bilbergia Nutans as I have one inside that is currenly flowering, I did wonder if I could bring it outside in the spring, glad to hear that I can :-)
pps. I went to the eden project in cornwall back in the summer and it looked like they had a lot of Ensette Maurelli growing outside. It looked like they had far too many to overwinter indoors so it might be worth contacting the guys at eden for a definitive answer...