canadianplant

I was in canadian tire looking for seeds for my yard, and i found pakages of musa ensete ( which i found out is the albyssian banana ). Now reading the pack, they say they get only 5 feet, and im assuming thats with normal poor indor conditions. Now in regarts to that, what would be the best way to grow it inside my house?? In my area of the country, besides ordering online, there are no banana plants for sale in my city, ive tried to look, and the closest thing i could find are these ( i was hoping a musa acuminata, or even a basjoo).

Now that being said, I would like to try tro grow one outdoors, at least fo the summer. I am just waiting for the seeds to germinate. What would be the best location outdoors for this plant, even as an annual. Also, germinating instrctions on the pack are vague, and all the info ive foundonline is a bit scetchy, and once again vague. So any info on germinating them would be great.

THanks ( thank god its almost summer)

damaclese

out of all the Bananas they are one of the easeast to germnat a strate 84deg fh would be good they do take time to gemnat up to a year but most should pop in as lital as 3 moths iv had some come up in 3 weeks
they dont like to get wet up top so let them dry betwean waterings as far as them being an anual its alot of trubal for that they can live for 5 years or more there norml mature hight is 20+ ft not 9 unless you have a dwarf viriaty
id think in your location full sunn would be best they like it warm 84deg fh is perfict they slow groth above 95 ish the wiky has tuns more info on EV look there its wirth the time

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canadianplant

Does anyone know the minimum temps the seeds can take befor ethey wontgerminate???

LilRaverBoi

Well, I'm no expert on seed germination (though I am trying to germ. some Ensete superbum), but I can give you some information on EV. Not sure how much you know about them, so bear with me if I'm telling you things you already know.

First off, just to clarify for you, it is not a musa at all. 'Musa' and 'Ensete' are both the genus part of the genus-species Latin names for the classification of plants/animals. The species part is more specific than the genus, but banana plants are either musa or ensete (which are called 'false bananas') and then are broken down more specifically by species (such as musa cavendish or ensete ventricosum).

Secondly, it will get MUCH larger than 5 feet...even in a container indoors. Mature EV get about 20 feet tall when grown in the ground. They will be smaller in a pot, varying in height depending on the size of the pot. Five feet is an understatement, though.

Here are the wiki pages for both the Ensete Ventricosum (Abyssininan Banana) and the Ensete Ventricosum subspecies 'Maurelii (Red Abyssininan Banana). I'm not sure which one your seeds are, but sounds like you have the regular EV.

Ensetes are great plants. They produce seeded, inedible fruit and EV are grown in Ethiopia for their large corm which is eaten. They grow slightly differently than musas, but look very similar. An important distinction between Musas and Ensetes is that Ensetes do not produce pups/suckers as Musas do. They are propegated by seeds only and do not work for tissue culture (as musas do). EV 'maurelii' can be chopped off at the base when mature and if the growth tip is mutilated a bit, they will grow into many new plants (see pictures in the wiki).

Sorry for the novel, but hope the information helps you with your plants! Enjoy them and best of luck germinating your seeds!

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canadianplant

Thanks for the info. They havnt germinatd yet, its been 2 months so far. There in my front porch, which stays about 4 degrees warmer then it is outside at night. The lowest ive seen is abot 13 C. Latley its been very very warm at night and during the day, so im hopin that this will speed then up.

Ive been reading up on false bananas, especially musella lasiocarpa. I bought a bag of random banana seeds ( a mix of seeds from there selection of banana seeds, some were musa sikkimensis, musella lasiocarpa, ensete ventricosum, ensete glaucum and musa velutina). There was an assortment of sizes, 3 or 4 being aroudn the same size, 3 medium ones, and 2 large ones, one was labeled "small seed". Im assuming it is one of the smaller species, ( velutina or the musella). So far no such luck with the EV.

Dont feel bad if you think you write too much everyone, I know the basics to bananas but you can never know enough, so im open to any or all information. I should be appologizing to everyone else for asking so many damn questions lol.

I also agree with he size, concidering they advertise it to "grow 3-4 ft in the first 3 months!!!" :s

swatikrish

hi wolfebc, can you donate some banana seeds to me? i live in brampton, ON.
currently, i'm trying to germinate windmill palm seeds (5), traveller's palm seeds (10) and musa ensete seeds (2). its been a little more than a month and I have no luck so for. i'm using a germination kit that i bought from local nursery.

canadianplant

Sorry it took me so long to reply, I not getting notifications.

I live in tunder bay ontario, on the west side of lake supirior, about 6-8 hours drive east of winnipeg. The ensete seeds hhave done nothing. They were planted in may, and im assuming they take 6 months to a year generaly to germinate. Im a bit impatiant with most things, but seeds i just tend to foget about them.

Now in july i purchases a mixed bag of seed. And so far only one has germinated. ITs about an inch or 2 tall with 4 leaves, and I have no idea what kind it is. Ill post a pic when i get a chance

thanks so far

swatikrish

thanks for the offer, yes i also like to germinate Trachycarpus Manipur.

Could you please send me your email? I will send my full address to your email, thanks.

I'm attaching the picture of a germination chamber that I'm currently using for all these seeds.

IMG_9718.JPG (image)

IMG_9717.JPG (image)

Soil is agro seed starting medium. Currently using a 25 W bulb. temperature is between 85 and 95 as you can see in the temperature sensor. Even though I have the dome to control humidity, the medium gets dry really fast, so I end up spraying water once every 2 or 3 days.

You can read more about this in the post that I started in other forum (below).


Travellers Palm - Germination

swatikrish

thanks for the email.

During hot days, sometimes the temperature even went to 105 F. Though that sensor temperature is + or - 4F, I guess i might have cooked the seed, considering what you are saying. I checked one the seed couple of weeks back and it looked good from outside and then I put it back. Not sure if all these seeds are gone. My bad........

bananadude

5 Ensete Ventricosum

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