51st state

excellent website Overwintering Ensete Ventricosum (can we have this as a sticky maybe?) features a step by step guide to lifting and overwintering Ensete, pretty much the same applies to nana's too.

now where's my spade...

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bigdog

Overwintering Ensete: Dig them up, knock the dirt off, and throw them under the house or on the garage floor; wait until spring.

They are so easy it is ridiculous!

Chironex

Now, where's my greenhouse???
Thanks Kev, good information!

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griphuz

Ok Frank, sounds easy,...
But does it matter if you overwinter them in this way dark or light?
I have got a garage for this purpose, but without any windows,...
So should I try that, or put it in a frost free greenhouse (minimum 5 deg C) without watering it (they usually die there,...). OR should I put it in a warm greenhouse (minimum of 12 deg C) for the winter, steadily keeping it growing?
Kind regards,
Remko.

damaclese

Florescent grow lights cost pennies a day to run if you go to HD the Selle them for 30bucks thats the fixture plus 2 bulbs make sure you get wide spectrum they come with chains to hang thats more then enough light to get any banana throw the winter and low and behold they will even grow quite fast in that. I just put the potted bananas in the house if you have smaller bananas that helps but you could cut the P stem to make them more house friendly and that way they don't have to go dormant for the winter you get fruit faster!

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edd82

Thanks for the info/link 51st State. I've got an Ensete that's coming indoors this winter. I live just a few miles from Salisbury and I wondered (As we're in the same area) when you would advise to start overwintering? I was originally thinking that the first frosts generally come around October time but we've had some rather cold nights recently.

On a different note; In regards to grow lights there are some very cheap to run lights called "Envirolights" which i've used to start off my peppers & chillies just before spring. They're easy to buy online and they do a wonderful job.

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damaclese

Edd are those the LED mid spectrum one that come in square panels?

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bigdog

Remko,

Dark is best. If you're going to use one of the greenhouses, I would use the warm one and keep it growing slowly. I can tell you that I kept a bunch of Ensete glaucum and E. ventricosum in the gh 2 winters ago, and planted 2 of each outside the next spring in the UT Gardens, and they all four bloomed prematurely. I think that they were stressed because of a way-too-small pot size though. If you are going to keep them in the gh, pot them up as needed.

edd82

Damaclese, no these are a little different. Basically you can get a Blue or Red bulb, Blue giving the more blue(ish) spectrum used in vegetative growth and red for fruiting/flowering.

The bulbs are around £20 each for the 125watt version and all you need then is a power connecter and some sort of shade or reflector. The bulb is more like a large version of your standard energy saving bulb that you might use at home but with a slightly different power connecter

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51st state

[quote=edd82;52607]Thanks for the info/link 51st State. I've got an Ensete that's coming indoors this winter. I live just a few miles from Salisbury and I wondered (As we're in the same area) when you would advise to start overwintering? I was originally thinking that the first frosts generally come around October time but we've had some rather cold nights recently.

QUOTE]

Hiya

I'm keeping half an eye on the weather but I don't expect first frosts till mid October (famous last words!!)

Thats what I'm banking on...didn't do the bankers any good though did it

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man with the yellow hat

At what age do they flower? How big do they get? I've grown some from seed and there still in pots, next year I plan on planting them. Thanks, mike

edd82

Fair point ;-) Thanks for the info.

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