Bob

Oh , there was a Banana under her.......didn't notice(LOL). Actually I've collected and fabricated several plastic greenhouses along with some long run time kerosene heaters /foam insulation etc, and plan on getting an early start in spring and some fall season extension to see how far I can push it this year. Seeing that Maurellii was inspiration enough, my back may disagree when I have to dig it though.

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Jack Daw

Indeed there was

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Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

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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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

damaclese

out of all the Bananas this is the species i have spent the most time studding i wont say I'm an expert but i know a grate deal about EV they are a semi dry loving plant growing at altitudes of 2000ft or higher they have large root systems 3 meters or more and grow to 30ft in height moving them after they get bigger is bad. if you intend to keep it in place i suggest you build a green house of sorts around it every winter in that way it has a chances of becoming something of a spectacular specimen if grown well it can survive up to 10 years

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griphuz

I don't think this gentleman overwintered his glaucum outside actually. There's no reference whatso-ever (I do speack German), So I guess he just digs it out as well.

I'm still having difficulties believing overwinteringstories of Ensetes (being Maurelli, or plain ventridocum) planted out in europe or the UK, but offcourse the experience people have with it doesn't lie...
My feeling is that it would eventually just rot away if it doesn't freeze to death.
Even if you overwinter them at 5 to 10 deg C you have te keep them really dry, really really dry,...outside with protection that's even more difficult, AND it's colder,...I don't get it,...
Kind regards,
Remko.

damaclese

I'm in total agreement with you they rot so easily even when i bring mine inside i have troubles with them i have to keep a fan running on them at all times to dry them out fast after i water them

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xyzzy

Well, my plant is about 8 years old, but this is by far the coldest winter we have had so far in it's lifetime - not the wettest though! In fact by SW UK monsoon rain standards it is a dry year! Other years we have only had 2 or 3 frosts a year and none lower than -1.5 C, so this year is a nightmare with -9 one night and a second at -5 C! Back to wet and frost free at the moment again though.

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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

xyzzy

Well, if we all think wet is the main problem, has anyone tried these fleece bags like on:-



Obviously after the frost has zapped the leaves or it would not be possible to get a bag big enough (max size 2.0m x 2.4m).

Or would this trap too much humidity in the bag and cause more problem than it solves????

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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

griphuz

I sometimes use bigbags (if you order 1 M3 sand or gravel you get it delivered in a bigbag usually) and that works great! It keeps the rain out, but can still breathe.
I'm sure I won't be able to overwinter an Ensete with it though...
Kind regards,
Remko.

xyzzy

Hi Remko,

The gravel bags aren't big enough here in the UK, as I need one about 9ft high, but I will order a bag big enough from the garden shop made of 70 g/sq m garden fleece.

Re:-"I'm sure I won't be able to overwinter an Ensete with it though"

Probably not in zone 8a, no. In terms of frost, it is 9b here in Coastal Devon & Cornwall and the Scilly Isles nearby, in terms of frost, is zone 10!, but it's not like US zone 9b or 10 , because we only get as much sunlight at US zone 2 - Boo Hoo!. It gives a bizarre combination, which is quite unpredictable what will or won't grow here.

See zone map:-


Having said that, E Ventricosum (red or green) is much more hardy than most Ensete. For some reason E Ventricosum thrived last summer and we hardly had any sunny days at all, yet it really liked it! Probably wouldn't flower in those conditions, but grew enormous lush foliage.

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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

damaclese

the zones ratings are a tricky thing. they don't take in to account the number of off chill days or the higher averaged mean of a typical area. the new sun set zone system is a better means of understanding your specific climate. for example here in Las Vegas NV are sunset zone is 11 that not only takes in to account the number of cold days but also takes the average mean for the intier rang of temps. even though we have a USDA hardyness rating of 9a its extremely hard to grow tropicals here do to the high averages we receive in a given year. even this dose not take in to account the altitude in which i live. being at 2500ft above sea level presents its own problems for me. i have to keep the ultraviolet in mind. i always plant in one or two shade levels lower then what the plant growers recommend. and in that way iv had more success then most. so when they say sunny Las Vegas they really mean it. LOL i hope that all doesn't sound like I'm drowning on. i know allot of you all have a grate deal of experience but for those of you that don't keep this info in mind!

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xyzzy

You make me feel much better that someone else lives somewhere where hardiness zones just don't really predict what you can or can't grow. I am not alone then!

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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

damaclese

Glad i could be of assistance and as the tag ling at the bottom of you post say theirs no such thing as i cant grow it just depends on how much you are wiling to do to make it so!

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dablo93

that zone map is old,
west belgium and holland are also for a part in zone 9 and i dont think that moscow is zone 4/5, it is a zone 6.
a large ensete has not a big problem if it gets once beneath -4..
i'm not gonna try it in zone 8b because i dont like to protect things, its safe inside!

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griphuz

Dablo,
The zone map is not tha old actually, and calculated over years of time.
Belgium and the Netherlands are in the zones pointed out on the map, and not even nearly in a zone 9 for sure, you are even lucky if you can make it to a zone 8!
These last few winters (except this last one 2008/2009) were very mild and could give you the idea the zone moved, with the global warming as a cause for that, but don't be fooled. It is a proces of years, and for now the very wet springs and summers are all we see from a possible global warming.
I have yet to see a confirmed overwintering of an Ensete in the benelux, protected or unprotected, and I have been in the exotics for 10 years now...

Coastal Devon therefore might verywell just be mild enough in winter indeed, and if kept dry, the plant won't get the stress of being dug out each year.
Kind regards,
Remko.

xyzzy

Hi dablo93
So are you in Holland?

My PC will not display the maps from the forum since I swapped to vista.

How do you keep an ensete indoors! Isn't it too big?

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There is no such thing as can't grow it - but the determination required may lose you your partner, family and friends - but does that matter?.

damaclese

Funny i ues vista and have all the maps show for me

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damaclese

its important to keep in mind that thou you may be in a particular zone there are many factors as to what the actual zone you little piece of earth really sits in for example Devonshire is warmer it sits near the cost and two the golf stream flows right by theres in some palaces less then 1/4 of a ml out from the cost so that just one example of the kind of things that can help to moderate the temps walls are good at holding heat moutons can block winds or if you sit in a low spot cold can settle in around your home thees are just a few examples of the many factor that influence the meen temps

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dablo93

it is still small, if it survives the winter it will become big this summer but I'll see what I'll do with my ensete when that happens.

@Remco; in the winter 06/07 was a unprotected musa somewhere in the netherlands and it survived. it was on a very mild place with once -4 and a few nights -2.

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edd82

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...

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