Jeff zone 8 N.C.

In the 1st week of April I removed the unsprouted Ensete seeds from their heat mat inside my house to my greenhouse and cut the small greenhouse heater off. Days were getting plenty warm and the temps inside the greenhouse would only drop to the high 50'sF- mid 60sF at night. The days were getting up to the 90sF inside so on the warmest days I would crack the door a little for ventilation. I have no powered or auto ventilation. I have been checking the seeds every weekend. Last weekend there were no sprouts. This weekend there were 5 sprouts. I got 3 more group "C" and 2 more group "B", For me still no Group "A".

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

To amend my late night post above, I want to post some observations. I am thinking the larger range of temps (50sF -90sF/ maybe even 100F) and uneven and variable ranges of temp contributed to the seeds sprouting in mass. I particularly think the very high temps were critical. I say that because they have mostly languished all winter till they saw the above conditions and then there was multiple sprouts at once. Moisture levels did not change from before. When they were in the small picnic cooler with a heat mat they experienced more even temps even though I varied those temps every 3 or 4 weeks. In the cooler the high day temps cool down very slowly at night, when the timer cut off all heat. In my greenhouse the temp drop is rapid, since heat has been disconnected for this year. Since it does not get early morning sun it warms up slowly and then when sun hits it around 10AM it gets a rapid heat up. As far as light goes I have never understood why banana seed advice says the seeds need light to sprout. That does not make sense to me but if anyone can tell me the reasoning I will be glad to listen and learn. In the cooler they got zero light except when I opened it each weekend to check for sprouts. And I only had the 2 sprouts early on, in the cooler, without light. In the greenhouse the seeds were still buried where they could not get light but I can see that if I had had them in sun instead of shade then they might respond to warmth on the surface of the soil when sun hits it.
I made some other physical observations which may mean zero because it has not been long enough growing these. Of my original two sprouts sprout "C" was a little taller and it has continued to maintain a slight height advantage over "B". All my current sprouts of group "C" are also taller than "B" sprouts. Again this could mean nothing as it could just be a little seed group variability.

sirdoofus

Well then, into the greenhouse they go

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subsonicdrone

i have to start by apologizing for the state of the plants which germinated first
i had bugs downstairs and low humidity so they werent exactly happy.. but they have started to get used to being outside

reason for posting: i saw some more sprouts the other day and yesterday i transplanted the sprouts and small plants into their own containers

here are the A plants...


i now have one B


and 3 more C sprouted


i used some sticks and my fingers to loosen the soil and gently pull them out... sorry if the pic is sideways


here they all are potted up

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Looks like your having great success. Can you tell us the sprouting medium, moisture levels (constant moisture? dry periods? wet? just moist?) Sealed sprouting container or open air container? Temps your seeds have been exposed to? stimulants?

sirdoofus

That's awesome, and no apologies necessary at all. So glad to see your success. I haven't had any more sprout and the plants I do have are looking fine but they seem to have stalled a bit. They are growing, but slowly. They are all outside now and I think it has been a bit too cool for them. I really probably should still be bringing them inside at night....maybe I'll start tonight

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subsonicdrone

the seeds were put in pro mix hp i think but maybe bx
dont think i put worm castings mixed in but maybe
about an inch deep in an open 5" square pot with one in each corner and one in the middle
they were wet initially and were on the basement floor in the growspace
they dried out , were heavily watered and moved up to the shelves.. 3 weeks later the 1st round of sprouts
then they went through a bit of dry periods.. bugs.. and then were brought outside
outside they were near other plants which needed a lot of water so they were getting splashed and also shaded by them
so they have been fairly wet lately
the spot where they are gets only a couple hours of direct sun and is shaded in the afternoon

temperatures? i am not sure but this is the weather station nearby
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/ca/toronto

stimulants.. the worm casting thing and they might have been watered with maxicrop liquid when they were in the basement... another maybe... i should use my plant journal more

raccoons dug up the plants and snapped one little one off by sitting on it a few days ago but they all seem fine now after being replanted and the snapped one is re growing
i should get a cage around them

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

Thanks for the detailed info. It really helps now, and in the future, as there is not much good info on the web. I think I will try a dry out and re-wet of my remaining seed and maybe even some worm castings.

subsonicdrone

my 6 remaining seedlings are doing well
one "b" died from animals messing with it
one has started to get the coloration on the stem

sirdoofus

These 2 beauties Subsonicdrone sent to me and I am posting the pics in this thread because they both hail from this part of the world.

On the left is Matooke, not sure which group, and on the right is of course Zebrina. They're both doing well and I have noticed they seem to tolerate it bit of chill (40 degree overnight temps) without even skipping a beat.

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all43

Looking good, sadly I lost my Zebrina and it's quite hard to replace in the UK.

subsonicdrone

my plants are now inside for the winter





cat for scale

sirdoofus

I am assuming in the lower left corner of those pics are the Ensete seedlings? They look great, nicely done!!

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all43

I've got spider mites already on a couple of my plants so I've sprayed with neem oil, so early on grrrrrrr

sirdoofus

That's annoying, the neem oil seems to work well though. Last year I only had to spray a couple of times and that seemed to do the trick. I accidentally sprayed the primed but not painted windowsills which might make them more difficult to paint...oh well. I did get some pyrethrin spray this year just in case as its relatively non-toxic and no oily residue. Don't know if I will actually use it.

Good luck with the little buggers

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all43

I'm also using the yellow sticky sheets, definitely been a bad year for me with these annoying little buggers

sirdoofus

I feel your pain. This year its been aphids mostly on my Ensete. Some spider might issues too, but so far have been controlled. Alas, I have gong to using the permethrin spray which does keep them in check. I am not familiar with the sticky sheets, do they work?

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all43

The yellow sticky sheets are for the little flies that I get if the pots have a little too much water!