varig8

An addendum to your previous post about the increased browning out of your Aeae leaves in October;........You have to remember one thing.........this was the beginning of fall, and now we are well into the season. Even in the tropics these plants will slow down and not grow as much, the tropics have seasons as well; dryer and cooler in the winter-less humidity, and wetter and warmer in the summer, depending on exactly where in the tropics. I spent a few days during our winter months on the Orinoco in Venesuela and believe me it was COLD. Lots of people have the false belief that tropical plants continue to grow the same amount year round simply because they are 'tropical' and unlike common deciduous plants they are used to seeing growing outside. There is also the decreased amount of sunlight during the winter, which we know has an effect on flowering and fruiting times for some plants. Tropicals also need a 'rest' period and will have a tendency to be in less than perfect condition during the winter months. Even in sunny Miami my plants slow down during this time and always look 'crappier' than the spring and summer months.

kelehawaii

I've found that, since I'm 19 degrees from the Equator, my banana plants are more vigorous for about a month before, and a month after, each Equinox. They slow down around the Summer solstice...too long a day for them...and again from mid=November to about end January. I would imagine that growth rates would change very little if I were at sea level right ON the Equator but I could be wrong. I've always wanted to find out and, for awhile, thought about moving to Ecuador for a few years just to educate myself.

Here on the Big Island, rainfall is relatively evenly distributed throughout the year but favors the winter months which are wetter than the summer months. With a yearly average of 170 inches of rainfall at my location,, I rarely have to worry about enough moisture but, as I have explained in a previous post, my bananas are so closely spaced..no farther than a couple of feet apart, even an inch of rain is not sufficient for their needs so I simply irrigate well if I have not received enough to keep the bananas happy. I've got plenty of water coming out of the bowels of Mauna Loa so it is not a problem. At least not at this time.

Yug

Did you happen to get any leads on where in Hawaii to buy an Ae Ae? It is not easy to bring plants in, so I'd be interested on any info on getthing them locally. Tks.

varig8

Try this guy, I'm pretty sure he has them. On the off chance that he happens not to have any available right now, Ill bet he knows who has more.
Troy Shigenaga
noveltygreens@hawaii.rr.com

Yug

Another question about Ae Ae. Are they supposed to have any pink on them, especially the
midrib of the leaf? I don't remember seeing it when I finally got one, but I'm noticing it now.
Check out the pic so you see what I'm talking about. The older leaves don't seem to have
this.



Aside from the ugly sunburn areas, this young'en appears happy, that rolled up leaf is the
7th new one since it was planted. My others don't put out leaves anywhere near that quickly.

varig8

As I am finding out, there are several banana variegates that look identical in coloration, patterning, and type of variegation to the Aeae. The one that is under the name of "Florida" seems to grow shorter and much thinner, but, it does have pink coloration along the petioles, and I have seen several other AeAe throughout the years that exhibit this. Seems to vary somewhat from plant to plant, Id think the most obvious reason could be the amount of light they are grown in. Some variegates are highly unstable and can vary greatly in appearance and growing conditions can also change the appearance. I have one sold to me as RoxB with almost identical variegation to the Aeae but this pink/red coloration along the midrib, on the petioles, and on the P-stem, is very obvious.

DOMinPuna

I have purchased several varieties of bananas from Troy. He does not have (or at least he will not sell) Ae-Ae. Several people at the Makuu Farmers' Market indicate they are growing Ae-Ae and the plant will become available soon.

robguz24

Aloha DOMinPuna, I see this is an older thread, but I thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. I happened to score one at the BIAN sale a couple years ago and the same seller told me then that he had sold one the previous show immediately, and I got mine within minutes of the doors opening the first night of the sale. I had mine growing in an area of the yard with a lot of red cinder and it was slow growing for several months, then shot up, fruited and fell over before the fruit matured, 18 months total. When I cut it down it had some bore holes in it. I'm new to this, so not sure what the pest was or what to do about it. I got 8 keikis, 5 all white, 3 variegated, and none green. All three of the keikis were moved and all are doing very well. I don't treat them any differently than all the apple bananas I have. They get planted with a mix of soil and cinder, with county mulch on top. They get one of the BEI bananas fertilizers every once in a while. They are all in full sun so they white spots burn. Where I am has a similar climate to you, but we have a'a so it's easy to work with. Good to learn about Troy, I'll have to see what he has.

__________________
My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

Yug

Mine is still growing, and has 5 pups, but I can't tell yet if they will be white/variegated/green.
I give it a little less water than the others, and use very liberal applications of composted steer
manure - works as a fertilizer, and as a mulch. With this application, the white areas tend to
green-up just enough to prevent most sunburn. It's not big enough to fruit yet, but still growing steady.



update - now has 9 pups (had 10, but Gabe swapped me a Pisang Masak Hijau for one). Two look white, and the rest are all variegated. Mother plant has a 9 ft p-stem. Looks quite healthy. I use a lot of composted steer manure for mulch & fertilizer.

varig8

"With this application, the white areas tend to green-up just enough to prevent most sunburn."

Just a small footnote to what I have often read from other members or heard from some plant hobbyists concerning variegation;
fertilizers, amount of light,etc., (and including any other EXTERNAL factors that might seem to affect variegation) DO NOT affect mutations (the white or otherwise variegated portions of the leaves) in a plant. This is a myth and I have often heard that "you can fertilize the variegation right out of a plant". This simply isnt true. The portions of the leaves exhibiting the absence of chlorophyll remain whether the plant is fertilized or not.
It is true that the amount of light can affect the brightness (or dullness) of some types of variegation in plants, but the areas which lack the chlorophyll is still present and does not change. The mutation causing 'variegation' is a lack of chlorophyll in these areas of the leaves- so it can not get more green, or less green, in the portions of the leaf where the LACK of chlorophyll is present. Fertilizing variegated plants, such as bananas, will of course make for a stronger healthier plant. With a sturdy well fed plant like this, it is more capable of supporting the areas which are non functioning (the variegated areas which have no chlorophyll) and then these areas would be less likely to brown out, at least in the instances where it is caused from not being fed enough by the remaining green functioning areas of the plant.

Yug

Well, maybe it strengthened the existing chlorophyll some. All I know is that I was getting noticibly less white areas within about 3-4 week after heavily using the stuff, and I was a little concerned that maybe I had gone too far. Coincidence? I don't have that much experience to say one way or the other, I just know what I saw.

varig8

As I mentioned earlier, and in a few other threads concerning variegation, fertilizers will not change this mutation in plants. Since the majority of these variegates are unstable (they are not genetic mutations) they will each vary within each particular plant pertaining to the amount and distribution of the mutant tissue. There are basically 3 main layers of tissue which make up the leaf, each lying on top of the other. In the apical meristem while the leaf tissue is developing, these layers swirl around on top of each other in opposite directions. Each has its own sectors of patterning concerning where the white and green is positioned. As the leaf is produced and grows out they then end up in the position that they will remain. If you look at the back side of a variegated leaf, you will see that the variegation pattern which is exhibited on the top of the leaf is not always the same as what is on the underside. There is only green tissue and white tissue. But, you will notice on the leaves of the Ae ae, for example, that there are varying shades of greens and 'grays'. They are all gradations of green and white. For example, where you see gradation of greens, this is where one layer of dark green has overlapped either partially or fully on top of a layer of white tissue to form a sector of light green, or, all of the layers of mutant white landing on top of each other would produce a sector of clear white, normal dark green on top of normal dark green=dark green, and so on. If you hold up a leaf to the sun and peer through it, you can oftentimes see where these patterns have landed to form the sectors of different coloration. Its quite beautiful to see this. Fertilizers will not affect this process. Since these are not stable genetic variegates, any notice of them 'greening up' could only mean that the amount of variegation produced during that time period would have been produced as is, no matter if there had been any introduction of fertilizers or not.
Now, having said that, if you would happen to have a plant like a philodendron that shows only a very slight bit of variegation on a single stem, or on a few leaves, most likely it would be overtaken by the plants natural habit of producing mostly normal green tissue (leaves). Since the variegated portions are weaker and not in abundance, the normal green growth can over take it and it would most likely disappear in time. Fertilizing this philodendron would only hasten its growth, thus allowing the normal green tissue to overtake the variegated parts quicker-BUT, it is not the fertilizer that is responsible for the lessening or disappearance of the variegation, it is the growth of the stronger normal green plant. In a genetic variegate this point would be mute as each leaf would be identical to the other; in other words, they are pretty much clones of each other and do not exhibit leaves different to the others, so fertilizing would also cause no difference in the coloration or patterning of the tissue which does not contain chlorophyll.