nealnick5

After reading several forums about how tough this sucker is to grow, I was having second thoughts about buying one. But it was too late! I had already done so. It arrived today.. prettiest thing I have ever seen.

I am very good at growing pretty much anything, so I feel confident about this "fickle" banana plant. I planted it in the same soil as everything else I have that thrives (basic soil with bark in it... the bark acts like pearlite and creates air pockets to allow for adequate drainage). It is potted, of course, because here in VA it's about to get extremely cold. We will see how it does I guess. I'll keep you updated!

I cut off 3 of its 6 leaves so it can root better.. poor thing hardly has any roots. I cut any dead/broken roots to prevent rot. Keeping the roots moist but not soggy.

[IMG]23192679_10214566787663972_1742194921_n by Nick Neal, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]23146446_10214566786263937_1446133411_n by Nick Neal, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]23140365_10214566786423941_1112967402_n by Nick Neal, on Flickr[/IMG]

[IMG]23191915_10214566786183935_1515352736_o by Nick Neal, on Flickr[/IMG]

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

cincinnana

Awesome post....thanks..

Your plant looks awesome ....and similar to a few other plants that are variegated.........not a bad thing...but you might have something more..

Can you give a history on the plant perhaps

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nealnick5

cincinnana, sure, i love learning, but i have a bad feeling about this.. please tell me i didn't just spend $125 for a dang thai variegated..

*Edit*

I totally misread your reply and thought you were offering to give me a history of it.

Tytaylor is on the money with his response below.. I was going to say most likely Thai variegated or Nam Wa variegated (I spent the last almost 2 hours researching it and comparing pictures.. certainly not a lot of information on the variegated bananas). But essentially AEAE originated in Hawaii, and the Thai variegated is being passed off as "Florida AEAE" because a man from Thailand supposedly took the plant from Florida back to Thailand and began propagating it. Now he's selling it back to US consumers as "Florida variegated" or simply even as "Florida". Very confusing.. way over my head.. but I do know that whatever I have is fairly rare, and it's beautiful, so hopefully it ends up thriving.

I really really wanted the splotchy camo-looking pattern of the AEAE.. the whole reason I purchased it in the first place was because they had the wrong picture on "best-price-plants.com", throwing me completely off. Thank you for pointing that out.. I would have continued believing it was the AEAE!

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

Tytaylor77

I agree with cincinnana. Seems like I have said that a few times before lol.

Looks more like a Variegated balbisiana? Maybe a ta-née? Click the link below and look through my variegated pictures. AEAE and Florida look similar to each other. Thry have the “blocky” camo look. They have more of a “blocky” less “striped” look. Hard to describe. I am going to upload a few pics of younger AEAE to my Flickr for you.

I can’t say for sure what it is. But I can for sure say it not AEAE or Musa Florida.. I know it sucks but all variegated Musa are expensive. And if it is TaNee or balbisiana they are very hardy and excellent growers! Dwarf namwa is another great one. AEAE and Florida are not “hard” to grow. They are just more sensitive to moisture and cold.

Good luck. I won’t have anymore AEAE till next year. PM me anytime or before you get another. I can check it first and see if I have any info on the seller.

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nealnick5

You are both right; it is definitely not AEAE. Thanks for the positivity though.. if it is one of the other hardy plants you suggested then it should do well. I will be sure to periodically give updates.

The other downside, aside from the color patterns i wanted, however, is that supposedly the Nam wa's stem is weak (according to a man in a forum on garden web) so I will be on the lookout for that too.

Here is actually a link where I discovered two men fighting over it.. one tried to sell the "knockoff AEAE's" and the other dude is reaming him out saying they aren't as good and he's basically ripping people off
Tissue Culturing the variegated AeAe? Soon!!

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

Tytaylor77

They are talking about namwa pearl. It was a yellow looking plant. I can’t comment since I have never grown it.

I have namwa mailong which is beautiful but grows very slow for me. It’s grown all year and not a single pup.

My variegated dwarf namwa is amazing. It’s by far my best growing variegated banana plant. It’s very pretty. Pups like crazy and outgrows my all green dwarf namwa! I would recommend it to anyone.

AEAE is an awesome grower once it hits 4-5'. For me it hates pots and full sun. I built a shade around it, then once it hit 4' or so it exploded. They hate moisture! I recommend plantin them in ground in pure coarse sand. Topfill compost or whatever above the sand. My big one is about 9-10' tall and was looking amazing before our crazy early frost zapped it. 33f and frost then next day it was in the mid 80s.

It’s not hard. Just be smart! I have never lost a variegated Musa! You have to remember any variegated Musa is like a “half plant” half the green/half the energy. So go easy on them and they do fine. Especially the moisture! Just remember with any Musa! Underwatering them can’t hurt! Overwatering can rot them FAST. Especially when they are potted or not established. Start slow and small and anyone can do it!

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nealnick5

Thank you for your advice; I will definitely go easy on the watering aspect. My main objective right now is just keeping it alive and letting it root until spring.

You seem to have very good luck with variegated banana plants and yours are awesome, so I was wondering if you could help me answer 2 questions I have about future growth.

1. Do you think I can plant this variety in full sun or is half shade/full shade best? I have seen pictures of some mature variegated in full sun that seem OK and others getting the *you know what* burned out of the white leaf sections. I was wondering what your take on this was.

2. If I do plant mine in full sun, I have read where the leaves adapt just like with most plants (such as acclimating a shade plant to sun.. the leaves will shrink and become waxy to avoid photo-oxidation) and lose the white coloring. Have you experienced this and also do you think mine would be permanently green or would the default for pups still have white pigmentation due to the mutated genes?

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

Tytaylor77

I asked the same question to several people before planting mine. I chose full sun. It already has less green/less energy so every bit of extra sun helps. You saw my pics I’m sure. My AEAE was burnt bad in the beginning. My good friend Hector said I should construct a shade for it until it grows larger! Same as he did and it helped his a lot. And he was correct! It helped a lot! After it reached 5 foot or so things got much better and the burning of the white areas still happened but it wasn’t bad at all. I would suggest full sun and shade it until it gets a little larger. Also yours won’t burn as bad as others such as AEAE or even Musa Florida.

2nd question. I have never had a variegated Musa revert back to green. Can it happen? Who knows. I believe a lot of this comes from plants that wasn’t even verigated to begin with. Leaf viruses in Musa can look a lot like variegation. You have to do your research and buy from a trusted source. Especially when this much money is involved. If a plant has the mutated variegation it has it from what I understand. They can make green pups, white pups, or variegated pups. Some with little variegation and some extremely variegated.

Also I know for a fact that nutrients can effect the white. More nitrogen makes the white lighter. So in some varieties, just by using fertilizer you can make them stand out or fade.

All this is from my observations. Maybe someone can answer more in detail of the hows and why’s.

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Botanical_Bryce

I planted tanee in part sun. It is extremely hardy and so much that mine is just as hardy as any green plant. I chose part sun to not burn the white spots. Cost me a lot but in the end I think I am better off with tanee.

robguz24

I agree. Looks different than any A'ea'e I've seen.

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nealnick5

Thank you so much Tytaylor. Yes, yours are awesome in the pictures! I will keep that in mind; I will probably let it sit in the pot for a year (during the summer it'll be in a spot that ONLY gets morning sun) until the pseudostem is about 5ft tall, as you said.

I have never read anything about nitrogen in the soil affecting the white parts so I will be on the lookout for that in dealing with my plant as well. The only reason I brought it up was because people on a forum a while back (I forget the site) said theirs became greener with each leaf in full sun. I believe this because, from observing my rice paper plants, euphorbia viguieri, euphorbia neohumbertii, and Dorstenia foetida when taken from a shady area to full sun, I learned that plants adapt. When "shady" plants are presented with full sun, they adapt by losing all large/dark green (current) leaves and growing new ones that are much smaller and have a waxy coating. This prevents photo-oxidation and henceforth, they can adapt to full sun. This is mainly why I was wondering.. if a plant can change its entire leaf-structure and coating, I found it plausible that variegated banana plants could adapt by showing less and less green per new leaf. But this is just speculation. (quick link to photo-oxidation: BASIC ENVIRONMENTAL PHOTOBIOLOGY)

You know from experience about veriegated bananas, however, and I will take your advice! Perhaps banana plants are more simplistic since the plants I listed live after blooming or something.. who knows. Thank you BUNCHES haha

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

nealnick5

Also, mine is FINALLY growing! I increased watering despite what many people say and it is finally doing something. I had to cut off all but 1 leaf so it could root better. Also the leaves started turning brown which means "not enough water" so I am currently treating it like I treat my potted basjoos in regards to sunlight/water

I drew with sharpie on the newest layer of pseudostem a week ago. First pic was taken December 1st (2 days after drawing the line)

This was taken tonight (December 5th)

And here is what the plant looks like as of tonight.. it looks pretty sad but it's growing finally so it'll look normal-ish soon

Also FYI those 2 plants near the wall in the same pot are actually Bromeliad pups rooting... NOT the banana's pups haha

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

cincinnana

Patience....Just saying...

The first two winter cycles are somewhat easy ......Because the plant is small, however it is when this plant gets to be a 15 footer it is difficult to keep alive over the winter.

Generally this plant will fail in the winter because the plant owner will dote the plant to death.

The plant does get some tall leaves
The plant is a beast and grows well in containers too.
Your going to love this plant

As for the cost of the plant....It's who you know......
Costs are negotiable and even up for trade


"Grow it like you stole it"

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nealnick5

I agree with what you say about once it gets larger.. right now mine has a new leaf and I will post a picture once I get my new phone tomorrow.

So far I like it a lot.. I am thinking that the best way to handle the winterization is to separate the pups after next summer. That way, if the mother plant does not make it (due to the size/difficulty), I will easily be able to manage the pups.

I am also willing to trade once I have pups.. maybe a pup of this $140 plant for a Florida AeAe pup or something. We will see how it does first, though.

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

nealnick5

2 new leaves finally! cut off all of the old ones that came on it. can't wait to put it in the ground this spring.

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

PR-Giants

That's a beautiful plant you have.

I've got hundreds of Florida & A'ea'e for trade.

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nealnick5

Thank you! Same goes for you. And I'll definitely take you up on that trade offer once it warms up here and it can produce pups outdoors. You can never have too many varieties that's for sure!

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

Yug

I didn't know they were difficult to grow. My Ae Ae did fine until it got BBTV and I had to send it to the banana patch in the sky. It was larger than I thought it would get, and had a nice large bunch of variegated bananas, but when the pups sprouted, I noticed that one was growing rather scrawney, and then I noticed the unmistakable signs of BBTV.

nealnick5

well, it's doing very well outdoors. first pup is variegated 50:50!

love it and and am happy with whatever it is. will post pics again when it grows more! new leaves come every 3 days or 4 days

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Growing: Ensete ventricosum 'maurelli', Musa balbisiana 'Thai Black', bordelon, basjoo, Dwarf Cavendish, Dwarf Orinoco, itinerans var. itinerans, lasiocarpa, orinoco (tall), saba, sikkimensis 'Red Tiger', TaNee, zebrina, VDN (green), 1000 fingers, praying hands, ornata purple, veluntina, french red, super dwarf cavendish, dwarf iholena, red iholena, balbisiana (yellow), kru, mananzo, zebrina var. gran nain.

HMelendez

Nick,



Thanks for sharing the pictures, for the update!....Very beautiful and healthy Variegated Nana plant!....Congrats!....

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