Musa Ensete Ventricosum Maurelii Care Guide and Species Spotlight - Red Banana ~ Abyssinian Banana
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- Опубліковано 5 чер 2021
- Today I want to talk about the fabulous Musa Ensete Maurelii commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana or false banana - Ensete isn’t technically a Banana but is a herbaceous species of flowering plant in the banana family.
Get Your own Red banana on eBay here: geni.us/EnseteMaurelii
Ensete Maurelii - isn’t technically a Banana but it is a member of the Banana family.
In their native habitat of Africa, in high rainfall tropical arias like South Africa, Mozambique, Uganda, Congo these plants will grow very big and very tall 20 feet plus! But their fruit is inedible so locals will use the roots and pulp to make food.
The domesticated cultivar that you can buy in Europe and North America will not grow as big unless you plant it in the ground and live in a similar high rainfall, tropical or sub-tropical environment in which case make sure you have plenty of room in your garden!
So can you grow them in your garden in the UK and Europe? Yes, you can, but they aren’t frost hardy so for us in the UK and the parts of Europe and North America that get cold winters they will need to be brought in from October until Spring time when the risk of frost has passed. That could be a garden shed, or garage, it doesn’t need to be inside your house, just somewhere that is protected from the frost. Cool and dark is actually a good place for them to slow right down and go semi-dormant over winter.
So do they make good houseplants? Well, I have seen the Musa Basjoo sold in houseplant shops so they are certainly sold as such, so I suppose the answer is yes, do I think they will make good houseplants? Well looks wise they are stunning but whether they will stay healthy inside is debatable, I think it will be too dry for them, they are really a tropical species and I would imagine they will dry out and get quite brown leaves as a result, now if you have a humidifier on all day with a load of other similar plants that would probably work, or a sunny conservatory with a humidifier on then yes they will probably do well in there. But in a low light bedroom or living room without additional humidification - I think it will just get weaker and browner over time. I saw these and just had to have them, I thought they would make a great tropical backdrop for my videos in the potting shed, I can keep the humidity up in here as we have windows back and front that gets the sun in the morning this side and all afternoon this side and it gets very warm in here over the summer periods so let’s see how they go, I may plat them outside next year if I can overwinter them successfully.
So what are the ideal growing conditions for Musa Ensete Maurelii?
As mentioned humidity is important, a good amount of water - they can’t be left to dry out but also not too much tap water if you have to let it sit for 24 hours, but rainwater or de-ionised water will be much better to avoid the chlorines and calcium that’s in a lot of tap water.
These plants will grow big in the right conditions so will be hungry too, lots of organic matter in the soil so garden compost, well-rotted animal manure, you can feed them regularly and they will thank you for it, use organic feed, seaweed-based, animal-based or if you are growing it in the ground it will get a lot of its nutrients from the soil so just a god mulch or animal manure or chicken pellets around the base will be fine, the watering will take the nutrients down with it to the roots.
And lastly plenty of sun, always think of their natural habitat, in this case tropical Africa so lots of sun, heavy rain at times and then full sun again which makes a humid lush fast growing environment.
Get Your own Red banana on eBay here: geni.us/EnseteMaurelii
Another great video:) I love learning about the natural habitat of houseplants, thank you. Your enthusiasm is infectious too and now I want one! Maybe I’ll sneak it into my dads attic banana plantation...
Thanks! Can you grab me a few more while you're up there! :-)
Got mine today off Lowe’s clearance. About 5ft tall original price 98 got it 50% off 😊
Here in Florida I plant mine in part sun as I get better leaf color. Also I have bought a RV water filter that attaches to the house to take out Chlorine and other elements.
Yoo This Is Awesome Sir!!
At a store called Bomguars, I found my first one for $21.00, and 15" tall. I got excited to try one, and absolutely loved it. You are right that they are fast growers, and beautiful!
After a couple of months, i was back at the store, and they were on clearance for $11.00 dollars, and about 14" tall. I snagged another.
Towards the wnd of summer, I went looking for clearance plants, and they were $3.00 dollars each. I could not walk away from that, so i grabbed 2 more! 😂 ..... BUT when i went to pay, it turned out they were buy 1 get 1 free! That was a super score, but i knew i had to stop. lol
Here, now December, I have 4 Banana Trees in my house. 😂 Technically, I ended up pruning tje 2nd largest one down, and its being winterized.
The other youngest two, im getting a bit larger before I winterize them. They were slightly slow getting going, because when they came home, i had to prune all the dead off of them. They were only 10" tall at best.
My first one is big!! She is in a 19" pot, in my livingroom! 😁 .. Because I was worried how she would do in my house, I pruned several layers, down to 4 top main leaves. She just unraveled he 5th largest leaf, making her 6'2 from leaf to floor.
I feel very blessed to live in a trailer home, that faces near perfectly east and west. I get perfect sun (99.%) all winter long in my southern windows; and in the Summer its 40% in North, and 60% in South.
I have only 1 neighbor, on my south window, and the home is all white, which reflects a ton of light. Light bounces off theirs and mine. sorry im rambling.
Anyways, if it was not for the way the light comes through, I would not be able to have them. I have ben able to turn my home into a desert tropical home. lol Yep !!
Watering is quite easy. I drag Banana Trees, and Elephant Ears into the Kitchen, and if they leak, its no biggie, just mop it up, and my kitchen floor stays shiney!
Sorry for writing a book.
But just in case there are anyone else out there, in a trailer home, that wants to grow these, its possible and quite easy if there is proper light!
My celing is 7ft on the sides, and the peak is 8'2". I dont live in a single. Its the middle between a single and a double.
A little thought. Kitchen tables are not used in this house. When the Banana get bigger, im taking apart my dining table, and puttinf the tree in the center of my kitchen, and my kids and I can walk around the tree just as easy as a table. 😂
Lastly:
My kids get a kick out of growing a Banana Tree in the house, here in Iowa.😁
That's awesome Sheldon thanks for sharing your story! Your home must look amazing with all those tropical plants! I tried to over minter mine in the potting shed but the mice got in and ate them!! Oh well I will try again next summer. Keep us posted on how yo get on with yours. Andy
Amazing color
I know! I still can’t get over the depth of colours on leaves!! 🍃
I just put one in my garden earlier today, will put Colocasia Pink China around it. It's winter hardy and can stay in the ground as long as you cover the plant in mulch for example. Great combo for an exotic garden :)
Great choice Tim!
I live in northeast Florida and it gets very hot in the summer. Our winters are nothing severe but we do get some light frosts. If I ever get one it will have to be covered for the nights it gets frosts.
I got mine for $13 at a garden centre for 40% off, ( it was originally $21 ) and it wasn’t small!
Great deal!
These are very popular on the balconies here and they look fantastic. My terrace is quite high up and really doesn't have any shade. The best comes directly down on it. Andy would direct heat of nearly 40 degrees in Summer be too much for it?
You should be fine as long as they can get enough water, if they were in a big pot with lots of organic soil it should be OK, too much sun isn't an issue for these guys, few places are hotter than their native Africa, but on a hot day they will dry out quickly so unless you can shade the pot and soil on the hotter days would need a good water once if not twice a day. As you probably know we've had temps of 28c here at the moment, it finally feels like summer!
@@HouseplantHacks oh wonderful, thanks. Watering twice a day is not a problem - I am having to do that with the plants on my terrace because of the heat. All my plants, inside and out, need monitoring every day now. Before I got into plants and began understanding more about them I thought Winter would be the hard bit and Summer the easy bit but of course it is the other way around!! I hope the good weather stays for a while in the UK for you. Andy can I just ask is it best to leave re-potting and propagation by division until after the Summer now? Some of mine really need re-potting and my peace lily could do with either putting into a bigger pot or dividing to make 2. Due to lock down issues here in Spain I wasn´t able to go out of town and get what I needed. We are moving freely again now but I think it is too late. Am I right in saying you should not re-pot during growth period?
I got one over this winter, in Canada and it’s been struggling. In late autumn when I got it, it had those red colours in it, but only green and the leaves feel weak. With every new there always a brown spot they end up glowing bad. I’m trying to see,l if the summer will do it good. Lmk if there in anything I can do to improve its living condition
Its a tropical plant so it wont like the cold too much, it will need planty of water in the summer and it doesn't like damp and cold. Good luck.
Sorry for a 2nd comment Sir.
I saw your giant Aeonium tree in the background. I have a large Aeonium Haworthii Kiwi Verde.
It has grown very large, and super top heavy. I know im doing ok with it, its been a year, and has grown so much. I just dont know anything about it, and i can not find any videos.
I dont know if they are the same as any Aeonium, etc.
Do you have a video on yours Sir?
Thank You Much 😊
They are certainly the same family yes, and they do unfortunatley get very top heavy! Sometimes they grow too heavey to support themselves, the good news is that they are vey easy to cultivate, you can chop the heaed off with maybe 6 inches of stem, wait a few days for the stem to dry up and then plant in some cactus mix and it should root again and off you go once more! Would love to see some photos of your Aeonium Haworthii if you have Instagram I am @HouseplantHacks.
I have two trees, should I really just do a dry storage and make them go dormant there 12 feet tall right now , or leave them in the ground, cut them down I live in a cold climate in the winter
They will tolerate some cold but if they get too damp they will rot, 12 feet tall will be difficult to overwinter but if yu can safely get them into a pot and somewhere out of the damp and cold it will have a better chance for sure.
Koi pond water works well too.
Yes, that's a great tip!
Size?
Is the ensete maurieleii banana the same thing as the Abyssinia which is what I have
I think they are very similar yes. Sometimes named differently for branding purposes at growers.
Where can I bye a replacement , re Abbssinion banana tree had one 14 years needs! One now , it grew 12ft high ingarden spot wife missing it trim last autumn and it died can I order one
You can buy one here: geni.us/EnseteMaurelii
I was wondering how to tell if my banana is dead or alive as I don’t see any nw growth yet
If there is no growth in the next month it's probably not good news.
My red banana tree leaf are turning yellow. What I'm doing wrong?
If it's the lower leaves nothing is wrong, the new leaves grow from the centre and the lower leaves slowly die off as it gets taller, thats just the normal growth of the plant, you can trim these leaves off if they look unsightly.
Hey Mr. Mouse, isn't that a healthy plant? Oh yeah! I can't wait to go running around inside of it and all the way to the top! Oh no Mr. Mouse, didn't you see Towering Inferno?! No, what's that. A big old tall skyscraper building caught on fire and all these people were running and screaming and lotsa chaos - well you name it they got it! That's awful. I don't want any part of that! I know right so stick to the shed and the yard. Well I guess.
Yippee ki yay Mr. Mouse! Oh wait, that was a different tower block! As you were..
@@HouseplantHacks I needed to see you because unless you like things messy you better start giving us rotation cycles to the bathroom. Oh? Who put you in charge? You did, when you murdered my boss. ( close your eyes and ears Mr. Mouse I was talking to Andy) Ok, I'll just be over here eating this Twinkie.
( clink clink - peeks through mail slot in Andy's potting shed) Hi Mr. Mouse what cha doing? Hi. Isn't this slot where you might get possible future fan mail? I see it's gold laminated. We'll see. Come on in I'm watching TV. Ok. ( starts watching) Will, dad and Don are cornered by the Cyclops again - quick go help them! Ok Mom.( Grabs ray gun and heads towards exit) Aha! There it is! ( grabs raygun) I knew you couldn't keep it hid forever. What do you need a ray gun for Mom? Well, you know this planet is under a drought? Yes. And we're low on vegetables. Yes. Well Dr. Smith squandered and ate the last 4 carrots. Oh no! Oh yes! And now he's gonna get it! Wait, why don't you just replicate some more. The replicator's broke. I fixed it! Ok, replicate yourself a cardboard tasting carrot - I wanted fresh so I'm out for revenge. What are you going to do Mom? I'm going to zap the south end of a northbound Dr. Smith! Ok, here, take mine too - give him both barrels! Will do! Danger! Danger! Weapon detected! Let Her pass robot she's going to zap Dr. Smith. Can I come please please can I come?! Hurry you'll have to follow Mom then me then probably everybody else!
Mr. Mouse, this show is so funny but if that was me the next time Dr. Smith convinced the planet inhabitants he was King and wanted to stay and rule the planet, I'd say, bye! I know right!
For the boxus caterpillar I use TOPBUXUS XenTari. It kills them in one application,just mix in a little water , add it to three litres of water in a garden sprayer and it’ll kill the little blighters.I got it on Amazon.
Thank you! I will give it a try!