Ensete perrieri

[Jeff in St Pete]

Has anyone else ordered seeds of this banana?  I've read that it is the only native banana to Madagascar and was just recently re-introduced.  I received 100 seeds back in June and about 20-30 of them sprouted very quickly.  I potted them into individual bags and stuck them in the shade under a tree all during the rainy season.  They grew but the leaves were very stretched out.  Then a lot of them got too water logged and started dying.  When my shadehouse was built in Sept, I moved what was left of them into more sun and they started producing leaves with much shorter petioles and the plants really perked up.  I am trialing this banana here in Costa Rica to see how it does as an ornamental.  I've got about 9 of them planted in the ground and one that was repotted into a bigger bag.  I'm thinking of putting this one in a big pot by the pool and see how it does in a large container.  I really like the bluish-white pseudostem.

The first one I planted in the ground.  This is my largest and best cared for E perrieri since it is next to the shadehouse and gets extra water.  

top view of same plant

underside of new leaf

[Jeff in St Pete]

If you want to see a pic of the mature plant and the huge flower, check this out on RPS Ensete perrieri

[realarch]

Jeff, is it strictly an ornamental or does it produce fruit? The base of the stem is pretty amazing!

Tim

[Zac in NC]

Wow. I have a few older seeds of this one that I need to sow. Those are some of the first pics of a plant I've seen up close, as I recall.

Zac

[Jeff in St Pete]

Tim, from what I understand, it's strictly ornamental.  I am not aware of any Ensete's that produce edible fruit.  I've never had luck with Ensete's before in humid climates.  I tried and tried to grow Ensete maurelii and others in FL and they always looked ragged and died before they got any size on them.  I think many of them are from higher, cooler elevations and are not used to heat and humidity.  So far these E perrieri's are growing pretty well and show some promise.  They might be better suited for some higher elevations in Costa Rica like San Jose, time will tell.  

Zac, I wouldn't wait on those seeds.  I had a bunch germinate after receiving them last June and none since then.  I'm not sure how long they are viable, but my guess is not long.  I will keep taking pictures of these and posting them to show their progress.

[aussiearoids]

Ensete ventricosum seeds seem to last a long time . Mate recvd many seeds and planted them all . 50 % sprouted very fast , but some continued germinating for up to 2 years later . A nice large one is flowering just up the road in very wet tropical conditions .

[Eric in Orlando]

The only Ensete I have grown without much problem here is E. glaucum. Ensete ventricosum doesn't like our summers. E. superbum is borderline, I've had a couple survive and flower here. My E. perrieri seedlings I had in the past died while still 1 gal. size. I just sowed some more seed so hopefully will get some to try.

[Eric in Orlando]

Ensete have very unusual inflorescences.

Here is E. glaucum;

E. superbum

[Jeff in St Pete]

(aussiearoids @ Mar. 26 2008,20:46)

QUOTE

but some continued germinating for up to 2 years later .

NOW you tell me!    I just dumped all my seeds because I didn't think any more would be viable.  I threw the seeds down into a small ravine here on the property.  It will be interesting to see if any start growing down there.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Eric, thanks for the info and for the great pictures!  The flowers on these plants never cease to amaze me.

[olafpronk]

(Jeff in Costa Rica @ Mar. 26 2008,20:35)

QUOTE

Tim, from what I understand, it's strictly ornamental.  I am not aware of any Ensete's that produce edible fruit.  I've never had luck with Ensete's before in humid climates.  I tried and tried to grow Ensete maurelii and others in FL and they always looked ragged and died before they got any size on them.  I think many of them are from higher, cooler elevations and are not used to heat and humidity.  So far these E perrieri's are growing pretty well and show some promise.  They might be better suited for some higher elevations in Costa Rica like San Jose, time will tell.  

Zac, I wouldn't wait on those seeds.  I had a bunch germinate after receiving them last June and none since then.  I'm not sure how long they are viable, but my guess is not long.  I will keep taking pictures of these and posting them to show their progress.

Jeff,

I have grown this species for years at 1100 meters elevation, Antananarivo but it originates from much lower elevation and it can handle heat and dry periods very well.  It grows huge and requires a lot of space. Fruits are not edible indeed.

Regards

Olaf

Antananarivo

[Jeff in St Pete]

Olaf, thank you very much for the information!  I'm glad these Ensete's can handle heat and dry periods.  I am most concerned if they will be able to handle daily rain for 7 months?  I planted them all on a hillside so hopefully it is well draining and they get full afternoon sun there too.  Many of these plants died last year during the rainy season, but they were not getting much light at the time.

[olafpronk]

(Jeff in Costa Rica @ Mar. 28 2008,01:05)

QUOTE

Olaf, thank you very much for the information!  I'm glad these Ensete's can handle heat and dry periods.  I am most concerned if they will be able to handle daily rain for 7 months?  I planted them all on a hillside so hopefully it is well draining and they get full afternoon sun there too.  Many of these plants died last year during the rainy season, but they were not getting much light at the time.

I think they will be hard pushed with 7 months of rain!  They grow in a very dry region here. Hope they will make it any way, the species is far from common in Mada and a mature plant is very impressive.

Olaf

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Olaf, that's what I was afraid of!  Hopefully they will make it through the rainy season.  I will post updated pictures later on to show if they make it or not.  Thanks again for the information!  Do you have any pictures of a mature plant that you could post?

[griphuz]

Hi Jeff,

From what I hear on other forums is that they germinate rarely, or not at all,....you've seem to manage just fine!

Could you tell me how you have sown them (temp, light, humidity, soil, pre-soaking, smoke primer, ectect.) and where you got the seeds?

Kind regards,

Remko.

[Dean W.]

Nice job, Jeff!

I have a small one and the leaves keep getting burnt. Should I move it to the shade. Its been a 90-100 degrees F here. Without rain except yesterday. I've been watering every third day.

Edited June 30, 2008 by Dean W.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Jeff,

From what I hear on other forums is that they germinate rarely, or not at all,....you've seem to manage just fine!

Could you tell me how you have sown them (temp, light, humidity, soil, pre-soaking, smoke primer, ectect.) and where you got the seeds?

Kind regards,

Remko.

Remko, Sorry for the delay, I Haven't been on here much lately.

The seeds were sown in regular soil inside of a plastic container. I kept the container inside the house until they started germinating. I do not have air conditioning in the house, so they were exposed to actual air temperature fluxuations from a low of about 72 to a high in the mid 80's. I received the seeds this time last year during the rainy season when temperatures are not extreme. I did presoak the seeds for a few days before sowing them, changing the water daily.

I wish I had not pitched the seeds that didn't sprout right away, I recently found one that I dropped on my potting table amid some plastic bags and it sprouted sitting on top of the table! That seed must have been sitting on that table for a long time before it sprouted. I potted it up and it's growing just fine now.

I haven't had much luck with Ensete or Banana seeds in the past, but this was the first time I tried germinating Ensete seeds in Costa Rica. Oh, and I ordered them from Rare Palm Seeds.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Nice job, Jeff!

I have a small one and the leaves keep getting burnt. Should I move it to the shade. Its been a 90-100 degrees F here. Without rain except yesterday. I've been watering every third day.

Hi Dean, This is my first time growing them and I'm learning as I grow them. Most of the ones I have planted are in full sun from 10am-2pm. They did seem to wilt and not grow too much during the dry season (Dec-April) but really perked up once it started raining regularly again. I will post some updated pictures of them soon, they have grown quite a bit since these pictures were taken.

[Zac in NC]

Well, I haven't had germination of perrieri yet, out of the 4 seeds I planted and none of the 4 ventricosum seeds I have, but I found one seed out of 4 germinated of superbum, from seeds which were at least 3 years old, so I am happy.

Zac

[Chironex]

Ensete have very unusual inflorescences.

Here is E. glaucum;

E. superbum

Eric, is this Ensete Kluay Pa?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Update on the E perrieri. We are 2/3 of the way through the rainy season and they seem to be able to handle constant wet conditions. Some of them are growing faster than others. Here are a few pics.

[Jeff in St Pete]

And here is the one I was going to plant in a pot by the pool. But I decided it would grow better in the ground so I planted it in front of the new addition to the Bali House. This is one of the largest ones now.

Here's what it looks like now

[Eric in Orlando]

I now have 1 seed that germinated last week.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Eric, I'm glad one germinated for you!

If I ever get seeds from the ones I planted, I would be happy to send you some.

[Chironex]

And here is the one I was going to plant in a pot by the pool. But I decided it would grow better in the ground so I planted it in front of the new addition to the Bali House. This is one of the largest ones now.

Here's what it looks like now

Jeff, they are very beautiful. But one thing I noticed was the red in the mid-rib. All of the descriptions I have read detail the mid-rib as a yellow-green color. Does it go away as they age?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Hi Scot, that is what I read too. But since no one else I know of has any plants to compare it to, it's hard to tell. I have given it some thought and there is always the possiblity that the wrong seeds were sent to me - I've actually wondered that a few times, but the seeds fit the description for E. perrieri - they were large, very hard, and covered in pockmarks (warty). Maybe the petiole color is a little different because of my soil differences or temperatures here? The reddish color does seem to fade with age and the midrib is more of a yellow-orange color.

[Jeff in St Pete]

I thought I should include the updated photo in this thread.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Here are a few more photos I took today of some of the other E. perrieri that I planted 7-8 months ago. They seemed to do ok through their first rainy season, now I will see how they fare during the dry season.

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Anyone growing it in California? If so, how is it doing?

JEFF

[John Case]

Jeff, is it strictly an ornamental or does it produce fruit? The base of the stem is pretty amazing!

Tim

Tim,

I know of no Ensete species that produces edible fruit. Many Musa varities, of course, do. There are also many that do not. Banana phylogeny is a mystery to me as there are so many that have been cloned over the thousands of years...there are tribes, suvtribes, varities, sports, and it goes on and on. If you are looking for attractive fruiting bananas, try AeAe (difficult to grow and very expensive), variegated and fabulous.....also investigate Musa 'Siam Ruby', anothe gorgeous plant.

Good luck!

John

[southlatropical]

Here is my Siam Ruby. This picture was taken before hurricane Gustav which flattened most of what is in the picture.

[Jeff in St Pete]

That Siam Ruby is beautiful! I'm still searching for one in Costa Rica. I don't think they are available here yet, but I have a feeling they will be a big hit when they are introduced.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Night shot. This plant has become one of my top favorites.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Updated photos

From the deck looking down

[Jeff in St Pete]

I thought I would update this old thread with some new photos of my Ensete perrieri.

Many of the lower leaves were removed to allow more light and rain to reach the plants around it. That's Dypsis leptocheilos to the left of the Ensete and Oenocarpus mapora on the right.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Psuedostem

[Jeff in St Pete]

Planted in this spot two years ago.

[Jeff in St Pete]

The rest of my E. perrieri are planted on this hillside where they get no supplemental water and no fertilizer.

[Jeff in St Pete]

The ones planted in full sun have upright leaves

[Jeff in St Pete]

The ones planted in more shade have more relaxed leaves