Just found this site while looking on net for banana seeds. Grew two banana plants from seed last spring and got hooked. Of course here in Ontario, I'm never going to see flowers or fruit but I love the huge leaves. Would especially like to try a wine coloured one next. I keep the plants in pots and have brought into bright basement for winter. I've already been warned on another garden forum not to overwater while in storage. The plants grew about 3 feet in one season-I think I'll plant in the ground in spring to see if they get taller. The seed package said they are Musa enseta and could attain 5 feet -only two seeds out of five germinated. I waited 6 months before giving up on others. Is this usual for success rate? I soaked the marble-like seeds for two days and used bottom heat-would it help to nick the hard shell? Thanks for any info on propagation.
Anne-Marie

you can plant banana by transplanting suckers taken from the base of a mother plant. or by planting tissue culture plants, about 80 cm in hieght. or by using a rhizome of an old mother plant which in this case will ptoduce a new sucker. when planting just remenber to take care of the cycle of the banana, avoid planting in cold weather like winter. you can plant, about 2 month before winter,or you can plant it at the begining of the spring. avoid planting seeds(i do not have any idea about planting banana seeds), but i think it would take a long time to germinate and to survive, because small banana seedlings need to be propagated in a delicate conditions and in a special nutrient media before transplanting it to the ground or to pots.

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bob

I don't have much choice but to start bananas from seed if I want more because I cannot have live plant materail shipped into Canada from the States. Actually, I found the two plants I grew from seed last year quite easy to propagate. I just used sterile soilless mix, kept moist and covered and used bottom heat of 70* (using a heat mat) The seeds germinated in 4 weeks. Once the baby plants were a few inches high, I potted them up separately and moved out to my unheated greenhouse in the spring. The plants grew very quickly with a minimum of care. Eventually, I potted into large glazed pots and set out in the garden once we were having reliable warm weather (by early June). There they stayed until late fall and then went into a bright, heated basement. They are now about 3 feet tall with 6-8 inch base. Maybe someday (some year?) I will get pups off of these but meanwhile I would like to start some different varities at home too. I'm thinking maybe musa ornata, m. violacea and m. zebrina. I want some wine coloured foliage!
Anne-Marie

Hello fellow Banana enthusiast.
I know what you mean by your desire to grow a plant with "wine " coloured leaves. I have ornata, zebrina ,velutina, all from seed . I am now looking at a plant of "Zebrina" which is nearly 12 months old BUT no sign of the lovely colouring to the leaves. I am told that it is at least 2 years before the plant reverts to reddish leaves so beware.
BUT I can help, go for " Musa sikkimensis" they are a very quick growing banana plant and the leaves are wine stained immediately.
I have three from seed in 2003 and they are about 6ft tall. I live in England so I have to wrap them and keep them dry over the Winter.
Best wishes and good luck. Sidney Parker.

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Thanks for the info on "M. sikkimensis". I checked them out in the seed list and Wow! they get to 14'. I know that not necessarily very tall in terms of bananas, but that might get a little difficult to drag down into the basement every winter! I guess I could always cut them back.
I read your post to montyBurns about starting from seed. I guess I did pretty well then having 2 out of 5 germinate for me previously.
I just got back from a holiday to Northern Florida in the States where there were banana plants growing in everyone's gardens. They do get some frost there so the foliage was dead or mostly dead but they don't have to mulch or cover. Lucky them! I tried to find some banana seeds to buy but everyone looked at me like I was crazy since they just start them from pups and don't bother with seed.
Anne-Marie

Glad you enjoy the plants that you raised from seed. I hope that you will try "sikkimensis" (well worth it) . Can I please make a few comments / observations. You say your seeds were like marbles and called "Musa Ensete"- this is almost certainly "Ensete ventricosum" this is not strictly speaking a Banana but an "Ensete" closely related to the species "Musa" which are the true Bananas - sorry to be confusing, but the main thing to bear in mind is that the Ensetes do not produce suckers- "pups" sorry. What they do produce is the most spectacular HUGE leaves and will grow as large as you want providing that you give it a massive container !!! We have a three year old plant and it looks like I shall have to find a bigger house this Summer.
Best wishes from England Anne-Marie.

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Thanks for the info on Ensete-I'm sure you're correct. Too bad I won't get any pups but it does produce beautiful, huge leaves. I just bought another package of the same seeds and started them yesterday so I will get more (I hope). They make for very nice, exotic foliage in the border beds in summer. I intend to send away for a whole bunch of different Musa varieties as well and will try "sikkimensis". I live very close to the American border so can just have them sent to a friends' in Michigan and pick them up there. No bothering with mailing through customs.
I see, in another thread, you are trying to swap banana plants with others. Don't you have a problem with shipping live plant material to/from other countries? On another garden forum, I know the members sometimes have problems even with trading seeds and end up with opened, empty envelopes in the mail after they have gone through customs.
Anne-Marie

Hi Anne-Marie, yes you are right, one super naive Englishman here I just thought I could slip my plant into a tube and post it off to a new life in America !! Im sure little Musa Velutina was actually bursting to go himself, plus it was a way for me to get hold of M. Mannii from a kind gentleman in California. Anyway hes looking into it and so am I but our little "swap" may be doomed.
So sad. Gosh I envy those folks in the States who can swap "pups" to their hearts content!.
Looks like you and I will have to keep doing things the hard way and starting from seed.
From seed I have the following ;
Ensete 1 Musa Velutina 2 Musa Ornata 1 Musa Zebrina 1 Musa Sikimmensis 3
Bought locally Musa Basjoo 3 Musa "Ice cream" 1 Musa Cavendishii 1 Ensete Glaucum 1

Fourteen plants in all not bad for a collection- I'm just waiting for them to burst into growth.!!

Keep at it with the seeds its great fun when they germinate . Try velutina (small seeds) but difficult.

If you are really keen on the species look up Musa "Ae Ae" wow, variegated green and white
foliage - the best of all. I would sell my house to get one of those !! (only kidding).
Keep growing and keep me posted. I know other people out there enjoy reading these posts....
Hello all Banana growers out there .. Bye for now Sidney Parker.

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I also live in Canada. I got a banana plant (not seed) from a Canadian company - Rockwood Gardens (http://www.amtelecom.net/~rockwoodgardens/) - in the fall. It has been growing quite well for me. I'm not sure exactly what variety it is, just that it is a dwarf variety that is supposed to produce edible fruit.
Edited by spectrum on Feb 24, 2005 at 10:53 PM

Thanks for the tip on Rockwood Gardens for banana plants-I'll have to check it out.
Update on the ensete banana seeds I planted on Feb 3rd-one sprouted yesterday! Hoorah! I planted 5 seeds in a 8" pot. Of course it was the centre one that sprouted first. Oh well, I won't have to worry about digging it out for a while. Maybe the rest will sprout by then.
Anne-Marie

I started my first banana plant 15 months ago in OHIO. A friend gave me a pup. I thought it was a cruel joke and expected him to call me in December and have a good laugh at my attempt to water a stick. That first winter indoors the plant grew to 5 feet. I moved it outdoors in a huge container and fed it pottasium every week. By the end of the summer it was 9 feet tall and still growing. I drug it back inside and now I only water it once a week. It is still producing leaves. Not sure how I am going to get it back outside in the spring.

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JFC

i bought some banana seeds 2 years ago and planted them indoors about september. about a year and a half later, there were still some new plants coming up. almost all of them germinated, its just a matter of how long you want to wait.

Oh, that's good to know Utah! Last year, I gave up on the remaining seeds and tossed them after about 8 months. This year, I've had 3 out of 5 sprout already but will not give up on the other 2. If they haven't sprouted by about mid-April, I'll just move them out to the greenhouse and check on them once and a while for the rest of the summer.
JFC-maybe you'll have to install larger doors!
Edited by wyndyacre on Mar 10, 2005 at 06:23 PM

Never toss your seeds until they are over two years old! I sent my daughter some Ensete seeds a few years ago and she happily grew a few that she sprouted over the summer in N. GA, USA. She forgot the pot outside all winter and then when she moved to a new home in spring she brought all her pots with her and set them on her back deck in the sun, not having the time to deal with them at the moment. Of course the original Ensete had died over the winter but low and behold another seed in the pot decided to sprout and grew to a massive side that spring/summer/fall!!!! N. GA. gets some cold snaps for sure and I am shocked that this seed made it through and then sprouted. Definitely something to ponder and experiment with.

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Make your words soft and sweet; you just may have to eat them someday.

Temperature plays a big factor in the germination time, most seeds prefer to germinate at a temperature between 22 to 27 degrees Celsius, higher temperature can destroy the seeds, while lower (<22 degrees) temperature can slow there germination.

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bob