ensete Abysinnian Banana

[laurarice]

Anyone have experience growing these and at what elevation? I believe they are grown as a food staple in Ethiopia for the underground corms.

Laura

[Cagary]

I'm sure the corms are edible, but probably can't compare to the bananas from a fruiting type of banana.

They are more cold tolerant than most fruiting banana plants. After a couple of years, they produce a huge purple flower and then the whole plant dies and falls over.

Unlike fruiting banana plants ensete types don't sucker, so you'll have to buy a new plant and start over again.

They are very colorful, but if you want a colorful banana plant, try a Cuban/Jamaican (same thing) banana. Great deep red color plant and tasty dark red skinned fruit.

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

try a Cuban/Jamaican (same thing) banana. Great deep red color

It's a beautiful plant and does well in cool elevations. I had one growing in a large pot on my porch in Kula at 4000 ft for several years.

"Only fear real things, such as minds full of delusions." -Last Aphorisms

[Cagary]

quote:

---

Originally posted by HereOnThePrimalEdge

try a Cuban/Jamaican (same thing) banana. Great deep red color

It's a beautiful plant and does well in cool elevations. I had one growing in a large pot on my porch in Kula at 4000 ft for several years.

"Only fear real things, such as minds full of delusions." -Last Aphorisms

---

Did it produce good fruit at that altitude?

-Veritas odium parit”(Terence 195–159 BC))-"Truth begets hatred".

[terracore]

We grew bananas at 2800 feet in Puna. Don't know variety, but they took over 5 years to fruit.

[MarkP]

I'm getting regular fruit from Dwarf Brazilian (Apple) bananas at 1700'. Of course not having grown them anywhere else I don't know how much better they would do lower down.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Did it produce good fruit at that altitude?

It never produced fruit at 4000 ft elevation, but that may have been due to a number of reasons:

1) It grew slowly, so two years may not have been enough time
2) It was in a pot, a large pot, but perhaps not containing enough soil necessary to flower and fruit
3) It was cold! I had to angle it in through the sliding glass doors a few times in the winter months when we expected frost.

It probably reached 7-9 feet in height, so a nice sized plant. The green and deep red colors were quite attractive, so I was happy with it as an ornamental.

"Only fear real things, such as minds full of delusions." -Last Aphorisms

[terracore]

"It was in a pot, a large pot, but perhaps not containing enough soil necessary to flower and fruit"

Iselle blew down some of our bananas. One of them was loaded with fruit but they weren't ready to harvest. I picked it up and put it in a 5 gallon orange "home depot" bucket and filled it with water, the whole thing leaning up against the fence or else it would topple over. After a few weeks the fruit got ready and I cut them down. I had too many other projects going and didn't get around to cleaning up the dead banana plant in the bucket for awhile. After several weeks (maybe a few months) I finally got around to it. The weight of the dead banana had split the bucket so it was no longer holding water but a keiki had grown out of the bucket. I guess there was a chunk of rhizome attached to the dead banana... either way I left it.

No dirt, no water, just a cracked bucket and the only source of nourishment was the decaying mother plant. The keiki eventually grew up and made bananas of its own. The bucket eventually disintegrated and the keiki found the earth. A clump of bananas lives there to this day.

[riverwolf]

Strong is the force with mother nature..

riverwolf

[laurarice]

thank you to all who responded

Laura