My ensette maurelli has been to hell and back, since I got it as a tiny seedling 10 months ago

[Slifer00]

April of last year, was when I was first interested in getting a cool tropical plant (other than a palm!), for the first time. I spotted a tiny reddish banana seedling that looked pretty cool, at a plant shop. Unbeknownst to me, the banana would begin to push out growth at a pace I could certainly not keep up with. Within a month, it had already outgrown the space on my windowsill.. I had to go abroad for a couple weeks in June, so I left it outside sitting in its 100+ litre pot, as there was no longer any room for it indoors. Silly me didn't think to check the weather forecast.

Turns out, we had the wettest June since 2014. Why is this relevant, you may ask? Well, the thing is, I live in Ireland, where we are quite well known for out wet climate... and oh boy did it rain a lot. By the time I got back, the pot had been completely flooded to the brim. Almost every single leaf had turned completely yellow, and I was feeling quite pessimistic. I drained the soil and transferred it into new, dry soil. It did take quite a while to recover, but once it did, it was like nothing ever happened.

Fast forward to December. The banana tree is now sitting in my sunroom, where it really only stays maybe 2-3 degrees celsius warmer than outside (with the added benefit of having 0 wind). I certainly have no room for it indoors. -6 celsius (21F) is forecast, and I sit and hope for the best... the following afternoon, I went to check on it. Every single living tissue had turned a dark charcoal black, so I trimmed back all the fronds, brought it indoors and assumed it was done for. After a full 24 hours, the core was so cold that you could literally feel the cold radiating from it from a foot away.

By some miracle, despite the extensive damage, the ensette managed to push out 4 massive, healthy leaves over the course of a month, until I brought it back outside recently. Below is a picture I just about 10 minutes ago. I managed to get a hold of some fabric, hopefully it will help with any more light frost, until spring arrives! We have -1C forecast, but I am confident it'll be a breeze.

So there you have it. Despite all the challenges it faced, my banana tree perseveres! Are there any more ensette maurelli lovers here? 

 

 

[Than]

Why do mine grow so slowly?

[Manalto]

  On 2/27/2025 at 8:33 PM, Slifer00 said:

Are there any more ensette maurelli lovers here? 

 

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I didn't used to be, but I am now.

[Slifer00]

  On 2/27/2025 at 9:09 PM, Than said:

Why do mine grow so slowly?

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Inadequate sun and heat; my ensette maurelli saw rapid growth when it got upwards of 40C in summer, my sunroom heats up really fast in the sun

[flplantguy]

They are really cool plants, but have issues with the soils here in Florida and heat in summer. And if it ever blooms it dies, they do not produce pups.  The seeds also rarely breed true, so there is an odd method of reproducing them through strategic cutting of the pseudocorm (the fat base thats the true stem) to get it to split and produce multiple growths. They also use tissue culture, so most of the time you have to get them from growers that can order the little plants and grow them up. They are also tough and perform very well in Southern California. Preffered temps are warm subtropical, like the Central African Highlands they originated from. There are also other species of Ensete that look cool but lack the red coloring. I have not seen any of them in person though.  Temps 65 to 85 seem ideal, with moist and well draining soils that retain moisture and have a high fertility (cation exchange capacity).  No idea on pH but mine is in a 7 gallon pot and 6 feet tall with a light potting mix thats acidic.