Purple Sugarcane

We are proud owners of a Purple Sugarcane from Hawaii. It will not arrive until Fri or Sat but look for cuttings available in about a year.

This is such a beautiful plant/tree that I want to share it with all.

I love the purple sugarcane. It does great down here. They use the all purple one in breeding programs and you can see it in the results. Purple canes and green leaves in the cane fields, they say it makes the cane sweeter.
It should do great in your zone, mine got nipped back last year in the freak freeze, but came back strong.

I have been growing the purple stemmed variety here,the stores call it black stem, but is definately purple,I get the cane sections for a buck per 3 foot long piece.Has beautiful stems, bright green leaves and grows quick.my cane I started last spring 04' a year ago. is already about 12 feet tall and has about 6 canes in a 5 gal pot.

Eclipse where are you getting the canes?

Ric

I buy the canes at a local Thai market, he gets the green caned kind and a few of the black(purple ) kind I already have two canes on the large plant that are harvest sized,,will get a pic and pots..I have several smaller plants that I started this spring in 6 inch pots.

The things I do at night!! LOL heres a couple of pics fresh outta the yard of a 6 inch potted cane section.looks more red under flash.this plant is 5 feet tall. Started in May

Heres the trunk/ cane.........I can usually make 5 plants per cane.

Thanks for taking the trouble to do that Eclipse.

How are you wintering it?

Ric

in a greenhouse. :-)

LOL!

What I guess I meant to say was how are you taking care of it oevr winter.
Prone to rot? Bugs? etc.

Ric

they are grown in a warm to cool house watered when dry and are prone to spider mites and mealybugs. full sun for light.

Thanks!
What is it w/ all the plants I love and spider mites? lol

Have any of you heard of pink sugarcane? A friend on the island also has that (along with the purple) and I have not been able to find any to buy.

The purple I ordered still has not arrived due to an mutual agreement with the seller (ebay) since I am still bidding on other plants he has listed.

Any help on the pinks would be appreciated.

Kyle, your plants look great! How is the purple one doing? Did it make it?
The pink sounds like a "must have".

Cala, one small peles smoke died, but two others are growing good.It seems to grow slower than the purple stemmed one.One in the front tropical beds is about 6 ft tall now.Getting some good stems.

Knot, I haven't ever seen the pink one. Peles smoke sometimes looks dark pink to brown foliage and stems. Tell your friend with the pink one to cut a mature cane and root it.

Kyle :-)

Kyle,

He is going to harvest some soon but they probably will not be available for awhile. I'll call him and ask it's name.

Kyle, the purple one likes it HOT! Mine just sat there for the longest time, then in July and August, when it got into the 90's, they took off.
I also have a small variegated one, it barely survived the Christmas snow, but is starting to grow. I'd love to have a pink one(and don't anybody tell Kell there is pink sugarcane!)

Cala, I have been trying to get to Chicago and pick up a striped one, they use them in planters around town thru the parks system.

I just spoke to my friend here on the island and he said the name of the pink sugarcane was California Stripe.

Could this be what Chicago is using?

This was a housewarming gift from a friend in NY so he does not know much more than it's common name.

Knot, the Chicago one is green with random white stripes on the leaves, no pink in it. :-)

I will run out to Scott's in the next few days (you have to understand going from our house is maybe 3 miles but to us it is like going from New York to Phila)

I will take a pic but in case any of you are interested do a google on Scott Appell. He has written many books on gardening. Even he is clueless.

Good news is he is going to cultivate a piece for me. He says the way is to cut it like a lincoln log and lay it on the ground in soil for a bit.

Heres a pic today of the plant at work, is just over a year old from a cane cutting, is in a 5 gal pot and is almost 12 feet tall now. I'm 6'2" so use that to compare

Heres a closeup of the canes, the second from the left was the first seasons cane, all others were this years.

That's pretty Kyle. I am going to have to make a raid on a cane field! I meant to last year and I waited too long and they harvested it.

Ok, how do you propagate these...can you just cut up a cane and start it in dirt?....I would love to find some of this to grow...just another thing to add to the "bring it in" plants.....Judy

Judy,
this isn't the time of year to start them,best done in the spring,they need warmth to grow.As for starting them yu cut the cane into pieces that include at least two joints.you can see eyes at each joint.make a shallow trench in a pot,lay the cane section on its side with the eyes on each side.cover two thrids of the cane leaving the top barely showing, keep moist not wet and warm till the eyes sprout.

When you take the cane sections, be sure not to split the sides of the cane(tip from a sugar cane farmer). The big growers down here take theirs in August. They want the canes to be developed enough so they have dormant eyes, but not so tough they split when they take cuttings. Then they just row out the fields, lay the canes in the trenches and cover them!