With all of my bananas coming out of hibernation this spring there was one that just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. The ae ae had a few feet of trunk and looked okay except that it had lost most of its leaves when the greenhouse it was in got unexpectedly cold. At the top I could make out the new, tightly wrapped green leaf waiting to be pushed out, the stalk was green all the way to the soil, and the corm was still firm. I was patient. For two months. At which point I went investigating. I found that corm was firm on top, but not on the bottom, and that new green leaf was actually brown further down in the stalk. It turns out that it rotted from the inside out and most of the plant still hadn't gotten the message. Inside and all around the bottom of the corm was an ant colony, with the nursery right up against the living tissue of the plant. Can ants harm bananas?
Frankly I'm a bit shaken. With all of the bananas I've grown from pups and from tissue culture flasks, I thought I knew what I was doing, but...
Just had to share that with someone who might understand what it meant to me to lose my ae ae this year.
:(
Death of an ae ae
This seems to happen often to the AeAe bananas,my huge stock plant died this way, so did all the pups one by one over a two year period. So I gave up on this one..too tender and touchy. :-)
Oh im sorry , Ive wanted one for so long, finally ordered one on line and sent it back because it so damaged when I got it, decided to try Canna Stuttgart instead, Ive heard they are difficult so im going to wait for my new garden. I get upset when I loose a vireya. I lost one last week ,when I went away the filter on my watersystem clogged and nothing worked while i was gone. So i know how you feel.
Better to have loved and lost .......... I hope you got some pictures to share.
Maybe we could start a RIP forum
Vireya Ring of Fire 4/22/06
Neil
I lost my aeae the same way.
Same... thought it was my fault at the time. Glad (I guess in a way) to know this so I can avoid it in the future. By the way, same thing just happened with my 'Namwah Pearl'.
Even here they CAN be touchy... There are SO many beautiful plants out there that are more pleasant and less picky.... Really sorry for y'alls loss!
I will join this group. mine rotted from inside too. Hubby still giving me a hard time over dropping that kind of money on plants. I have to be on my best behavior from now on....
Oh! I am sooo sorry! I have lusted after the aeae since my sis told me she found one in a nursery and I looked it up on the net, where they were selling pups for $100 each. They have the parent plant on display and plan to sell the pups next Spring. I'm sure Lisa will be first in line when they put the pups up for sale!
I hope you at least mulched what was left of your aeae so she can continue to contribute to your garden. You know banana mulch is really high in potassium. I don't waste a leaf of my bananas. I mulch every piece of leaf, and when they fruit and die, I mulch the dead tree. I use the mulch to help lighten the clay soil when I plant a big plant...or in the bottom of a pot to allow for drainage and fertilize the roots at the same time.
Thanks all for your comments. It will definitely be a while before I try this again. Hard to resist, though.
BamaBelle-
Everything in my garden is reused. I'm about 99% organic and I compost, mulch, layer, or reuse everything from tree branches to weeds (hot compost). Banana leaves are removed along with the insulating mulch in the spring and cycled back into the compost. The rest of the year they are left in place. Rotten things, however, are completely removed, set to dry in the hot sun for a few months, hot composted with other pathogens, and then merged back into the yearly slow compost piles.
Bananas love compost.
I so wanted an AeAe but not long after I got my heart's desire it literally keeled over and made a loud thump. I had no clue it was dead and just waiting to fall. Broke my heart.
Now when ever I visit the San Francisco Arboretum, I stop and make sure I enjoy theirs.
Wow! So many experienced growers have lost this one. Is there any hope that I can keep this one alive? I hope so.
All you growers need to try again! Here's a push: http://cgi.ebay.com/HAWAIIAN-AE-AE-BANANA-PLANT--RARE--Variegated-Leaves_W0QQitemZ320404133482QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ20090727?IMSfp=TL090727176003r3391 or http://davesgarden.com/products/market/view/7571/
Come on -- we'll all get one together and support each other! LOL!
considering they rot so easily, I'm wondering if it makes sense to be stingy w/ water. I think it's great that guy in FL is sharing, maybe once and for all we can demistify the growing of this "holy grail" of plants.
also, seems like high potassium fert. may play a big part. However, if I read correctly, the fert. will at first deminish the variegation, yes? at least temporarily?
good luck w/ yours, Clare. Pls keep us posted.
Fortuneatly I noticed this happening with mine, so I pulled up and relocated it to a dryer spot. I'm sorry but all this noise about bananas LOVING water, is simply not my experience. Ae just don't like that much water. The place I relocated was where it was last summer, a small circuler round raised bed..that gets bone dry at the end of the day. It is now recovering in that spot. Same thing with my friend over at Zone9tropicals, his Ae was really looking like crap, and I told him..too much water...so he elevated it to keep out of the way of the regular watering..it too recovered and is producing it's second pup. Dryer is the key word.
I so want to try another one. You guys are giving me a push. LOL Yea, a push to toss away another $100.
Kell Honey, that's one weeks garden allowance for you! go ahead...do it!
LOL. Actually 1 nursery visit. LOL. If I saw one here I would grab it for sure.
When I kill what I pick out at a local nusery, it does not feel like a rip off like it does when I buy something online that dies fast.
kell, are the ones in the marketplace already gone. let me find the link.
here you go, kell.
http://davesgarden.com/products/market/view/7571/
Got it. Good. Keep dry. I can do that. We have very sandy soil here that dries out so fast. I just need shade. That's my problem. I've got no real shade to speak of.
I mixed a bunch of coir with my SunGro Shineshine Mix #4, which drains and dries fast. That should be an ideal mix. I used it for my adeniums also.
C'mon Kell, Kyle, Nery, Susie -- there are four more available on the marketplace! LOL! (enable, enable, enable...)
and if it dries out too fast, because you are a different zone with low humidity, you can put a little mulch over it.
You will follow your instinct...
I have no faith in my instinct! LOL! But I appreciate the vote of confidence:-)
well I do! you give me good advice on the jades! and the chalice....and......
Thanks;-)
Really Clare, you are one of the best teachers on here. Always so calm and accommodating. You will explain anything anytime in such a clear and understandable way. I bet the plumerias folks are thrilled to have you back! I am!
I actually have never had problems growing the Ae Ae. I had it out in the yard for a while, I moved it out of the greenhouse because it just got too big, it froze to the ground and came back, so I moved it back into the greenhouse.
Now after I guess 4 years, maybe a little more, it has finally flowered (at a height of 20 ft) and has a hand of bananas, as well as 5 pups. One of the pups is almost 6 ft tall.
Mine gets watered daily, but not a whole lot of water. Maybe I have been lucky, who knows? We'll see what happens with the pups
wondering how one can protect if no greenhouse. garage good enough? Good for you goth.
This is Don (has Ae Ae s) As a suggestion concerninmg AeAe s , If there is NO shade and your container plant is burning--you might consider placing the plant INSIDE in front of a sliding glass door or window for August until the sun loses some of its strength during later months of the year.Actually if the White areas of the foliage DOES burn (die) the plant can still survive if cared for (water)
don, I'm talking about winter protection. will garage be sufficient if no green/house
MIne didn;t freeze to the ground until the temp went to about 23F, if that gives you any indication of what your garage needs to be. It did get frost damage to the leaves at higher 20's but the trunk didn't go til low 20's.
Ah, Kell, you are so sweet. Thank you for the compliment:-)
Goth, that is very encouraging news. Congrats on your success! Will you keep all your pups growing in the same place or separate and plant them in different places. I think I might want to start my own banana grove!
Don, I am so excited to get my pups! I hope my check arrives today:-)
I was reading the other day about Doug Richardson and his former banana plantation at La Conchita. I grew up in Santa Barbara and would see the blue bags over the bananas as I drove on the 101 toward Ventura. Here are a couple of articles about him if anyone is interested:
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/08/garden/de-gustibus-life-after-cavendish-or-yes-we-have-plenty-of-bananas.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-09/news/mn-199_1_banana-plantations
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-09/local/me-72_1_la-conchita
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/05/garden/at-the-nation-s-table-ventura-calif.html
http://articles.latimes.com/1998/feb/10/news/mn-17483
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Conchita,_California
It makes me want to start my own banana plantation!
By the way, it turns out that my avocado sport didn't revert back. Now I've got to find some avocado root stock to graft some of the branches!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying don't water it. I'm just saying treat it like a Papaya, and make sure it doesn't have wet feet. That's my message. NO WET FEET!
Yeah, plumerias are exactly like that too, and some palms are also -- poor drainage means death.
WOW Goth, 20 feet! Do you have any pictures? You give me hope that I can grow one here outside. How high are th bananas? Are you going to eat them? Are they variegated?
Your first article makes me want to eat one of those blue bagged bananas, Clare. They sound so good.
Goth, I want to see a picture too! Pretty please?
Kell, don't they sound wonderful? It really makes me want to go banana crazy! Doesn't this sound yummy:
"One stunning-looking banana, Blue Java, is so named because of the silvery blue-green color of its skin before it ripens. It is also called Fiji or Hawaiian ice cream, and is especially sweet."
I might have to find that banana. I bought a bunch of banana from Logee's this winter and planted them. The 'Siam Ruby' died shortly after arriving, but they replaced it, and the new one is doing well. One other one died, but I'm not sure which one it was. It might have been the Super Dwarf one. We get some terrible winds in the fall though so, once they get taller than the six-foot fence, the leaves are probably going to get shredded.
Shredded can look good too though. Except if it is the AeAe. LOL
That does sound delish. I have never had a fresh from the tree banana. A new goal!
Kell, I'm sick. LOL! I just bought six more bananas from Stokes Tropicals:
Musa sp. 'Ice Cream' 'Blue Java' Banana
Musa sp. 'Dwarf Red' Banana
Musa 'Raja Puri' Banana
Musa sp. 'Brazilian' Banana
Musa sp. 'Grand Nain' Banana
Musa sp. 'Misi Luki' Banana
I think I hear thunder. Gosh I hope it rains. We could use some rain. Is it raining where you are?
Oh dear Clare. A new collection is born. LOL. I hate when that happens but yet it is so exciting to have a new love.
You sure talked yourself right into that Blue Java. LOL
"One stunning-looking banana, Blue Java, is so named because of the silvery blue-green color of its skin before it ripens. It is also called Fiji or Hawaiian ice cream, and is especially sweet."
Rain in August? No rain. A bit over caste though.
I lost my Siam Ruby too.
LOL, Kell! Yeah, I'm my own worst enabler. Well, I think I can justify it to my DH. He is sick to death of plumerias and wanted some diversity in the garden. LOL!
Rj, I'm sorry to hear that. Both Logee's and Stokes have it if you want to try again.
Naaa, one tempormental banana at time for me...I think water and cold killed it too.