Ensete ventricosum Maurelii Question

[gavilan1]

I have a pair of Ensete ventricosum Maurelii in my front lawn. One is about 15 feet tall or so, and very robust. The other is about 11 or 12 feet tall, and generally smaller in size (girth, etc.). A little over a month and a half ago, the smaller banana flowered (facing my neighbor's yard, of course), and now the whole banana plant seems to be in decline. All the leaves are browning/drying out at the edges, and look like they're going south soon. Both grow in full sun, and the larger plant looks very healthy. We have had a very mild summer in So. Cal., so far. Do these bananas go into decline/die after producing an inflorescence? I have never seen one of these flower before. Thanks in advance.

[JEFF from Trabuco Canyon CA]

Sorry to tell you the bad news Doug, but it will stop with any new growth and go into decline mode. The good news is the seeds are pretty easy to germinate.

Jeff Rood

[tjwalters]

...and, since it's not a true banana, no pups.

[gsytch]

Ensete is monocarpic - means it dies once it flowers...much like the large Caryota!

[JASON M]

Ensete is monocarpic - means it dies once it flowers...much like the large Caryota!

No, not caryota! That's fishtail genus. It's corypha.

Now go to the palm confusables and write down corypha and caryota!!

[gavilan1]

I was afraid of that. I've never had one grow to flowering without getting knocked first over by the Santa Ana winds due to height. This one was about two years old, which seems kind of young, while the other specimen in the front lawn is about three or four years old. Flowering is a new thing to me. I had a 20 footer in the back yard that toppled over during the December winds, crushing a few nearby Chamaedorea and nearly flattening a young B. hapala. Nothing to do but cut it up and trash it. Thanks for the replies.

[John Case]

I have a pair of Ensete ventricosum Maurelii in my front lawn. One is about 15 feet tall or so, and very robust. The other is about 11 or 12 feet tall, and generally smaller in size (girth, etc.). A little over a month and a half ago, the smaller banana flowered (facing my neighbor's yard, of course), and now the whole banana plant seems to be in decline. All the leaves are browning/drying out at the edges, and look like they're going south soon. Both grow in full sun, and the larger plant looks very healthy. We have had a very mild summer in So. Cal., so far. Do these bananas go into decline/die after producing an inflorescence? I have never seen one of these flower before. Thanks in advance.

All bananas go through a death when they flower, whether its a banana Musa or Ensete. The psuedostem goes into decline and provides no more sustenance to the corm. However, any pups that may be existent will continue to grow. Sometimes, if the corm is strong enoguh, it will generate new pups near the dying mother.

That is the beauty...you can have more bananas without having to purchase them....

[junglegalfla]

Jason,

Caryota do die once flowering

[JASON M]

Jason,

Caryota do die once flowering

Hwhatttt???