Ensete Banana sulking?

[JohnAndSancho]

Any ideas on why this one isn't taking off like everyone else? Same soil, extra waterings, extra fertilizer - and I want to clarify, I'm not Over fertilizing this one, I'm actually under fertilizing everything else - but this one just hasn't taken off. 

 

It's not a whole lot bigger than it was when I got it. Just for comparison, this is a Blue Java that I bought a while after this one. Even the Blue Java that kept snapping leaves has recovered and is outpacing this guy (this is NOT that blue java)

 

Any clues? Soil is coir/perlite/2 handfuls of compost. Mixed well, drains great. I've given it a sprinkle of Dr Earth with myco and watered regularly, the last couple waterings I threw in a teaspoon of Banana Fuel into a gallon. 

[happypalms]

The runt of the litter, you get that with all plants and animals, only the fittest shall survive! 

[JohnAndSancho]

Well another week, another DUH problem, right there on its tag. Part shade, probably didn't like getting blasted with light for 18 hours a day. 

[gurugu]

For me, those bananas grown outdoors in loamy /clayish soil, grow better than those in sandy soil.

If kept in pots, I never use perlite or peat or any drainage. Just loam.

They like water a lot, and potassium too.

[PalmsandLiszt]

6 hours ago, gurugu said:

If kept in pots, I never use perlite or peat or any drainage. Just loam.

They like water a lot, and potassium too.

I agree with this. Don't bother with fancy soil mixes; bananas grow so quickly they don't tend to be bothered by root rot so long as they are warm and get plenty of light. They are prodigious feeders, though, and will suck all nutrients out of the soil like vampires. Both perlite and coir are essentially nutritionally useless and don't bind nutrients well (if at all). You'd be better off using more organics or just good topsoil from the garden. (You could mix in something clay-based to bind to your fertilizer, but that would be more cost/effort.)

You'll rue the day you got so many bananas—I've been there, done that; they will soon be far too big to sell and will take over everything!

[JohnAndSancho]

5 hours ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

You'll rue the day you got so many bananas—I've been there, done that; they will soon be far too big to sell and will take over everything!

The game plan is to sell the pups! I'm gonna throw most of them in the yard come spring. I've been fertilizing them a lot and they get tons of light and aside from the Ensete they're happy. I'm getting at least a new leaf a week from all of them. 

12 hours ago, gurugu said:

For me, those bananas grown outdoors in loamy /clayish soil, grow better than those in sandy soil.

If kept in pots, I never use perlite or peat or any drainage. Just loam.

They like water a lot, and potassium too.

Yes they do! I've been rotating between a 4-4-4, Dr Earth's Organic Tropical and Palm fertilizer, and a sample pack of Wellspring Gardens water soluble Banana Fuel at 1/2 strength and they're happy. I keep forgetting I've still got some old fish emulsion and liquid kelp, and some Osmocote too. They're absolute water and fertilizer hogs, I'm feeding them their old leaves as they fall off. They're my babies and they know it. I'm spoiling them rotten. 

 

I've got a tissue culture banana on order (variegated golden yellow) and if that goes well, I'll try some more of those. I'm loving them right now since I can watch them grow almost hourly while I wait for the palms to do something. It's such a contrast in growth. 

[Johnny Palmseed]

Ensete bananas are not exactly like musa bananas. Like you noticed, partial sun is better for these. They are beautiful but more difficult in my opinion. Also they are very susceptible to spider mites.

[JohnAndSancho]

9 minutes ago, Johnny Palmseed said:

Ensete bananas are not exactly like musa bananas. Like you noticed, partial sun is better for these. They are beautiful but more difficult in my opinion. Also they are very susceptible to spider mites.

I'm ready for them! Just next time I won't mix up 2 gallons of neem oil. I think that was enough to spray half the county. I sprayed the whole room ceiling to floor, pots, benches, corners, you name it and still had enough left over to dump on fire ant beds. It didn't phase the fire ants a bit.