Logee's Greenhouse

As a potted plant indoors, maintain temperatures above 60° if active growth is desired. They will tolerate temperature in the 40’s or even above freezing.

Humidity:

Preferably, keep humidity above 50% however they will tolerate low levels with no harm.

Watering:

When actively growing they need constant moisture. We recommend bringing the soil surface to slight dryness between waterings, trying not to put the plant under severe drought stress, which will slow down its growth.

Ensete: Be sure to keep the plant from sitting in water.

Fertilizer:

They are heavy feeders, so a 1/2 tsp./gallon of a balanced fertilizer at every week, and more so under full sun conditions will expiate its growth. Under lower light and cool temperatures reduce the frequency. When growth actively stops in winter discontinue feeding. A balanced fertilizer would be 15-15-15 or a blooming fertilizer like Pro Gro ‘Grow’ 7-9-5 or Electra 5-10-3.

Pruning:

Prune off any yellowed leaves. Once the main shoot has flowered and fruited it can be remove and the young shoots at the base can be allowed to grow. At this time, the plants can be divided.

Ensete: Plants don’t need pruning except to remove the occasional old leaf that’s turning yellow. This variety produces a central stem with no offshoots

Insects and Disease:

Bananas have few problems with insects. Spider mites under dry hot conditions are an occasional problem. They also have some susceptibility to both root and folia disease during the winter months under excessive soil moisture and cool conditions.

Comments:

Musa are easy to grow and rewarding for the gardener due to their speed of growth, which is optimized by warmth, water and fertilizer. The trick to wintering over M. Basjoo in northern climates is the size of the plant and the depth of the mulch. Essentially you need to keep the soil from freezing. In our area this takes about 3 feet of settled mulch. That is 3 feet above and 3 feet out on all sides from the trunk of the plant. In colder regions you might need more. Use something like straw that is light and fluffy and doesn't hold water. If you have some bark mulch you can place a thick layer on the ground around the base of the plant maybe several feet out and 4 or 5 inches thick. This will also help keep the ground from freezing. The other thing that is important is to have a plant that is large enough. We like to have a trunk 3” or greater with some side shoots sprouting up. What we do is cut the plant off a foot from the ground and cover it up. What survives is the rhizome or bulb that is under the ground. The visible stem will turn to mush by spring but the bulb with its growing eye will re sprout in late spring when the soil is warm.