Musa Siam Ruby (Weedby)

[musa_monkey]

Of the two i have, both obtained at the same time and were the same size from Amulree, one came through the summer well and the stem is now double the diameter of the other which i think must be a runt They will both stay inside now as house plants until the fun begins again next year.

[countrylover]

a man from UPS just brought me a plug of Siam Ruby (still green though). Ohhhh I am soooo excited

[sanatic1234]

where did you get your plug from countrylover?

[musa_monkey]

where did you get your plug from countrylover?

One on ebay at teh moment if your interested
Item number: 170463841782

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Banana-Musa-Siam- ... 27b06fcdf6

[Dave Brown]

provided you have sun and HEAT it will be fine but as soon as you lose it the banana deteriates fast. The leaves have collapsed and it defoliated in Decmeber of both 2008 and 2009. Not enough light and heat. Mine has just about survived and the roller is just starting to move on the main stem, all other smaller stems have died off.

Only reasonably happy for 4 to 5 months of the year

[countrylover]

where did you get your plug from countrylover?

Got it from German ebay. F****g expensive it was but it doesn't matter.
Dave you're such a spoilsport. I was so happy I got it and now you're telling me it's very likely I'll lose it over the winter
I'll do everything to keep it in mint condition even if it's gonna cost me fortune

[Dave Brown]

Dave you're such a spoilsport. I was so happy I got it and now you're telling me it's very likely I'll lose it over the winter
I'll do everything to keep it in mint condition even if it's gonna cost me fortune

I haven't lost mine yet It would probably do better inside by a sunny window, but as all nanas are 'drippers' they are banned from indoors

It will at the very least lose it colour from October to May, as the colouring up is dependent on Sun and warmth. Perhaps using Maxicrop would keep it happier for longer, and a growlite might help keep its colour.

Cirtainly a beauty in the right conditions

[countrylover]

Well, October is far away from now and now I wanna take my nana (called it Federico) to Poland and make everybody like well envious when they spot my red handsome Federico in the garden. I'll think of some grow lights in September.
And noone and nothing will spoil my excitment and happiness of having Siam Ruby

[SteveW]

Managed to kill all but one of mine this year
And thats dubious

[sanatic1234]

could you not cut it down to soil level in the winter and shove it in a nice warm place till spring time. wrap it in newspaper and fleece should keep it nice and warm. At least it shouldn't die?

[Dave Brown]

Not all bananas can be stored without growth. It depends if they go dormant. If not they will just dry out and die

[sanatic1234]

Research needed on that one then dave.

[musa_monkey]

A lot of us here have grown Siam Ruby with varied success.
It is clearly a plant that falls into the "Difficult" catagory so your thoughts methods and observations on this plant would be interesting.

I had a couple from Amulree last year that grew well and were stored indoors over winter
where they continued to grow albeit slowly. Once outside when the weather warmed up the growth from both stalled. Both rotted even though they were in a 50/50 mix perlite/GP compost. I managed to save one and it subsequently threw up 4 new pups which are growing on well.

What i get from this is that they need to remain indoors until the outside reaches normal room temperature i.e. circa 20c or growth will stall and problems occur. Assuming the pups survive i will test this next year.

What are your thoughts on this difficult yet desirable plant ?

[Dave Brown]

It's a tropical Banana mush, so needs above 18 to 20C max and 10 to 12C min to thrive. Mine grew stongly in 2008 and again in 2009 but languished badly over winter 2008/9. with a min of 6 to 10C. The leaves colapsed in December of 2008 and again in December 2009. Like you mush the main stem rotted in spring 2009 but was replaced with 3 pups. The winter 2009/10 was just too long and cold and the whole rhizomes rotted.

I got really strong growth by putting it outside during the day and bringing in at night apart from when min temps were forecast above 15C.

I am not allowed to have 'weepers' indoors as they damage furniture, so unfortunately this is not a Banana I can grow well over winter

[DiCasS]

Well, I've had mine for two Summers and two Winters now and it's still only about a foot tall. What I find difficult is watering in Winter to keep it ticking over. Although in a heated conservatory, this last Winter I let it go almost dry before I watered it again, to the point where it started wilting, and then just gave it a drop, enough to recover. I'm sure if I'd have given it a little more water, it would have rot. This happened the previous Winter and I lost the stem, but had a pup. If I lost this one, I don't think I would try again, it's too high maintenance for me, especially considering when you have got it through the Winter, it doesn't look good during Summer - alive, but certainly isn't thriving.

Di