Green ensete ventricosum in pot

[Steady]

I've bought a green ensete and have since decided I havnt really got much room in the borders so have decided to pot it up, I'm going to buy a pretty big pot as required but wondering what would be the best potting mix for drainage and possibly overwintering? I've been reading other threads and guess that peat based stuff is out of the question?

[GREVILLE]

I put my first green Ensete in a raised planter after overwintering it in a frost-free greenhouse using a twelve inch tub with a potting mix of MPC, John Innes and sharp sand. The planter was clay soil with well rotted compost. The following winter I cut off the leaves, put very dry strawy manure around it and covered it. It survived and grew to around fifteen feet by the following winter.

Tried the same protection arrangements again for the following winter, but it didn't work a second time.

My latest green ensete was planted in pure MPC and after a third overwintering I lost it this Spring.

[Dave Brown]

The problems with Ensete are.... they like lots of water in the warmer months, but must be dry if cold enough for growth to stop. This is a dilema if left in the same compost, and is why I overwinter my Ensete bare root. If you are going to leave in the same compost in a pot ensure it is very well drained, and stand in a tray of water in the growing months

Biggest killer of Ensete is cold moist compost, when it's not in growth.

[Steady]

I put my first green Ensete in a raised planter after overwintering it in a frost-free greenhouse using a twelve inch tub with a potting mix of MPC, John Innes and sharp sand. The planter was clay soil with well rotted compost. The following winter I cut off the leaves, put very dry strawy manure around it and covered it. It survived and grew to around fifteen feet by the following winter.

Tried the same protection arrangements again for the following winter, but it didn't work a second time.

My latest green ensete was planted in pure MPC and after a third overwintering I lost it this Spring.

I've just looked at your previous thread about your plant losses and sounds a real setback! Great to hear that your ensete grew so big in a pot but sound like a bit a a lottery on the overwintering side??

[Steady]

The problems with Ensete are.... they like lots of water in the warmer months, but must be dry if cold enough for growth to stop. This is a dilema if left in the same compost, and is why I overwinter my Ensete bare root. If you are going to leave in the same compost in a pot ensure it is very well drained, and stand in a tray of water in the growing months

Biggest killer of Ensete is cold moist compost, when it's not in growth.

Would you recommend a decent mix for a pot that might accommodate the needs of the ensete potted in winter as I'm really not sure? I've searched for any info about getting the green form through winter and wasn't sure if you could treat the the same as maurelii as they seem more finicky , is it just that they're a different colour and from different region?

[GREVILLE]

Steady, I would point out that the Ensete that got so big did not manage that size in a pot. The first time I overwintered it in the frost-free greenhouse it was a mild and often bright winter and slow growth continued throughout. I even watered it on occasion which was a risky thing to do, not understanding fully its requirements at the time.

The following spring it was put in the planter. This was six foot square and two feet off the bare ground. The garden soil was made up with 50% well-rotted compost so it took off second year and I was able to save five foot stem the following winter, thanks the continuing to decompose strawy manure and a water-tight rain cover.

It actually grew under the cover and the following March I had to cut away distorted white growth. The soil was very dry in the raised bed and this helped the Ensete to keep its roots. the following winter was much colder and the same treatment failed it.

My most recent Ensete was overwintered in the warm at my local school in an eighteen inch tub, but kept in the greenhouse this year the cold Spring did for it.