Maurelii growth from January plug to October beast

[fieldfest]

cut my maurelii up today for storage, havent dug it up yet, just letting the wounds heal for a couple of days. its actually a tandarra red off ebay but i cant tell the difference to my maurelii's.

hoping this survives storage as im quite impressed with the growth in 1 season. only fed it a couple of times, mostly just watered it.

Jan 2011

january

October 3rd 32" waist, biggest leaf 48" x 22" total height just under 6ft

october

[Yorkshire Kris]

Excellent growth. They really do motor, I real wow plant.

[GREVILLE]

Impressive, Dave

This time next year that really will be some beast

[sanatic1234]

I was like you last year Fieldfest. You wait till next year especially the circumference. I finished with 50cms last year on the circumference from a 15-20cm plug plant in feb, this year it is just over 63cm's! biggest leaf on mine this year just over 4ft in length, 1 and a half ft in width. But i have not gotten 6ft in height well done on that that is good height in not even a year. Do you feed yours? I have only given mine fish,blood,bone in the early growing season, i stopped after that as my leafs kept on going a bit yellow round the edges. So i just stuck to water 2 times a day and its loved it.

[delboy12]

Wow Dave thats great,you just need to get it through winter now,good luck.

[Dave Brown]

cut my maurelii up today for storage, havent dug it up yet, just letting the wounds heal for a couple of days. its actually a tandarra red off ebay but i cant tell the difference to my maurelii's.

This is why there is so much confusion, over naming. Everyone sees a Red Ensete and says "Maurelii". There could be as many as 80 Red Ensete variants in Ethiopia

There are very unlikely to be any new introductions if they are just called a marketing ploy, and renamed 'Maurelii'. Some upper level red Ensete at the 3300m mark, survive -3C in the open, as opposed to Maurelii's +3C. The biggest travesty would be, if it was called Maurelii, and not properly tested here.

Dave, you probably had 6 to 8 weeks more growing in your location

[fieldfest]

its ok, i want to dig it up and dry it out before it rains, still got 2 more in the ground

[daz]

does anybody on here keep them in pots and carry on growing them in the house over the winter months?Im going to try i think Im guessing its the dreaded red spider mite that would harm them.

[flounder]

daz, looking at the size of some of these its the ceiling thats the biggest problem

[sanatic1234]

I did that last year, but didn't water and it did grow for most of the winter.

[sanatic1234]

daz, looking at the size of some of these its the ceiling thats the biggest problem

Not necessarily as you can cut the leafs off that grow, but thats up to personal preference. This was mine when i first dug it up a pre-potted till i added the perlite. the pic shows it a lot smaller but thicker trunk due to some water still inside the leaf bases.

[flounder]

bit smaller last year though san. My missus won't allow me to have a 5ft ensete with a 4ft spread as a houseplant this year

[Dave Brown]

If it is in a plastic pot it will retain a lot more moisture in the centre of the compost than you think. The best way of measuring is to use a moisture meter, which can be bought quite cheaply. If it is too moist take out of the pot and stand on a wad of newspaper

[sanatic1234]

The spread will be the leafs though won't it, which can be cut off so that will just leave 5ft height. The trunk itself will shrink when the water has left the plant and is dormant. which in theory should make it smaller. But yeah i know what you mean about tall plants and room.

[flounder]

I'm going with DB's method this year, muller it, dump it in a too small a pot devoid of compost and wedge it in a corner, but with the finer details included