Features:
Common name: Abyssinian banana
Family: Musaceae
Origin: Angola, Ethiopia
Height at maturity: 6 meters
Hardiness: 7°C
Exposure: sunny
Plant type: ornamental banana
Vegetation: perennial
Foliage: deciduous
Flowering: summer
Flower color: white
Soil type: garden soil + potting soil (50/50), peat
Watering: in summer keep permanently moist, in winter very little
Use: pot, porch, greenhouse
Diseases and pests: red spider mites, scale insects
Toxicity: not determined
Storage of seeds: 12 months in a dry place away from light at 3/4°C (refrigerator)
Description:
Fast-growing banana plant, these olive-green leaves are huge (2 to 6 meters) and paddle-shaped, they come out of the center of the plant. The leaves have bright red midribs on the underside.
In summer, the white flowers are grouped in inflorescences 1 to 1.20 meters long, hidden inside bronze-red bracts.
A perennial plant, the musa ensete is a fairly chilly banana tree. Nevertheless, it supports light frosts of the order of -4 to -6° C.
Banana trees are very greedy, the use of a 20+20+20+OE type fertilizer (in garden centers) is recommended.
Cultivation of banana trees in apartments:
Growing banana plants indoors often causes the plant to die because the air is too dry.
One technique is to grow your banana tree on a tray filled with vermiculite (available on the site) or pozzolan and a few pieces of charcoal. Add water to moisten everything well. Place your pots containing your plant on it. Add water when the vermiculite dries out on the surface.
The heat of the room where the plant is placed will cause slow evaporation and thus create a tropical microclimate without damaging your furniture.
