{"id":1547,"date":"2022-10-18T14:00:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-18T18:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=1547"},"modified":"2022-10-18T13:59:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T17:59:30","slug":"abyssinian-red-banana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2022\/10\/18\/abyssinian-red-banana\/","title":{"rendered":"Abyssinian Red Banana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Ensete<\/em> <em>ventricosum<\/em> is not true banana (<em>Musa spp\u00a0<\/em>); it does not sucker like bananas, so does not form large clumps over time. In their native environment in tropical Asia and Africa, plants may grow to 30 or more feet in height, but grow considerably shorter in containers or in cultivation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abyssinian Red Banana (<em>Ensete ventricosum\u00a0&#8216;Maurelli&#8217;<\/em>) is a tropical plant from East Africa that should spark up your landscape. (USDA hardiness zones 10-11).  The cultivar &#8216;Maurelii&#8217; flaunts huge attractive colorful leaves.\u00a0 Each leaf emerges with maroon-reddish\u00a0hues and reddish leaf axils.\u00a0 With a maximum height between 7-10 feet, it is smaller in height than many <em>Musa<\/em> banana varieties.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amend the soil if needed with 3 to 4 inches of compost or humus. Water generously over dry periods. Feed annually with a slow-release fertilizer like Osmocote\u2122 or Nitricote\u2122.  An alternative nutrition program is monthly feeding with a water-soluble fertilizer like Miracle-Gro\u2122 or Espoma\u2122 during the spring and summer months. <br><br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ensete-Abyssinian-banana-2-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-13821\" srcset=\"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ensete-Abyssinian-banana-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ensete-Abyssinian-banana-2-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Ensete-Abyssinian-banana-2-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>&#8216;Maurelii&#8217; Ensete Banana at Cincinnati Zoo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Grow in full day sunlight in zones 5b thru 7 and partially shade in the afternoon in the deep South (zones 8-11).  Sunlight is important for gorgeous leaf and petiole coloration. Plant performs best in a sandy, organic-rich, well-drained soil. Keep the plant well-mulched to conserve soil moisture. Bananas like lots of moisture. Trim leaves as needed to keep the plant attractive.   <br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Move your\u00a0Red Abyssinian Banana Tree indoors in fall if you live in a zone colder than Zone 8. Repot into fresh compost-rich potting media, trim back roots, and cut back leaves and petioles. Store in a cool spot around 40\u00b0F until spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most likely, your <em>Ensete<\/em> or <em>Musa<\/em> plant was purchased from the garden center and originated from tissue culture. The plant is not likely to flower outdoors in zones 6 and 7, and the fruits are not edible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their flowers are absolutely incredible. They are very large, yellow-orange and indeed have a waxy feel. Grow with other tropicals like elephant ears (<em>Colocasia<\/em> and <em>Alocasia<\/em>), hibiscus, mandevillas, and allamandas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Banana plants are vulnerable to pests including aphids, mealy bugs, scale and white flies. Avoid root rot issues with good pot and bed drainage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ensete ventricosum is not true banana (Musa spp\u00a0); it does not sucker like bananas, so does not form large clumps over time. In their native environment in tropical Asia and Africa, plants may grow to 30 or more feet in height, but grow considerably shorter in containers or in cultivation. Abyssinian Red Banana (Ensete ventricosum\u00a0&#8216;Maurelli&#8217;) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1124,757,1498,778,674,645,1601,665,774,853,1257,551,1571,843,951,729,849,1076,777,630,646,756,1,113,1394,455,642],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13822,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547\/revisions\/13822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}