{"id":2997,"date":"2020-03-28T00:08:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-28T07:08:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/pal-question-626\/"},"modified":"2024-04-13T09:45:56","modified_gmt":"2024-04-13T16:45:56","slug":"overwintering-ensete-ventricosum","status":"publish","type":"pal","link":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/pal\/overwintering-ensete-ventricosum\/","title":{"rendered":"Overwintering Ensete ventricosum"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently purchased an Ensete ventricosum<\/em>, which I will plant in a large<\/strong>
\ncontainer. I live in Bellevue. Should I consider this<\/strong>
\nplant an annual only? Or is there a way I can overwinter the plant, so that I can enjoy it next year? I don’t have a green house. Would it work to bring it into the garage? If I bring a potted plant into the garage, doesn’t it need water and light? Or could I put hay over the container and leave it outside?<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I could not find any information that suggested overwintering this particular
\nplant outside would be successful. In Bellevue, some other species can be
\noverwintered outdoors, like Musa basjoo<\/em>, but E. ventricosum<\/em> is more tender.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I did find several resources about overwintering your plant
\nindoors, so you may be able to enjoy your plant over several seasons. The
\nMissouri Botanical Garden information<\/a> suggests several methods for overwintering
\nE. ventricosum<\/em>. Here is an excerpt:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Bring container plant indoors in fall before first frost and place container
    \nin a large sunny room for overwintering as a houseplant, with reduced water and
    \nfertilization;<\/li>\n
  2. If container plant is too large to bring inside as a houseplant, cut foliage
    \nback to 6-8″ in fall after first frost, and store container in a cool, dark,
    \nfrost-free corner of the basement until spring, with periodic addition of a
    \ntouch of moisture as needed in winter to prevent the soils from totally drying
    \nout;<\/li>\n
  3. If container plant is too heavy or too large to bring inside, remove
    \nplant from container in fall before first frost, wrap roots in plastic and store
    \nin a cool, dark, frost-free corner of the basement until spring (foliage may be
    \ntrimmed back or left on the plant and allowed to brown up in the normal course)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    If you don’t want your E. ventricosum<\/em> as a houseplant, overwintering in the
    \ngarage seems possible. Given that the Missouri Botanical Garden recommends a
    \nbasement and the plant will be basically dormant, meaning it will not want much
    \nwater or light, your garage will probably be fine as long as it is warm enough.<\/p>\n

    The Royal Horticultural Society<\/a> suggests growing it in a sheltered spot outside, or overwintering it in a well-ventilated temperate greenhouse. Another RHS page no longer available online makes these recommendations about temperature:<\/p>\n

    To overwinter Ensete, our glasshouse is kept at 16 C (61F) by day and 12C
    \n(53 F) at night – at lower temperatures, lifted plants are prone to rotting. The
    \nlower the overwintering temperature, the earlier Ensete should be lifted and
    \nestablished in their winter containers, and the drier they should be kept
    \nsubsequently.<\/em><\/p>\n

    The site of Cool Tropical Plants<\/a> includes an illustrated tutorial of lifting Ensete<\/em> for the winter, however, simply notes that the minimum temperature should be 3 C (about 37 F).<\/p>\n

    Cold protection of plants<\/a>, <\/span>Ensete<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I recently purchased an Ensete ventricosum, which I will plant in a large container. I live in Bellevue. Should I consider this plant an annual only? Or is there a way I can overwinter the plant, so that I can enjoy it next year? I don’t have a green house. Would it work to bring it into the garage? If I bring a potted plant into the garage, doesn’t it need water and light? Or could I put hay over…<\/p>\n

    Continue reading Overwintering Ensete ventricosum<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","keyword":[68,649],"class_list":["post-2997","pal","type-pal","status-publish","hentry","keyword-cold-protection-of-plants","keyword-ensete"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal\/2997"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pal"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/pal"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/hortlib\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=2997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}