Banana Palm issue

BethC starts with ...
Hi,

I’m hoping you can help me as I can’t seem to find any useful info on the web – I live in Melbourne and have a beautiful big banana palm in my back yard. I’m not sure what variety it is as it was planted before we bought the house, it hasn’t produced any fruit to date and I believe it to be about six years old). Over the last week the new growth that usually sticks right up in the centre of the foliage has drooped to the left of the tree. It’s quite heavy and I can now see the tree leaning slightly with the weight. Have you heard of this happening before and can you suggest how I fix it? My only ideas so far are to tie it to another tree to get it upright again and hope it fixes itself and to cut it off and wait for new growth to come. I’m not sure either of these will work and I’m worried I might damage it by trying.

Any help you may be able to provide will be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Beth

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coastie says...
Hi Beth, dont cut it off, if you can prop it up and secure the tree upright.I have known bananas to fruit in Melbourne. it could be a flower and a flower can produce fruit.

BethC says...
Thank you so much everyone - I'll have a look at it tonight (I haven't actually looked into the thing that's hanging over so it could be a flower!). Nice to find out what the variety is.

trikus says...
These act. struggle in the wet tropics , just to much rain for them . This one flowered at a friends on the tablelands .
Trunk can get very fat under ideaL CONDITIONS , the fat red belly [ ventricose ] and red leaf ribs are very distinctive . Also the fact that it has no suckers . They are always wanted by keen gardeners and have not been available for a while [ supposedly ]

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BethC says...
I'd be more than happy to post a picture when/if it flowers. I'm not sure if it will struggle given I've had to prop it up. I did have a quick look inside it last night and I could see small white stamen running around the centre bit. I found this website last night that talks about the flowering stages - they say the plant flowers once then dies? I hope not!

http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/enseteventrico.htm

BethC says...
Thanks trikus - does it mean the flower will die or the whole palm will die?

coastie says...
Hi, I am watching and reading this subject with interest, today I transplanted one of my ornamental banana plants into the garden, it is about 1mtr high, I grew it from seed, I didnt know that they die after flowering...

Phil@Tyalgum says...
That banana tree has a great view!

BethC says...
Hi Coastie, How long did it take you to get it to 1 meter tall from seed?

coastie says...
Hi Beth C, the banana you have we believe is the ornamental abyssinian one and they do not have suckers.The seeds took 3wks to germinate, the first picture is 3mths old and the second picture is 6mths.They grow very quickly when in the ground and full sun and water.

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Rodally71 says...
Hi Beth
We have these palms. They have thrived for 8 years but now are looking unwell after flowering. We have these enormous flowers drooping to one side and not sure what to do. Did you have any luck.

Regards
Allison

snottiegobble says...
The plant I bought looks just like a small Abyssinian, but it was one of 3 pups for sale so that cancels out seeing that they dont produce suckers!

Evie says...
Can anyone tell me what sort of banana this is?
Will it produce bananas? There is only the one plant. It is growing rapidly, just keeps getting taller and taller.

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rossi says...
i hope this will help u to know more bat the plant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensete_ventricosum