Planet Banana
Musa cheesmanii aka 'Atia Black'
Musa cheesmanii aka 'Atia Black'
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- Description
- Germination instructions
From India, this banana has attractive almost black pseudostems when a larger size. Quite cold hardy and quick growing so a good choice for growing outdoors in the summer in the UK. Not too tricky to overwinter in frost free conditions, and might even be root hardy in milder microclimates if left outdoors and protected.
Quite Hardy.
Special treatment is required to break dormancy. Soak seeds in warm warm for 48 hours and then sow on the surface of a sterile seed compost, before covering the seeds with vermiculite. Keep compost moist but not overly wet and maintain humidity levels so that compost does not dry out. Keep in a well lit spot.
Musa seeds require a daily temp cycle of around 9 hrs @ 30-35C and 15 hrs @ 12-15C to germinate. Germination is erratic - some seeds may start to germinate from around 5 weeks whilst others can take a number of months and sometimes over a year. Once germinated, keep the seedlings at a constant 25C to 30C until they are around 10-15cms tall, before potting on individually into 7cm or 9cm pots for growing on.
