Author Topic: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?  (Read 5359 times)

Weboh

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Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« on: October 14, 2018, 04:13:18 PM »
I really like the way Musa Velutina and Royal Purple bananas look. However, most places say they don't taste very good. Are there some unique colored bananas like that that actually taste good? I wouldn't mind putting up with seeds if i had to.

Also, I remember seeing a picture of a fruit that looked like a shiny, cherry red banana. I can't find it online though. Does such a thing exist? Does it taste good?

Thanks.

KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2018, 07:20:00 PM »
Well, 1000 Fingers and Praying Hands are neat looking, and edible - although there are certainly better cultivars for eating.

I've never tried any, but there's also variegated bananas that look pretty cool. Ae ae is supposed to be a pretty decent eating banana.
« Last Edit: October 14, 2018, 07:22:09 PM by KarenRei »
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bsbullie

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2018, 07:25:17 PM »
Well, 1000 Fingers and Praying Hands are neat looking, and edible - although there are certainly better cultivars for eating.

I've never tried any, but there's also variegated bananas that look pretty cool. Ae ae is supposed to be a pretty decent eating banana.

Neither of those are ornamental (they are unusual looking in terns of the fruit but in no way classified as an ornamental banana).  Praying Hands is a delicious banana.

Edit - there is no merit to my post cause Karen is always right.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 07:38:39 AM by bsbullie »
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KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2018, 08:41:59 PM »
My take on the question was that they were looking for a banana cultivar that had interesting-looking fruit.  Hence I gave examples of bananas with interesting-looking fruit.
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bsbullie

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2018, 09:34:45 PM »
Praying Hands and Thousand Fingers have no ornamental look to the.  They are just like any other green-colored pseudo stemmed banana.  Same with Monkey Fingers.  These are edible bananas and nothing more.

AeAe is variegated.  Meh.  Would not fare well in the winters in his area.  Same with Siam Ruby and Zebrina which are much more colorful but fruit is inedible.

Veluntina is ornamental and I suppose fruit could be eaten but seeds are like beebees (bite down on one and you bought yourself a hefty dental bill).

Many of the other inedible true ornamentals have some cool tolerance.  These are used in the landscape for their tropical look and their color, not for any fruit.

Edit - there is no merit to my post cause Karen is always right.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 07:39:22 AM by bsbullie »
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KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2018, 07:00:13 AM »
Praying Hands and Thousand Fingers have no ornamental look to the.  They are just like any other green-colored pseudo stemmed banana.

To repeat: "My take on the question was that they were looking for a banana cultivar that had interesting-looking fruit.  Hence I gave examples of bananas with interesting-looking fruit."

The fruit. Not the pseudostem.  In this thread, and in the previous one that Weboh posted (http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=30057.msg335637#msg335637), they were talking about bananas with neat looking fruit that are still worth eating.

Also writing that Ae Ae is variagated... it's almost as if I didn't write, "... there's also variegated bananas that look pretty cool. Ae ae is supposed to be a pretty decent eating banana." :Þ  But you're right, they're certainly not hardy.

Back to the topic at hand: Weboh, do you have a picture of the "cherry red" banana you're thinking of?
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 07:10:45 AM by KarenRei »
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bsbullie

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2018, 07:37:39 AM »
This is why this site has deteriorated dramtically and the quality of posts have diminished.  People incessantly post when they dont know and then support their garbage.  I have tried not to post cause I truly dont need the $hit responses to every post.  People dont want help, they want to prove they are armchair experts.  I am truly done.

Karen...you are right, you are always right.  No sense in ever responding when you post. 

Bye bye...
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bsbullie

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2018, 07:48:53 AM »
One last post to prove Karen is right...pictures I just took of my 12+ foot fruiting Praying Hands (and this was knocked to the ground last year in Irma):





Ornamental?  I think not...
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KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2018, 07:54:45 AM »
Simple solution:

Weboh: you were looking for banana plants with interesting looking fruit, correct?
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CGameProgrammer

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2018, 03:14:53 PM »
Velutina and Royal Purple have basically ordinary leaves (though with purple midrib) and colored fruit so it sounds like that's what he's looking for.

Ice cream / blue java is a popular edible variety that has fruit that is teal when unripe and looks really exotic and tropical. If conditions are warm enough then you could grow any red variety of bananas as well.

SoCal2warm

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2018, 04:33:18 PM »
I'm taking on a project going to attempt to breed Helen's Hybrid (seeded) with Blue Java (as the pollen parent).
From my research, I believe moderate fraction of the offspring will be tetraploid, which can then be hybridized again (with seeded normal diploid) resulting in seedless (edible) triploids in the third generation.

The reason the fraction of tetrapoids would be higher is that a majority of the triploids parental cells that undergo meoisis fail to even properly form normal haploid gametes, so the natural percentage of gametes that escape unreduced then becomes much higher relative to the total number of viable seeds.

Alternatively, it possible to just treat the apical shoots with either Colchicine or Oryzalin (right concentration) to double the number of chromosomes (to tetraploid), then breed one more to get an edible triploid that is now seedless.

KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2018, 05:04:03 PM »
I'm taking on a project going to attempt to breed Helen's Hybrid (seeded) with Blue Java (as the pollen parent).
From my research, I believe moderate fraction of the offspring will be tetraploid, which can then be hybridized again (with seeded normal diploid) resulting in seedless (edible) triploids in the third generation.

The reason the fraction of tetrapoids would be higher is that a majority of the triploids parental cells that undergo meoisis fail to even properly form normal haploid gametes, so the natural percentage of gametes that escape unreduced then becomes much higher relative to the total number of viable seeds.

Alternatively, it possible to just treat the apical shoots with either Colchicine or Oryzalin (right concentration) to double the number of chromosomes (to tetraploid), then breed one more to get an edible triploid that is now seedless.

Very cool project. Banana growers in marginal climates will be indebted to you if you can pull it off  :)
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Weboh

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #12 on: October 21, 2018, 09:48:16 AM »
Sorry I've been so long without replying. I didn't get a notification like I usually do. I didn't mean to be the cause of that argument... I am looking for interesting looking plants and fruit. For example, I love the look of the flowers and fruit of Musa Velutina first and foremost--though I like the look of the plant as well. Praying hands doesn't have unique colored flowers or anything, and the clusters (and certainly single bananas) don't look that different from regular bananas either.

I think the red banana I was talking about was a casabanana. Though it's not a banana and I'm not sure if I want to grow it. But maybe that wasn't it. Is there a red banana that's as bright red as a casabanana?

At first I thought SoCal2warm posted to the wrong thread, but I think he's saying he's trying to breed a seedless, good tasting, interesting colored banana?

KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #13 on: October 21, 2018, 10:39:55 AM »
Cassabanana isn't even close to being related to bananas; it's a member of the cucumber family.  Wouldn't personally call it "cherry red" either.
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pineislander

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #14 on: October 21, 2018, 02:18:49 PM »
This type should fit your needs. I don't have them but join bananas.org and someone will sell them.

http://www.banana-plants.com/Dwarf-Red.html

KarenRei

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #15 on: October 21, 2018, 03:05:29 PM »
This type should fit your needs. I don't have them but join bananas.org and someone will sell them.

http://www.banana-plants.com/Dwarf-Red.html

Yeah, I grow those.  Beyond the fruit, while the leaves are pretty normal, the stems are pretty.  I could donate a couple pups for free if you were in Iceland at some point, lol   ;)
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lebmung

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2018, 03:52:29 PM »
Siam ruby looks red, is very ornamental and gives edible bananas.

jako9403

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #17 on: December 18, 2018, 01:27:15 AM »
Musa Velutina.

druss

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #18 on: December 21, 2018, 03:09:56 AM »





Musa Malaysian Blood.

Coach62

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #19 on: December 24, 2018, 06:50:49 AM »
I grow some red bananas that are delicious but almost too pretty to eat, gorgeous colorations.  Check into the various reds out there, even the stalks are red
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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #20 on: December 30, 2018, 08:22:41 AM »
I grow a variety called "Jamaican Red", which has beautiful red fruit and petioles. Even the pseudostem has a nice red color as long as you clean the brown/dead leaves away. It tastes very similar to cavendish to me though, so I prefer the fruit from my nam wah tree, but it's pretty ornamental. It's quite a bit slower growing than my other banana varieties though, so keep that in mind. I got it from Jene's Tropical Fruit in St. Pete.

Coach62

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #21 on: December 30, 2018, 10:40:51 AM »
One last post to prove Karen is right...pictures I just took of my 12+ foot fruiting Praying Hands (and this was knocked to the ground last year in Irma):





Ornamental?  I think not...

Question - those plants look really healthy with very little fungal damage.  Is that natural for those bananas or are you treating them?  With what are you treating them?
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Weboh

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #22 on: December 31, 2018, 10:17:08 AM »
Thanks for all the replies.

Druss, have you tried the blood bananas? They seem to be like Musa Valuntina where the consensus is they don't taste good.

Coach, what red bananas have you grown? I've had some dwarf red bananas that I got from the grocery store that tasted worse than cavendish: Starchy and astringent without much flavor.

Birngerd, you must be very close to me. Jene's Tropicals is less than a mile from me. Any chance I could sample some Jamaican Reds and maybe buy a pup from you?

I ended up getting a Namwah tree, and I'm pretty happy with how it looks. Mature leaves have a painted look and the psuedostem is a pretty red. No idea what the bananas look or taste like yet though.

Mugenia

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #23 on: December 31, 2018, 10:40:05 AM »
I have a Fe'i, heaven facing type of banana plant. It's going thru it's first cold weather in Southern California now. It looks ornamental and hopefully tastes good too.

birngerd

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Re: Best ornamental banana that also tastes good?
« Reply #24 on: January 04, 2019, 05:15:13 PM »
Birngerd, you must be very close to me. Jene's Tropicals is less than a mile from me. Any chance I could sample some Jamaican Reds and maybe buy a pup from you?

I'm pretty close to you, but my Jamaican Red isn't fruiting and none of the pups are ready to dig at the moment. I'll let you know when I get some more fruit though!