The Tropical Fruit Forum
Tropical Fruit => Tropical Fruit Discussion => Topic started by: englewoodhomegrown on February 23, 2017, 09:20:27 PM
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Maybe this has been talked about before here, but I couldn't find it. Why is it so hard to find anyone growing the commercially grown cavendish variety of banana in Florida? It seems like a no brainer being that so many people happily buy these at the grocery store everyday regardless of the fact that they are picked way too early and gassed to ripen. They somehow still taste decent after that. I know the argument that most commercial fruits and veg are far inferior to selected varieties grown by connoisseurs, but has anyone here ever had a properly ripened cavendish? I can only imagine they'd be great.
To me, some possibilities to why we don't grow them might be:
- home growers prefer the novelty of more diverse varieties (but at this point a home grown cavendish seems even more novelty)
- cavendish is disease susceptible (but isn't that only a big deal when grown in a massive monocrop?)
- release is suppressed by commercial growers (bananas are so easy to propagate though)
- is it climatic, is cavendish too tropical for Florida (I'm not aware of any bananas that are)
- there's the dwarf cavendish, but I'm not sure how similar that is to the true cavendish
I don't know, I'm confused. Am I missing something obvious?
Thanks!
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The main commercial cavendish-type cultivars are Gran Nain, Dwarf Cavendish, and Williams Hybrid. You can definitely find those in Florida.
Cavendish is just the name given to a "sub-group" of banana cultivars in the AAA group.
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I imagine that there are people with Cavendish in FL. Here in CR it is widely available and the most common banana in super markets. Still, almost nobody grows it in their yard. Depending on the location something else is always grown. In my area it is the Gros Michel which is somewhat similar but really quite better than the Cavendish. that is our go-to banana, and after that several others that FL people also grow.
Peter
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...Why is it so hard to find anyone growing the commercially grown cavendish variety of banana in Florida? It seems like a no brainer being that so many people happily buy these at the grocery store everyday regardless of the fact that they are picked way too early and gassed to ripen...
If you are talking about finding Florida grown Cavendish fruit for sale in FL, I think the main reason you don't find them often is that it isn't possible to make much money growing them in FL because the ones grown elsewhere by big agrobusiness and imported are so darn cheap due to cheap labor, land, and economies of scale. Backyard growers definitely grow them in FL.
To me, fully ripened, non-gassed Cavendish are better than what you normally find in the supermarket, but not so much better that I would choose to grow them over other, better tasting cultivars that aren't available in the supermarkets.
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Have you eaten non-Cavendish-type bananas that are homegrown in Florida? That would be the "something obvious."
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For the same reason that most folks don't choose to grow Tommy Atkins mango.
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I guess I'll chime in too.
I'm growing dwarf Cavendish bananas. Mainly to block the AC unit from street view.
The ones I've had were better than store bought, but not worth growing over other type.
Also they were free.
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With so much variety there's no need to grow what can be bought at the store... I prefer a a mysore, namwah, Brazilian, or pitogo that is ripened on the plant to a store bought banana anyaay. They're a lot smaller but you get so many bananas that it doesn't matter. There are exotic varieties too that have small nuances in flavor too. I have about 20 different types in my yard
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I The 3640 better than the Cavendish , Growed them both.
Ed
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Have you eaten non-Cavendish-type bananas that are homegrown in Florida? That would be the "something obvious."
Yeah, growing a lot myself. I think they are all delicious, but I've never seen any bananas that get as large the commercial cavendish. Most kinds I've had are absolutely superior flavor, but quite small.
For the same reason that most folks don't choose to grow Tommy Atkins mango.
I feel like there's probably a much larger gap between the quality of Tommy Atkins mango to a superior cultivar than there would be between a properly grown cavendish and top banana cultivars.
...Why is it so hard to find anyone growing the commercially grown cavendish variety of banana in Florida? It seems like a no brainer being that so many people happily buy these at the grocery store everyday regardless of the fact that they are picked way too early and gassed to ripen...
If you are talking about finding Florida grown Cavendish fruit for sale in FL, I think the main reason you don't find them often is that it isn't possible to make much money growing them in FL because the ones grown elsewhere by big agrobusiness and imported are so darn cheap due to cheap labor, land, and economies of scale. Backyard growers definitely grow them in FL.
To me, fully ripened, non-gassed Cavendish are better than what you normally find in the supermarket, but not so much better that I would choose to grow them over other, better tasting cultivars that aren't available in the supermarkets.
This makes the most sense to me, but still surprised by the fact that sourcing the Cavendish trees seems a little difficult.
I guess I'll chime in too.
I'm growing dwarf Cavendish bananas. Mainly to block the AC unit from street view.
The ones I've had were better than store bought, but not worth growing over other type.
Also they were free.
Is dwarf cavendish essentially the same fruit as true cavendish?
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Is dwarf cavendish essentially the same fruit as true cavendish?
Dwarf Cavendish is just a Cavendish type with a very short psuedostem. The fruit taste the same as Williams, Gran Nain, Mahoi, and other Cavendish types.
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Is dwarf cavendish essentially the same fruit as true cavendish?
Dwarf Cavendish is just a Cavendish type with a very short psuedostem. The fruit taste the same as Williams, Gran Nain, Mahoi, and other Cavendish types.
Thanks Squam and all, I think I've got a much better understanding now.