Favorite Banana Variety?

[venturabananas]

Yes, I have tried Dwarf Brazilian many times, both here in California and in Hawaii.  It is a wonderful banana, absolutely worth growing -- one of my favorites for flavor and hardiness of the plant.  It has a touch of acidity and some great tropical fruit flavor (often a bit of pineapple flavor).  It's not as good as the Mysore subgroup bananas to my taste, but it is one of the best, and the plant is a bit more cool hardy than Mysore. 

[Bananimal]

I've grown DB for 5 years now.  Great flavor and one of the more cold hardy naners.  Got a bunch hanging now that will be ready in about a month.  Stout psudostems and almost impossibe to blow down in high winds.  Have distributed many suckers over the years.  Same for Dwarf Namwah and Raja Puri.

[Felipe]

Thanks guys! Now I just need to get my hands on this cultivar

So far I'm growing this:

Blue Java           ABB
Chini Champa   AB
Dwarf Namwah   ABB
Dwarf Red   AAA
Gluai Khai           AA
Lady Finger   AA
Manzano           AAB
Pisang Ceylon   AAB
Raja Puri           AAB
Nang Phaya   AAA
French Horn   AAB
Ghew Kera   
Goldfinger   AAAB

[Bananimal]

Felipe -- I see you grow the Chini Champa.  Got any pics to post?  What about taste and plant characteristics?  I had a hard time getting this one.  They had to travel from Kalimpong, Bengal to Germany to Greece and finally S Florida.   Mine should fruit next year.

Side note --- are you familiar with the Presa Canario?  Great dog!  I'll trade you a Dwf Brazilian pup for one of those pups. 

[Felipe]

Sorry Dan, I don't have a picture from my CC at the moment. Anyway, it is still in a pot, so no clue about charateristics and taste yet. I bought my plants from a grower in Germany..

We used to have an old male Presa Canario but it died from age. It was big and very strong, like a bear but his heart was more like a teddy  It was a beautiful animal. Now my parents have small dogs wich wich other people wanted to get rid of. Right now you don't see PC very often, because it's expensive to keep big dogs and you need at least a yard for them, but most people live in flats near the coast. I also would be happy to find puppies...

[Bananimal]

Sorry Dan, I don't have a picture from my CC at the moment. Anyway, it is still in a pot, so no clue about charateristics and taste yet. I bought my plants from a grower in Germany..

We used to have an old male Presa Canario but it died from age. It was big and very strong, like a bear but his heart was more like a teddy  It was a beautiful animal. Now my parents have small dogs wich wich other people wanted to get rid of. Right now you don't see PC very often, because it's expensive to keep big dogs and you need at least a yard for them, but most people live in flats near the coast. I also would be happy to find puppies...

Would that be Markus Jonda at palmscenter.de? 
Found 2 breeders in Florida that have Presas.  Maybe the next dog, we'll see.

[Felipe]

Hi Dan,

no, so far no plant from palmscenter.de. I phoned and emailed a few times, but no answer. Pretty weird. He has a very nice collection of musas... I have bought from this austrians:

www.bananenshop.de
www.exoticgarten.eu

..and from this german: www.bananen-freak.de

[Pancrazio]

Would that be Markus Jonda at palmscenter.de? 
Found 2 breeders in Florida that have Presas.  Maybe the next dog, we'll see.

I bought a couple of bananas from him. Nice plants.
(they were dwarf namwah and rajapuri)

One of the family favourites is Musa acuminata Seņorita from the Phillipines.

I have been seaching that for quite some time. Apparently the buch ripens pretty quickly. Unluckly, no plants have landed in europe, yet.

[Adacaosky]

Hi everyone

Speaking of favorite bananas, has anyone tried a Gros Michel?? The commercial banana of old? I would love to grow this susceptible banana successfully someday. I wouldn't mind the challenge. I wonder if this guy is selling the real-deal.. Seems like it though... check it out:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Gros-Michel-Banana-Plants-RARE-Variety-/140867873212?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20cc6129bc

BTW, my favorite banana is the "Fiyi" or "Fiji," (sp.?) which strikes the delicate balance of sweet & delicious, strongly scented, disease resistant (in my area), productive, low maintenance, and beautiful (brownish/red streaked trunk with reddish midribs, slight pink underside of young leaves). Sadly, my small patch is being seriously slammed by banana leaf rollers..... Rollers are such a pain and my banana trees look like they've been licked by the fires of hell.  
The "Fiji" still produce very large bunches, though.

Next favorite is the "Macao" (similar/same/possibly a strain- of lacatan? Not sure on this one). Med. sized fruit with salmon colored flesh, firm, sweet, rich & full flavored.

Next is "Apple"- astringent when unripe, yummy delicious, rich & full flavored when ripe, hint of green apple notes.

Last is "Manila" which is a Filipino variety. Nice fruit color with sweet, soft, slightly scented flesh.

Chris

[Felipe]

Gros Michel? Not bad, but nothing compares to good Mysore and Sucrier group bananas, or Blue Java cultivar...

[Xeno]

I'm stuck on what I want to do. I bought a dwarf Cavendish banana and stuck it in a 24 inch pot. It's just formed the third leaf and it already has a sucker. I'm debating on whether I should keep it or not. I bought it for $5 at Lowes but I don't know if I should keep it. I could always buy the banana at the stores/supermarket which makes me kinda not want to keep the plant. Do home grown Cavendish bananas taste "better" than supermarket varieties? Should I substitute the plant for something else? I believe I can grab a Dwarf Jamaican/Mysore/Rajapuri (Note that these are expensive $35+ if I wanted to get one locally). Could any of those fruit in a container. I did some research and I believe Rajapuri can fruit in a container.

[venturabananas]

I'm stuck on what I want to do. I bought a dwarf Cavendish banana and stuck it in a 24 inch pot. It's just formed the third leaf and it already has a sucker. I'm debating on whether I should keep it or not. I bought it for $5 at Lowes but I don't know if I should keep it. I could always buy the banana at the stores/supermarket which makes me kinda not want to keep the plant. Do home grown Cavendish bananas taste "better" than supermarket varieties? Should I substitute the plant for something else? I believe I can grab a Dwarf Jamaican/Mysore/Rajapuri (Note that these are expensive $35+ if I wanted to get one locally). Could any of those fruit in a container. I did some research and I believe Rajapuri can fruit in a container.

Xeno, get rid of the Dwarf Cavendish.  Since we live in the same town, I can tell you with certainty that it is not a good banana to grow in our climate.  It is a very slow grower.  Same for Dwarf Jamaican Red.  I have some of both of those varieties that have been planted in good spots in my yard for more than 2 years and still haven't flowered, whereas several other varieties have flowered in much less time.  Our climate is just too cool for Cavs and Reds to grow at reasonable rates.  If you want to grow something that will do well in our cool, coastal climate, and would have a good chance of fruiting in a large pot (think 25 gallon, minimum), Rajapuri would probably be your best bet because it is very small.  Dwarf Namwah is more productive than Rajapuri and handles the cool a bit better, but despite being a semi-dwarf, it is pretty big for a container.  Mysore is a great plant, but way too big for any reasonable size container.  All three are better tasting than Cavendish, to me at least.

If you want a Rajapuri pup or a Dwarf Namwah pup, let me know and you can have one for free.  I have plenty.  Wait till late spring though -- you'd just be asking for trouble trying to get one growing over winter -- unless you are going to grow in inside or in a greenhouse.  Trust me, I learned that the hard way.

[Xeno]

rid of the Dwarf Cavendish.  Since we live in the same town, I can tell you with certainty that it is not a good banana to grow in our climate.  It is a very slow grower.  Same for Dwarf Jamaican Red.  I have some of both of those varieties that have been planted in good spots in my yard for more than 2 years and still haven't flowered, whereas several other varieties have flowered in much less time.  Our climate is just too cool for Cavs and Reds to grow at reasonable rates.  If you want to grow something that will do well in our cool, coastal climate, and would have a good chance of fruiting in a large pot (think 25 gallon, minimum), Rajapuri would probably be your best bet because it is very small.  Dwarf Namwah is more productive than Rajapuri and handles the cool a bit better, but despite being a semi-dwarf, it is pretty big for a container.  Mysore is a great plant, but way too big for any reasonable size container.  All three are better tasting than Cavendish, to me at least.

If you want a Rajapuri pup or a Dwarf Namwah pup, let me know and you can have one for free.  I have plenty.  Wait till late spring though -- you'd just be asking for trouble trying to get one growing over winter -- unless you are going to grow in inside or in a greenhouse.  Trust me, I learned that the hard way.

Should be getting rid of my Cavendish banana plants tomorrow to my other family members in LA. The only reason why I had them in a pot was because I wanted to know whether or not I was going to keep it.
Have you been to Green Thumb on Victoria? That's where I usually buy banana plants. I currently own an ice cream and goldfinger banana. I would love to take you on your offer for free pups! I guess I'll have to wait till late winter to pick them up?

[venturabananas]

You mean, have I been to Green Thumb on Victoria today?     Yes, seems like I'm in there at least once a week. 

If you want to pick up freshly dug pups before spring, you are welcome to, but unless you can provide them warmth (e.g., a greenhouse, heat mat, etc.), they'll struggle over winter after being newly separated and there's a good chance they'll die.  I'd recommend patience.  Easy for me to say, since I had none and made that mistake already!

[fruitlovers]

there are only two people in this thread wth their listed locations as hawaii,me and oscar and niether on of are coco chris...my real name is josh

Hi Josh,

Yikes, I assumed it was you. I watch alot of vids on YouTube and invite people that are interested in fruits to the forum...Just spreading the word and doing my part to keep the forum running

Here's the dude...CocoChrisHawaii, he has a huge collection of nanners

I know this Coconut Chris, though i haven't run into him in a long time.
For those coming to the CRFG/HTFG meeting in 2013 i will see if i can arrange a tour of his place. He's quite a character.
Manzano, Cuban Red, and Ice cream are all excellent tasting bananas. The Ice cream is similar in texture to the Cuban Red: soft and creamy. The Manzano is a sweeter banana but the other two have the interesting creamy texture. All 3 are really quite good. Most that say they don't care for bananas have never had any of these mighty delish 3!