Mike,
Thanks for the info on the FHIA-18. I'll enquire about these with David on the Bananavilla site. This is my second season growing bananas. The closest I got with having one bloom was with my Raja Puri. I had a 5' psuedostem going into last years winter, but lost it to cold due to some sort of black center death disease. I don't know if you recall me posting pictures of the plant requesting info on whether it going to survive? I kept cutting it back wand found it was toast to the ground. Since then the adjacent pup took off and pupped profusely. I'm hoping the mother plant will make it through the winter. Do you think removing pups prior to winter will strengthen its cold hardiness?
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Otherwise my other varieties took the winter well, and based on their height, I hope to see some of them bloom next season, like the Dwarf Orinoco I got from you and the Misi Luki, Dwarf Namwah and Belle I got from David. Another type I would like to try which you recommended was the Praying Hands.
Getting together sounds great, although I wouldn't have banana fruit to share, at least not this season
. I will have passion fruit and tamrillos.