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Gabe15 · 05-13-2010, 04:43 PM

Hello and Welcome!

It is because M. basjoo is so common and demanded that it is mostly produced via tissue culture. It is easy to produce many plants by tissue culture which is actually a lot cheaper than harvesting seed which requires the growing of many mature plants in the ground which takes a lot of resources and space. Tissue culture is cheap and easy and can be done anywhere in the world.

I am not sure of the source of some of the banana seeds on the market, whether people are growing the plants specifically for seed sales or whether they are harvested from the (dwindling) wild populations. In either case, M. basjoo seed would be a lot more expensive to produce and is harder to grow and thus harder to sell than its tissue culture counterparts. Not that M. basjoo seed isn't available from time to time from some sources, but it is rare to see it offered for sale.

If someone has a few big stands of M. basjoo that flower all the time, and is willing to put in the effort of coordinating the hand pollination necessary for seed set, it would be possible to produce a decent amount of seed.

05-13-2010, 04:43 PM	#2 (permalink)
Gabe15 Moderator Gabe15's Photo Gallery Location: Oahu, Hawaii Find me on the map! Zone: 12 Name: Gabe Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 3,892 BananaBucks : 13,437,974 Feedback: 5 / 100% Said "Thanks" 1 Times Was Thanked 8,244 Times in 2,201 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 8 Times	Re: Basjoo seed Hello and Welcome! It is because M. basjoo is so common and demanded that it is mostly produced via tissue culture. It is easy to produce many plants by tissue culture which is actually a lot cheaper than harvesting seed which requires the growing of many mature plants in the ground which takes a lot of resources and space. Tissue culture is cheap and easy and can be done anywhere in the world. I am not sure of the source of some of the banana seeds on the market, whether people are growing the plants specifically for seed sales or whether they are harvested from the (dwindling) wild populations. In either case, M. basjoo seed would be a lot more expensive to produce and is harder to grow and thus harder to sell than its tissue culture counterparts. Not that M. basjoo seed isn't available from time to time from some sources, but it is rare to see it offered for sale. If someone has a few big stands of M. basjoo that flower all the time, and is willing to put in the effort of coordinating the hand pollination necessary for seed set, it would be possible to produce a decent amount of seed. __________________ Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.