JoeReal

reminds me of real estate around here. As long as there are plenty of people who want to buy it so that they can reproduce it at still higher prices, the demand will exponentially build and so the prices sky rockets. Then at one point, a bubble will come bursting, when there are too many ae-ae suppliers. I am patiently waiting for that, it is a banana that I would like to have as a novelty, not for profit, I am not into it. If I were to put price on my time based on my hourly rate, it would actually cost me a lot more than the current price of ae-ae to separate a pup from a mom plant, pot it, water it and make it grow, then package it and go to the post office to ship it, and back home. I am doing it because I love it, connecting with possible nice people, sharing ideas, for me, that is priceless.

One of these days, my friends in Tissue Culture laboratories will unlock the secrets to mass TC of ae-ae's and I will have loads of them for free. Two years now, and results are still not encouraging, but ultimately, I can wait of course for that to come, or when someone will trade an ae-ae with the unglamorous but equally pricey California Gold pup with me. California Gold is available only in auction from eBay or from Jeff Earl, trade with other people, no online stores are selling this banana. Here's my research on California Gold:


California Gold:
Rare Dwarf banana plant that is proven to be the cold hardiest of all edible fruit producing types bananas in Northern California. An excellent cold hardy mutant, most probably brought in from the Philippines more than 25 years ago, and has mutated and adapted to successfully produce fruit in Zone 9. While it is related to blueggoe and Dwarf Orinoco, some veteran growers that have grown California Gold observed that it has different shape of fruit than Dwarf Orinoco and slightly different growth habits. For more than 10 years that Jeff Earl (original seller), this banana has consistently produced an average of 25 lbs of good tasting yellow fruit in Zone 9 Northern California, thus nicknamed "California Gold - a real cold hardy fruit producer". Exceptionally frost hardy compared to other bananas, and produces good fruit, year after year, in Northern California, without any frost protection. Only a few banana plants might equal the cold hardiness of California Gold, such as the inedible Japanese fiber banana Musa basjoo. Cavendish type banana plants such as Super Dwarf, Williams and Double Mahoi, and most of the other edible banana plants will freeze to the ground and die during the cold winter spells when left outside without any winter protection. The California Gold banana shakes off the cold. It may lose its leaves after a hard freeze, but then continues to grow when the weather warms in the spring. The leaves lost during the winter don’t seem to slow this plant down much. California Gold have produced tasty bananas outdoors during the summer after enduring winter low temp in the low 20’s! These plants should be able grow fine in USDA zone 8 and above as an outdoor plant. They have been fruited as far north as Washington State and British Columbia with only minor winter protection. The mature plant is small only 5-6 ft tall. Some of plants have produced fruit in as early as 11 months from a pup. This exotic looking plant makes a stunning tropical impression in any garden as well as a lovely indoor potted plant. Delicious fruits rival any store bought fruit in quality and flavor, with just a hint of lemon and strawberry.


The above research could be very well hype, but I have tested it to be true so far in my backyard in zone 9. I got my California Gold from an auction by Jeff Earl, a couple of years ago. The California Gold is blooming at this moment, will post pics on that later.