Bananas.org - View Single Post - What varieties to get to stimulate school kids

pjkfarm · 02-02-2019, 10:54 AM

Good suggestions! We have had some bananas fruit in the past - zero idea of what kind - we still have the pups, (probably 15 generations or more) will try to post pictures and might be able to identify as they were not very big plants (12-14 feet maybe), no pictures of the flowers though.
Question though: If we got a very tall one (Orinoco or ??? I gather is tall), and we want to have something BIG- we dig it and overwinter it - would it not make a pretty impressive plant, even if it does not bear, by the end of the season? I guess the question would be whether this would be a bigger plant than say a dwarf which had been brought to fruiting stage.
I think that having two different wows! would improve the experience - and for sure the bunch of bananas would be a wow! as 99% would never have seen them in a bunch or even understand what a hand was, but also something really tall with huge leaves. Maybe an Ensete rather than a banana? The pseudostem is very impressive.
And speaking of Ensete, how long does it take to get a full sized plant from seed? (I gather that they generally do not have pups).
Thanks again for good point on how important fruiting would be for an experience!

02-02-2019, 10:54 AM	#5 (permalink)
pjkfarm Find me on the map! Join Date: Jan 2019 Posts: 238 BananaBucks : 19,612 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,460 Times Was Thanked 224 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 102 Times	Re: What varieties to get to stimulate school kids Good suggestions! We have had some bananas fruit in the past - zero idea of what kind - we still have the pups, (probably 15 generations or more) will try to post pictures and might be able to identify as they were not very big plants (12-14 feet maybe), no pictures of the flowers though. Question though: If we got a very tall one (Orinoco or ??? I gather is tall), and we want to have something BIG- we dig it and overwinter it - would it not make a pretty impressive plant, even if it does not bear, by the end of the season? I guess the question would be whether this would be a bigger plant than say a dwarf which had been brought to fruiting stage. I think that having two different wows! would improve the experience - and for sure the bunch of bananas would be a wow! as 99% would never have seen them in a bunch or even understand what a hand was, but also something really tall with huge leaves. Maybe an Ensete rather than a banana? The pseudostem is very impressive. And speaking of Ensete, how long does it take to get a full sized plant from seed? (I gather that they generally do not have pups). Thanks again for good point on how important fruiting would be for an experience!