Bananas_are_awesome

Hello everybody,

I am new here.

So I have had bananas in my garden for 4 years now, they were sold to me as Musa basjoo from a nursery.
Since winter here usually kills them or at least causes severe damage I usually cut them off in the spring and let them start again from the ground.

Last winter was mild and frost damage was minor and only on the leaves. I let the bananas from last year stand- and now I have the first flower.

I am really excited about this flower, it made me very happy.
And I obviously would like to see the fruit it makes.

I spent yesterday googling very much to find answers to quite some questions and didn`t find good information. Instead I found this forum.
And since this forum didn`t let me silent read for as many threads as I`d had liked but forced me to register I thought that ok, then at least I can ask banana enthusiasts directly- they will know.

so.
1) what pollinates musa basjoo in the natural habitat? I found one paper mentioning M. basjoo in only one sentence and it was mentioned together with fruit bats?

2) will I get banana fruit without having the right fruit bats, meaning, without pollination?

3) will I get seed without pollination?

4) do I have to perform pollination with a paintbrush and if so, is the banana self-fertile?
I have 1 flower only and my whole banana patch is genetically 1 plant, they are all pups from the original one. (I did buy 2 original ones, but since it is so easy to grow them from pups I have the suspician that genetically they are the same even if they came in two pots- secrets that only the nursery overseas will know and people who are so fortunate to have access to laboritary testing)


5) Even if they are small and (hopefully) full of seed- can you still eat them? Internet claims they are a delicacy where the banana comes from but I could not find any recipes mentioning musa basjoo.


Awesome forum btw! I read as much as I could without registering and liked it a lot!

It would be great if you could help me satisfy my curiosity about Musa basjoo fruiting! Thanks for your time!


(edited to add: how did the dancing banana end up in the title? I wanted it as a happy dancing good bye under this long post...)