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JoeReal · 06-21-2006, 04:00 AM

Almost all banana plants sold in eBay that are in the range of a foot to 24 inches long are tissue cultured plantlets. Their measurement of height is from root tip to the tip of the leaves, with the pseudostem more likely from 3" to 8" only and chopstick to pencil sized trunk diameter.

When meristematic tissues are obtained from parent plant, grown in some nutrient broth, the tissues could be subdivided indefinitely, producing thousands upon thousands of plantlets which are later separated and individually planted in itty bitty pots. Thus one donor parent could produce several hundred thousand plantlets if so desired. These itty bitty pots are mass cultured until the plants become bigger and sold off by the flats composed anywhere from 2 dozen to hundred of individual plants. The famous supplier of these tissue cultured plantlets sold by the flats is Agri-Starts, perhaps a big majority of the source of eBay sellers. The eBayer entrepreneur buys these flats, as it is too expensive for ordinary hobbyists to buy a single variety by the minimum order, and then that entrepeneur will repot these plantlets further, care for them until they are bigger, replant them on bigger pots, and then individually auction them off. The tissue cultured plantlets are sold anywhere from $0.99 each to $19.95 depending upon how gullible the first timer buyers get.

Other retail nurseries also purchase from Agri-Starts and then they really spend time to grow the plants so that they become bigger and then sell them off at about $20 to $30 per plant. One of the easiest ways to distinguish a tissue cultured plant from a real pup is that the corms of the tissue cultured plantlets are disproportionately tiny and very thin diameter pseudostems. Tissue cultured plants would take 3 to 4 years before they fruit and would require extra care. You don't plant these directly into your soil, you will have to grow them in pots first and bring them in each winter, until the trunks are at least about 2 ft high and then you can plant them in the ground late spring to early summer. Never plant in the fall, there is no time for growth and you will have to dig them out stressing the plants and killing them.

A pup comes from a mother plant and they are usually taken off during mid-spring to mid-summer and when their trunks are at least a foot high. A 3-ft high pup would be ideal and they can be planted right away in the ground and usually bear fruit next year or two. They are also strong growers, but a lot depends upon how carefully they were taken from the mother plant.

To save on shipping, sometimes, you only need to ship the corm of the pup and plant it, but it would delay the growth of the plant, but still a lot better than tissue cultured plants. So you can have the whole pseudostem cutoff or broken and the plant will easily regrow from its corm. If the tissue cultured banana plants stems are broken off, they will not regrow back especially when you just bought them.

If you can handle potted plants carefully, the tissue cultured plants are one of the cheap ways to obtain banana plants. Grow them in pots well before planting them in the ground.

One of my reliable source of good planting materials is www.going-bananas.com They sell plants that have very good root system and of good quality size trunks. Sometimes they sell tissue cultured plants, sometimes pups, but it doesn't matter as their plants that are sold are good sizes ready to go into the soil for planting. Prices are reasonable.

In eBay, if they don't mention that the plants are pups, it is 99.99% certain that they are tissue cultured. Moreover, I have high incidences of mislabeled tissue cultured plants from eBay or elsewhere, but it doesn't stop me from trying out banana plants. One of my favorite banana seller at eBay is wellspring100, sometimes he would go the extra mile to keep you happy, like I emailed him that some of the shipped banana plants have broken stems, he'd reship replacements without hesitation. He sells tissue cultured banana plantlets on the cheap, and you can combine orders for cheaper shipping.

06-21-2006, 04:00 AM	#9 (permalink)
JoeReal Senior Member JoeReal's Photo Gallery Location: Davis, California USDA zone 9 Find me on the map! Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 905 BananaBucks : 18,391 Feedback: 1 / 100% Thanks: 19 Thanked 127 Times in 87 Posts Welcomes: 2	Re: Hello,from California Almost all banana plants sold in eBay that are in the range of a foot to 24 inches long are tissue cultured plantlets. Their measurement of height is from root tip to the tip of the leaves, with the pseudostem more likely from 3" to 8" only and chopstick to pencil sized trunk diameter. When meristematic tissues are obtained from parent plant, grown in some nutrient broth, the tissues could be subdivided indefinitely, producing thousands upon thousands of plantlets which are later separated and individually planted in itty bitty pots. Thus one donor parent could produce several hundred thousand plantlets if so desired. These itty bitty pots are mass cultured until the plants become bigger and sold off by the flats composed anywhere from 2 dozen to hundred of individual plants. The famous supplier of these tissue cultured plantlets sold by the flats is Agri-Starts, perhaps a big majority of the source of eBay sellers. The eBayer entrepreneur buys these flats, as it is too expensive for ordinary hobbyists to buy a single variety by the minimum order, and then that entrepeneur will repot these plantlets further, care for them until they are bigger, replant them on bigger pots, and then individually auction them off. The tissue cultured plantlets are sold anywhere from $0.99 each to $19.95 depending upon how gullible the first timer buyers get. Other retail nurseries also purchase from Agri-Starts and then they really spend time to grow the plants so that they become bigger and then sell them off at about $20 to $30 per plant. One of the easiest ways to distinguish a tissue cultured plant from a real pup is that the corms of the tissue cultured plantlets are disproportionately tiny and very thin diameter pseudostems. Tissue cultured plants would take 3 to 4 years before they fruit and would require extra care. You don't plant these directly into your soil, you will have to grow them in pots first and bring them in each winter, until the trunks are at least about 2 ft high and then you can plant them in the ground late spring to early summer. Never plant in the fall, there is no time for growth and you will have to dig them out stressing the plants and killing them. A pup comes from a mother plant and they are usually taken off during mid-spring to mid-summer and when their trunks are at least a foot high. A 3-ft high pup would be ideal and they can be planted right away in the ground and usually bear fruit next year or two. They are also strong growers, but a lot depends upon how carefully they were taken from the mother plant. To save on shipping, sometimes, you only need to ship the corm of the pup and plant it, but it would delay the growth of the plant, but still a lot better than tissue cultured plants. So you can have the whole pseudostem cutoff or broken and the plant will easily regrow from its corm. If the tissue cultured banana plants stems are broken off, they will not regrow back especially when you just bought them. If you can handle potted plants carefully, the tissue cultured plants are one of the cheap ways to obtain banana plants. Grow them in pots well before planting them in the ground. One of my reliable source of good planting materials is www.going-bananas.com They sell plants that have very good root system and of good quality size trunks. Sometimes they sell tissue cultured plants, sometimes pups, but it doesn't matter as their plants that are sold are good sizes ready to go into the soil for planting. Prices are reasonable. In eBay, if they don't mention that the plants are pups, it is 99.99% certain that they are tissue cultured. Moreover, I have high incidences of mislabeled tissue cultured plants from eBay or elsewhere, but it doesn't stop me from trying out banana plants. One of my favorite banana seller at eBay is wellspring100, sometimes he would go the extra mile to keep you happy, like I emailed him that some of the shipped banana plants have broken stems, he'd reship replacements without hesitation. He sells tissue cultured banana plantlets on the cheap, and you can combine orders for cheaper shipping. Last edited by JoeReal : 06-21-2006 at 04:09 AM.