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View Full Version : The hellish carousel of Ice cream and dwarf namwah


EuroBanana
06-16-2012, 10:52 AM
Good morning everybody !

A month ago I purchased from a well known European supplier two musas :

- One Ice cream (aka blue java).
- One Dwarf namwah.

I potted the two plants and they are now doing well and are about one meter high (with pots).

The problem is that they are looking exactly the same.

- leaf midrib pinkish.
- leaves margins pink.
- leaf petiole closed.

I think the plants are from tissue culture, it could be from Agristarts.

Of course I will post some pictures ASP.

From your personal knowledge, do juvenile 80 cm plants of dwarf namwah and Ice cream looks like exactly the same ?

Thanks for help,

Phil

RandyGHO
06-16-2012, 12:55 PM
Like you I started wondering what I had after reading several post on ice creams. Phil, I did some google researching on banana identification. It became clear that albeit some banana plants have certain traits that make them easy to identify, a lot of banana varieties can not be identified till they flower and fruit. They use color inside and out, shape of the end of the banana, and the flower.

The ice cream if I remember right used the flower as the first identifying characteristic. Before that, they look just like a lot of bananas.

Even some require a chromosome count.

As Bo said, don't worry about it, enjoy the plants. Even if they are wrong, you might have something better.

Randy

caliboy1994
06-16-2012, 01:32 PM
Ice Cream and Dwarf Namwah, even if its AgriStarts Ice Cream, should not be the same plant. As they get bigger, you should begin to notice that the Ice Cream is getting a lot taller. If you don't have the real Ice Cream though, both plants will produce similar fruit.

EuroBanana
06-16-2012, 02:15 PM
Here are the pics :

On the first one you can see the two plants side by side.
The over pics refer alternatively to one plant then to the other.
Some pics are taken with flash some without flash.
I am sorry but it is 8 h 00 PM here !

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100008.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100018.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100017.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100016.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100015.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100014.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100013.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100012.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100011.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100010.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff280/EuroPalm/P1100009.jpg

EuroBanana
06-16-2012, 02:25 PM
Like you I started wondering what I had after reading several post on ice creams. Phil, I did some google researching on banana identification. It became clear that albeit some banana plants have certain traits that make them easy to identify, a lot of banana varieties can not be identified till they flower and fruit. They use color inside and out, shape of the end of the banana, and the flower.

The ice cream if I remember right used the flower as the first identifying characteristic. Before that, they look just like a lot of bananas.

Even some require a chromosome count.

As Bo said, don't worry about it, enjoy the plants. Even if they are wrong, you might have something better.

Randy


Ice Cream and Dwarf Namwah, even if its AgriStarts Ice Cream, should not be the same plant. As they get bigger, you should begin to notice that the Ice Cream is getting a lot taller. If you don't have the real Ice Cream though, both plants will produce similar fruit.

Hi Randy and Andreas,

Thanks for your answer.
All this situation make me remind of my exchanges on the cycad forum.
It is quite impossible to get the exact cycad you pay for.
Sometimes you get an hybrid sometimes you get another species.
With the bananas it is the same situation : you rarely know what you buy.
Bananas clones we are speaking about on the forum are some kind of Graal very difficult to obtain.....unless in our dreams...
So let's dream about Ice cream and others and maybe one day we will get them by chance !!

True ?

Phil

EuroBanana
06-16-2012, 02:40 PM
Like you I started wondering what I had after reading several post on ice creams. Phil, I did some google researching on banana identification. It became clear that albeit some banana plants have certain traits that make them easy to identify, a lot of banana varieties can not be identified till they flower and fruit. They use color inside and out, shape of the end of the banana, and the flower.

The ice cream if I remember right used the flower as the first identifying characteristic. Before that, they look just like a lot of bananas.

Even some require a chromosome count.

As Bo said, don't worry about it, enjoy the plants. Even if they are wrong, you might have something better.

Randy

Randy,

I had a look on your blog.
A question with your permission :
We are now on june, do you have ripe apples right now in your garden ?
Mines are ripe at the begining of septembre...

Phil

RandyGHO
06-16-2012, 04:43 PM
Phil, yes I sure do have two trees with ripe apples. They are Anna and Golden Dorsett. They are pollinator partners.

I have planted Williams pride this year so in a couple of years I should have apples late July. I expect the Fuji in the middle of August this year because of the warm spring. I am thinking of a Red-Free for a fall planting for a first of August apple

Randy

Iunepeace
06-17-2012, 01:02 AM
Phil, yes I sure do have two trees with ripe apples. They are Anna and Golden Dorsett. They are pollinator partners.

I have planted Williams pride this year so in a couple of years I should have apples late July. I expect the Fuji in the middle of August this year because of the warm spring. I am thinking of a Red-Free for a fall planting for a first of August apple

Randy

Woot for the Golden Dorsett reference! I just found out recently that they were discovered first on an island here :D

Where'd you get the plant if I may ask, and how does it match up to the others?

RandyGHO
06-17-2012, 10:55 AM
Yes I knew the Dorsett was a chance seedling from the Bahamas. Its partner, the Anna is an apple developed in Israel. They are the perfect pollination partners. The Dorsett should be available on the island I would think.

The Anna does require some chill hours so not sure if you have any hours below 45F.

Iunepeace
06-18-2012, 12:31 PM
When you say chance seedling what do you mean? And I don't remember having come across the Golden Dorsett on any nursery I've been to but I was never specifically looking for it so I might have overlooked it. It should definitely be on New Providence though, which is where it was discovered.

I'd like to grow the Anna with the Golden Dorsett, although it only dips to 45F maybe one or two days out of the years every three to five years or so here lol, so that might not be too feasible. The Golden Dorsett doesn't require any chill hours at all?

RandyGHO
06-18-2012, 12:51 PM
When an apple seed makes its way to the ground, the tree then fruit it produces will more than likely have different characteristics from the fruit the seed came from. In rare cases such as the Dorsett, the chance seed that found its way into the ground, produce a tree that is unique and useful. A large number of apple variates have come about because of chance seedlings such as the Granny Smith.

Chill hour on apples can be misleading. To see if you can grow any kind of apples it is best to ask around your area for local expertise.

I hope that helps.

Randy

Iunepeace
06-18-2012, 01:16 PM
Thanks RandyGHO that was very helpful. I had no idea new varieties of apples sometimes came about by seeds of another variety simply sprouting naturally.

I'm glad the chill hours don't always apply across the board. Even when researching peach varieties that could be grown here the ones I came across that most fit still had 100 or more chill hours as a requirement, yet people in southern florida grow them. I guess it depends on more than the chill hours.

You've been very helpful :D

RandyGHO
06-18-2012, 03:16 PM
Now stone fruit, peaches, are closer tied to chill hour rating than apples. With the unusual warm spring we had only two of my four peach trees had peaches. Still, with luck, you might do fine. I wish I knew more about growing fruit in your area to be more positive.

Try here.

Fruit & Orchards Forum - GardenWeb (http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/fruit/)

Again, ask round. I know there have been several new releases for Florida in past several years.

Iunepeace
06-18-2012, 09:24 PM
To be fair, it does usually get in the low 60s here in winter, which to us feels pretty cold so I hope those low-chill varieties can concur lol. What kinds of peaches do you have? The UF Sun is supposedly a good candidate for this area since it has one of the lowest chilling hour requirements on the market. And it is from the University of Florida's breeding program; they've come out with quite a few nifty low-chill apples and pears and plum and etc. :)