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View Full Version : Dwarf Brazilian vs Tall Brazilian


Tropicallvr
05-14-2007, 05:25 PM
I just got a nice Tall brazilian from going bananas, and now I'm thinking I should at least get a dwarf to do a proper cold hardy test :2723: with both.
Has anybody noticed a difference between the two in terms of hardiness?
Or for that matter a difference in hardiness between the dwarf and tall orinoco's? My tall orinoco did really well on the warmer coast, but I gave my dwarf to someone with a greenhouse, so not much to compare.

Simply Bananas
08-25-2008, 06:30 PM
How did the comparison work out?

Tropicallvr
08-25-2008, 06:55 PM
Never had a chance to test them out.
Someone(Joe Real maybe?) thought the tall version was more cold hardy, but probably tougher to get to fruit than the short one.

Simply Bananas
08-25-2008, 07:34 PM
I have a tall one now doing well. Its in its 4th month from a TC. May get dwarfs/dwarves next year if I am lucky.

endeitz
08-25-2008, 10:12 PM
I bought both dwarf and tall types from online sources last winter (at least I hope they are the right thing, they are definitely Braz. since the leaves have the right streaking), overwintered them in pots in an attached garage next to a sunny window, and planted them in the ground in late March.

The dwarf grew very well by my gardening standards and is now about 8' tall. The tall brazilian did not fare as well, and is only about 6' tall. No, I didn't get them switched at birth (of course one was from Ebay. . .). They both seem to suffer in the Texas sun/heat. It has been absolutely brutal here this summer, with constant >100F high temps.

I will be attempting to protect the stems of both this winter (I am 8a, we get down to 15F-ish) with bubble wrap or something similar, and a foot of mulch on the ground. I have pups from the dwarf to put in the garage again, and am hoping the tall one will pup in time that I can save one of those as well. Regardless, I am confident that the mothers will at least come back from the ground, even if the stems don't survive.

I think we will all know more in the spring, and can compare notes then!

Cheers,

Ed.

Chironex
08-26-2008, 02:46 AM
I bought both dwarf and tall types from online sources last winter (at least I hope they are the right thing, they are definitely Braz. since the leaves have the right streaking), overwintered them in pots in an attached garage next to a sunny window, and planted them in the ground in late March.

The dwarf grew very well by my gardening standards and is now about 8' tall. The tall brazilian did not fare as well, and is only about 6' tall. No, I didn't get them switched at birth (of course one was from Ebay. . .). They both seem to suffer in the Texas sun/heat. It has been absolutely brutal here this summer, with constant >100F high temps.

I will be attempting to protect the stems of both this winter (I am 8a, we get down to 15F-ish) with bubble wrap or something similar, and a foot of mulch on the ground. I have pups from the dwarf to put in the garage again, and am hoping the tall one will pup in time that I can save one of those as well. Regardless, I am confident that the mothers will at least come back from the ground, even if the stems don't survive.

I think we will all know more in the spring, and can compare notes then!

Cheers,

Ed.
We are up here in Las Vegas and doing the same kind of tests. Let's share info to find the best for our area.

Abnshrek
05-11-2010, 12:56 PM
I can't believe there isn't any updates on this thread or input? :^)

DaveE
05-13-2010, 10:37 PM
Any updates?

Dave

momoese
05-13-2010, 10:53 PM
I have both. They both taste great. One is tall, one is short. :)

SoBe Musa
05-14-2010, 09:47 AM
Also have both dwarf/tall and even that temperatures here in South Florida don’t get too cold for comparison , this year we had ( here in Miami Beach)low/mid 30s with strong wind chill factor and both did it very well and comparison to Saba ,Kendrian and all other that I grow. Also I got them at going bananas .

Today's pics :
Tall BRAZILIAN - about10/11ft -hold the fruit Through the winter.
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/SoBe_Musa/IMG_0740.jpg
Dwarf BRAZILIAN- about 5 1/2ft it hold the flag also.
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/SoBe_Musa/IMG_0737.jpg

SoBe Musa
09-21-2010, 11:55 PM
Here is what is happening with Tall and Dwarf Brazilian..a strong difference in the fruit size and banana count..bunches are from photos posted before.
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/SoBe_Musa/GARDENSEP142010.jpg

Dwarf Brazilian :
http://i815.photobucket.com/albums/zz77/SoBe_Musa/PLANTAS8.jpg

Gabe15
09-22-2010, 12:20 AM
Emily, your plants appear both to be 'Dwarf Brazilian'. Only the dwarf has persistent male flowers and bracts like that, the tall falls off right away and when well fed is a much larger plant.

Here is a photo of the tall.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=36857&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=36857&ppuser=5)

Bananaman88
09-22-2010, 12:35 PM
I am growing both, though in different locations. I have the DB in my back yard and the tall Brazilian at my place of work in the city. The city location typically stays several degrees warmer during the winter so it probably won't be a great comparison. I'll try to remember and post what I observe in the spring.

momoese
09-22-2010, 01:26 PM
Gabe is correct as usual. My Dwarf holds the bracts and the Tall drops them as fast as they open. The Talls are much taller too. I've had some with 18-20 feet of pseudo stem.

Also the fruits are about the same size and flavor on both of mine.

Dalmatiansoap
09-22-2010, 03:38 PM
Naaaaah, Brazilian!!!!
:bungejumpnaner:
:0491:
:bananas_b

momoese
09-22-2010, 04:57 PM
Naaaaah, Brazilian!!!!
:bungejumpnaner:
:0491:
:bananas_b

Some day Ante. It's hard to believe no one in Croatia has DB. Are you the only guy growing bananas there?

What about Agristarts, can they ship there?

What if I put a small pup inside a stuffed animal and shipped it? Think that would work? :ha: Then it would really be a stuffed animal!

SoBe Musa
09-22-2010, 11:09 PM
So, both may be Dwarf ...time for a real tall one ...
One thing they may look close in sizes but the differences are there,i don't know about the leaf deferences.. you guys are the experts.
And the bananas where nice and sweet both thought.
Thanks

momoese
09-23-2010, 12:58 AM
So, both may be Dwarf ...time for a real tall one ...
One thing they may look close in sizes but the differences are there,i don't know about the leaf deferences.. you guys are the experts.
And the bananas where nice and sweet both thought.
Thanks

You want a tall one, lmk

Dalmatiansoap
09-23-2010, 04:44 AM
Haha, my day will come momoese:ha:
Thx for the offer but no reason to bother, let us keep animals stuffed in the way they allready are:ha:
:bananas_b

Gabe15
09-23-2010, 12:17 PM
So, both may be Dwarf ...time for a real tall one ...
One thing they may look close in sizes but the differences are there,i don't know about the leaf deferences.. you guys are the experts.
And the bananas where nice and sweet both thought.
Thanks

They are definitely both dwarf, but the smaller of your two plants for some reason is struggling. That bunch is very small and the plant is relatively small too. Your "tall" agrees with a typical well nourished 'Dwarf Brazilian', and your "dwarf" agrees with a struggling 'Dwarf Brazilian'. 'Brazilian' (tall) when undernourished typically gets about 10-12ft, while a well nourished plant is typically easily 18-20ft, sometimes even near 25ft.

cheson74
02-16-2012, 06:31 PM
I dug up a clump of Brazilians. The two tallest pstems were about 20 feet. The mat itself was about 3 ft across. It took me nearly 4 days to dig them all out.

I still have 3 Dwarf Brazilians that are growing nicely. Around this area of Hawaii, the tall Brazilians are very susceptible to breaking in half from the strong winds.

momoese
02-16-2012, 06:33 PM
Around this area of Hawaii, the tall Brazilians are very susceptible to breaking in half from the strong winds.

Same here with the Santa Ana winds. My mat is going bye bye this spring. Shame because I love the tall plants.

Basjoofriend
02-16-2012, 11:00 PM
Dwarf Brazilian is also called Pratinha in Brazil, and Tall Brazlian is also called Prata in Brazil. I have these here in Brazil on my yard, too.

Best wishes
Basjoofriend

Richard
02-16-2012, 11:04 PM
Dwarf Brazilian is also called Pratinha in Brazil, and Tall Brazlian is also called Prata in Brazil. I have these here in Brazil on my yard, too.

For your plants growing in Brazil, what is the difference in fruit size between the two?

venturabananas
02-17-2012, 02:32 AM
For your plants growing in Brazil, what is the difference in fruit size between the two?

Good question. Many Brazilian fruits in the markets in Hawaii were as big or bigger than typical Cavendish fruits, which is to say, big. As these were in markets, I have no idea if they came from dwarf or tall Brazilian. I've never seen dwarf Brazilian fruit anywhere near that large in CA, but that could just be due to our non-tropical conditions. I don't know.

Basjoofriend
02-17-2012, 03:18 PM
The fruits are small and tastes somewhat a bit like apples. Smaller than Nanição alias Dwarf Cavendish.

Best wishes
Basjoofriend

Nicolas Naranja
02-21-2012, 09:01 PM
The main difference that I always see between tall and dwarf plants is that the tall plants tend to produce cleaner fruit. The bunches seem to have more space between hands so the bracts blow off. I imagine the humidity up there is lower. Most of our frosts are radiational so you can often have a several degree difference between 6' and 18'. I'd rather have short plants though, I can deflower and pick the bracts off and spray the bunch with copper and serenade and make an absolutely beautiful bunch. And of course a 20' tall plant is a pain to harvest.

Jack Daw
02-22-2012, 12:53 PM
Some day Ante. It's hard to believe no one in Croatia has DB. Are you the only guy growing bananas there?

What about Agristarts, can they ship there?

What if I put a small pup inside a stuffed animal and shipped it? Think that would work? :ha: Then it would really be a stuffed animal!
I can ship to Ante.
Late in the november a pup showed up. It's small now, but I believe it can be shipped. Lemme know, Soapy. ;)

Dalmatiansoap
02-22-2012, 02:18 PM
I can ship to Ante.
Late in the november a pup showed up. It's small now, but I believe it can be shipped. Lemme know, Soapy. ;)

:woohoonaner:
:woohoonaner:
thats a nice news!
:nanadrink:

momoese
02-22-2012, 06:02 PM
I can ship to Ante.
Late in the november a pup showed up. It's small now, but I believe it can be shipped. Lemme know, Soapy. ;)

That's awesome Jack. How did you acquire it?

Jack Daw
02-22-2012, 07:45 PM
That's awesome Jack. How did you acquire it?
Marcel from Switzerland had a spare pup. It's a nice, vigorous plant, but needs lots of sunshine. More than I can provide. :08:

meizzwang
08-01-2018, 12:48 PM
Bringing back this thread from the dead! Some more pics of Dwarf Brazilian:


Dwarf Brazilian is the shorter plant in the foreground. In the background is a maybe 15-16' tall Ice Cream(the real deal one!) but it's down the hill a little bit and has bent over drammatically, so the picture might be deceptive if trying to gauge height:
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1738/42084076304_931a0fe9f3_c.jpg



Various fruit photos. I cut off the male bud so that's not helpful for ID purposes, but this Dwarf plant is only 6-8' when it fruits here in Northern California. The P-stems can get very massive(not shown), and the fruit take forever to ripen. One of these bunches have been hanging since October 2017 and it's still not done!
https://s33.postimg.cc/jcsy59rvz/IMG_7332.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/5j4lg7zaj/)

https://s33.postimg.cc/rib03g3a7/IMG_7333.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/rv2e9mljv/)

https://s33.postimg.cc/m6w3iqoxb/IMG_7334.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/5vvzmfcff/)

https://s33.postimg.cc/6y664yftb/IMG_7335.jpg (https://postimg.cc/image/w474bsh3f/)

meizzwang
08-08-2018, 06:16 PM
A zoomed out view of the dwarf brazilian plant (to the left), the P-stem on this one isn't more than 7' tall. The banana plants to the right are ice cream, but they're falling over so they don't seem as tall:
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/858/43887420162_45eefaa6cb_c.jpg

Natureboy
06-27-2019, 01:50 PM
I just got a nice Tall brazilian from going bananas, and now I'm thinking I should at least get a dwarf to do a proper cold hardy test :2723: with both.
Has anybody noticed a difference between the two in terms of hardiness?
Or for that matter a difference in hardiness between the dwarf and tall orinoco's? My tall orinoco did really well on the warmer coast, but I gave my dwarf to someone with a greenhouse, so not much to compare.

The "Brazilian" currently being sold by Going Bananas (2019) in South Florida is definitely a Dwarf Brazilian. A friend of mine bought one from them and it flowers at about 7 ft with persistent male flowers. His plant fruited well in Central Florida.