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southlatropical
11-16-2007, 07:11 PM
Are they a good company to mail order from? I've heard both good and bad. They seem to have a great selection of plants. Thanks

natedogg1026
11-16-2007, 11:25 PM
Stokes Tropicals list them in their book as a recomended banana supplier so I'd feel safe ordering from them.-NATE:dancinpup:

cherokee_greg
07-24-2011, 06:03 PM
Has anyone got bananas from Aloha Tropicals ? Is so did you get what you ordered ? here is the feedback on Daves Garden
The scoop on 'Aloha Tropicals' (http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/472/)

digdeep
07-24-2011, 06:34 PM
Are their bananas TC?

cherokee_greg
07-24-2011, 06:46 PM
Are their bananas TC?

I donot know thats why im asking.

Steve L
07-25-2011, 12:11 PM
I'm sure Andy sells some TC bananas but he also sells some bananas that you just don't see offered by other internet nurseries so my guess would be that those are TC'd plants. He used to live in Hawaii and has good sources for Hawaiian bananas; hence, the nice variety of those types. I've ordered from Andy for over 10 years and have never received the wrong plant, including bananas. Some were very nice sized plants, others were small. But he does care about his business and generally tries very hard to satisfy his customers.

Steve L
07-25-2011, 12:12 PM
Sorry, meant to write that the hard to find bananas were probably NOT TC'd plants.

venturabananas
07-25-2011, 12:34 PM
I have not ordered bananas from Aloha Tropical, but I have ordered other things from him a couple of times; e.g., Tiare (Tahitian gardenia) and Plumeria. I always got what I ordered, though sometimes it took weeks to arrive. Andy has usually, but not always, responded to questions that I've emailed him.

He says that some of his bananas are TC and some are pups. Not sure who does the TC'ing. I asked him about Ha'a Ha'a, which doesn't seem to be available anywhere else, and he said the ones he had in stock were TC plants.

cherokee_greg
07-26-2011, 11:47 AM
I'm sure Andy sells some TC bananas but he also sells some bananas that you just don't see offered by other internet nurseries so my guess would be that those are TC'd plants. He used to live in Hawaii and has good sources for Hawaiian bananas; hence, the nice variety of those types. I've ordered from Andy for over 10 years and have never received the wrong plant, including bananas. Some were very nice sized plants, others were small. But he does care about his business and generally tries very hard to satisfy his customers.

I know he has some I never heard of. Sounds like a good place to get some hard to find plants. Thanks every one for your help.

Richard
07-26-2011, 01:21 PM
The luggage of military personnel flying on military cargo plants is not inspected. And thus many exotic plants show up here in San Diego at their homes and the nurseries of their acquaintances. At the very least, get a sanity check on the plant species and cultivar, and definitely treat the plant and whatever it is transported in for exotic pests and diseases.

john_ny
07-26-2011, 02:09 PM
As a retired Navy oficer, I can assure you that each time we brought an airplane back into the U. S. we went through a customs/agriculture inspection just like anyone else.

plundccre
07-26-2011, 03:50 PM
I have only ordered from Aloha once and was disappointed. All 3 of the plants that I ordered were very small and two of them did not survive more than a week after receipt. They replaced one of the ones that died but the replacement soon died as well. The 3rd plant that I received from them, a red jade vine, is still alive and growing after several months so that should be worth something as it was the most expensive of the 3.

Richard
07-26-2011, 06:41 PM
As a retired Navy oficer, I can assure you that each time we brought an airplane back into the U. S. we went through a customs/agriculture inspection just like anyone else.

I have weekly contact with customers who either maintain, travel on, or fly military cargo vessels to and from the Philippines and similar destinations. I can assure you that smuggling is commonplace. I have people who show up with a suitcase straight off the aircraft, open it up, and ask questions about the plants they've just brought in.

plundccre
07-26-2011, 06:49 PM
Just FYI, I have brought plants back from Hawaii on several occasions and have declared them as part of the agricultural inspection. The requirement is that they do not have any soil on them. Cuttings and bare roots seem to be OK.

venturabananas
07-26-2011, 08:26 PM
Peter, that is pretty scary given that the "legitimate" inspection wouldn't catch nasty viruses (e.g., BBTV), bacteria, or fungi in or on the plant. And then there's Richard's customers with no inspection!

sunfish
07-26-2011, 09:41 PM
‪Red Palm Weevil Pest‬‏ - YouTube (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DvkR7oi43ITs&ei=unovToaULObjiAL8stUr&usg=AFQjCNF9DNB8ktzeNKqgxEB0rDSvXfmMAQ)

sunfish
07-26-2011, 09:49 PM
‪Overview of the Red Palm Weevil‬‏ - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en&v=s4NSPvYU1n4)

plundccre
07-27-2011, 02:01 PM
Peter, that is pretty scary given that the "legitimate" inspection wouldn't catch nasty viruses (e.g., BBTV), bacteria, or fungi in or on the plant. And then there's Richard's customers with no inspection!

This is only from Hawaii. I assume (and hope) that things are more strict from another country coming in to the US.

venturabananas
07-27-2011, 05:35 PM
Yes, but Hawaii has all sorts of nasty tropical diseases. Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is there, and that one seems as bad and as incurable as any of them.

Richard
07-27-2011, 10:14 PM
Yes, but Hawaii has all sorts of nasty tropical diseases. Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is there, and that one seems as bad and as incurable as any of them.

BBTV is scary. However, can it survive outside of the tropics? I believe it is dead under 50 F ??

venturabananas
07-27-2011, 11:28 PM
Viruses are notorious for mutating rapidly, hence a different flu vaccine every year for humans. I wouldn't count on BBTV "respecting" a magical 50 degree F mark, nor requiring banana aphids for transmission. Maybe it can't survive in California or other temperate / subtropical areas, but is it worth gambling on "maybe"? Personally, I'd only go for TC bananas from Hawaii or other areas with BBTV, unless I was absolutely convinced there was no BBTV infected bananas within 10's or 100' of miles of the source.

Richard
07-27-2011, 11:57 PM
Viruses are notorious for mutating rapidly, hence a different flu vaccine every year for humans. I wouldn't count on BBTV "respecting" a magical 50 degree F mark, nor requiring banana aphids for transmission. Maybe it can't survive in California or other temperate / subtropical areas, but is it worth gambling on "maybe"? Personally, I'd only go for TC bananas from Hawaii or other areas with BBTV, unless I was absolutely convinced there was no BBTV infected bananas within 10's or 100' of miles of the source.

Worth gambling? No. I'm just curious about known parameters of the virus in its present form.