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Lodewijkp
02-15-2008, 12:07 PM
HI

is balbisiana really hardy ( stem , rootstock ) ?
or is it like E.glaucum , it depends were you get seed from ?

still i heard of various succes in germany ?.

Tropicallvr
02-15-2008, 12:41 PM
The one in Germany may or may not be Musa balbisiana. It doesn't look like the typical balbisiana, more like a thompsonii or daj giant, both of which have the recurved leafs where they meet the petiole(balbisiana indicator).
Google Image Result for http://rareseedsource.com/images/balbisiana-sm.JPG (http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://rareseedsource.com/images/balbisiana-sm.JPG&imgrefurl=http://rareseedsource.com/products.php&h=185&w=140&sz=16&hl=en&start=3&tbnid=QxO5e6S2nazCcM:&tbnh=102&tbnw=77&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbalbisiana%2Bhimalayas%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den)
This site seems to have jacked pictures from various places on the web, but there is a German balbisiana pic.

I think it is like E.glaucum. It depends on where the seeds come from.
Jungle seeds is selling a balbisiana that looks a little different than your typical balbisiana, and they claim that the seeds are sourced at higher elevations of the foothills of the Himilayas.
http://www.jungleseeds.com/images/MusaBalbisiana.JPG
I tried to germinate 20 seeds and had no luck, but probably give it another try this spring.

Gabe15
02-15-2008, 01:44 PM
I agree with Tropicallvr, Musa balbisiana is so widely grown with so many different varieties that you cannot tell which ones may be hardy or not. There are definitely cold hardy forms of it out there, but they are not really available on the market yet as far as I have seen. It is just such a highly diversified species that you can't really generalize too much about its growth habits.