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beam2050
01-21-2017, 04:30 PM
I used to own this place near downtown Jacksonville Fla. when I bought in the early 80's there was a grove of wild bananas on it. never tended it spanned 40 or 50 ft long by near 15 ft wide. now the property was quite large and it dropped 3 to 5 ft. depending on where you were standing. somebody had built a rock wall and rock stairs going down to the center of the bananas. there is a creek, not on my property but about 30 ft away, about the same level as the bananas. my water to air heat pump dumped water not to far from the stairs. so any time I went down to the bananas I was walking in muck. I had one or two plants fruit every year but I would get maybe 8 hands each time. the fruit was excellent tasting but the fruit maybe went 7 inches long. I have been wanting to get them identified for awhile now but getting over there and the fact of being thrown off the property as a panhandler or an eccentric has kept me from doing it. I sent there last weekend. the lady who owns the place was very nice and let me take my pictures. near as I can tell the bananas were almost wiped out somewhere in the 90's. there are only a few left. the leaves were brown from the last frost and Cynthia said I could come back when things were green again and take more pictures and get a pup. here are the pictures I got, these are the descendants of bananas plants that date well past 50 years at this time. I would like to identify them, but I will have to get better pictures in the spring. but here's the kicker. these nanna's didn't die after fruiting, they came back thru the center after I cut them down. you can call me a liar.http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php? file=61143&size=1 http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=61142&size=1

37.667910
01-21-2017, 05:47 PM
No idea what they are, but that's pretty damn cool.

beam2050
01-21-2017, 06:22 PM
No idea what they are, but that's pretty damn cool.
thanks, but I might have it narrowed down. they are not a Nain or a Cavendish. look closely to the bottom picture. I am going by what I remember about them. wish I would have been curious enough about them then to buy a book. moving from the plain states everything was highly exotic.

Richard
01-22-2017, 02:17 AM
I but here's the kicker. these nanna's didn't die after fruiting, they came back thru the center after I cut them down. you can call me a liar.

I have seen bananas do that, but it it a secondary growth whose best path upwards was through the old corm.

JP
01-22-2017, 07:09 AM
It's sad there's only a few left... Good luck in spring.

edwmax
01-22-2017, 09:11 AM
I suspect those are Orinoco. ... Green Stalks ... A very common banana in Florida, South Georgia and along the Gulf coast. ... Because they were given away, neighbor to neighbor.

Go to the forum WIKI (top of the page) and look up Musa Orinoco. Compare the pictures of the fruit. Do those look like the fruit you remember?

beam2050
01-22-2017, 11:34 AM
I suspect those are Orinoco. ... Green Stalks ... A very common banana in Florida, South Georgia and along the Gulf coast. ... Because they were given away, neighbor to neighbor.

Go to the forum WIKI (top of the page) and look up Musa Orinoco. Compare the pictures of the fruit. Do those look like the fruit you remember?

nanas look similar. the hands were farther apart and the plants in the wiki picture a lot shorter. you could not reach over the top hand using a 12 ft. ladder. course it was so mucky you would not dare. also you have to remember to, they were probably never cultivated or fertilized. so the banana would be few and not very big. thanks

edwmax
01-22-2017, 02:30 PM
As the Wiki description stated in a crowed location the plant height could reach 16 to 20 ft. Your pics do show a crowed jungle. The hand spacing can vary too. Orinoco is plant that can survive without any maintenance and can tolerate wet, well draining soils.

Ripsaw
01-24-2017, 10:39 PM
I can't tell what they are, but edwmax is right, Orinoco can still be found around some older homesteads in FL, and growing in some wild areas. I saw similar in Venezuela growing along river and stream banks. Locals let them go but they were always healthy adn bearing fruit there.

I have cut the tops of some bananas which froze, and some storms broke, and the growth came back adn they later fruited. Keep in mind they are an herb so, like some herbs, they will grow back...within reason.