View Full Version : Orinoco Question
Ironmike
01-23-2017, 05:27 PM
Are Orinoco and Dwarf Orinoco one in the same? I lost the few varieties I had due to my illness and cold this winter, so I have to start over here in Virginia. I really enjoyed my little paradise this past summer and will miss it if I don't get going again. I am entertaining this Orinoco to be the first of my efforts to replant. My health is getting better, so I am excited about being outdoors again. The weather here is lousy right now, and I can not wait til spring.:2691:
Richard
01-23-2017, 07:08 PM
Orinoco will fruit here with a pstem height of 12'-14', while the dwarf will fruit at about 6'. The fruit of the dwarf is also about 1-1.5" shorter and about 75% the diameter of the Standard -- as is true of many dwarf mutants.
Botanical_Bryce
01-23-2017, 11:30 PM
There are several forms of tall orinoco and several forms of dwarf orinoco. Correct names would be the bluggo sub group. They were brought into Florida by the spanish in the late 1500's. My talls average 12 to 16 feet and one up to 20 with huge block square fat fruits. My dwarf varieties average 7 to 9 feet. One dwarf variety has huge leaves and I mean huge and averages a tad shorter than the smaller leaf variety which tops off a tad taller. I have 7 varieties of bluggo / Orinoco. The only time I see the dwarf varieties in the 5 to 6 foot range is in average soil. My soil is superior so all of my bananas thrive much better. Orinoco is a group of bananas and I am the only one to go around and collect specimens that I know of to compare. One of my talls makes the same exact fruit as my dwarf just the plants are different. My other talls make larger fatter fruits.
Ironmike
01-24-2017, 07:47 AM
Thank you for all the valuable information. While I don't live in Florida or the tropics, these beautiful plants can let me daydream while I am in my backyard and create the impression that I am in paradise and not struggling in the rat race. Fruit would truly be a bonus, but just sharing the landscape with them brings me joy.
Mike
Richard
01-24-2017, 12:03 PM
You're growing them indoors in pots and putting them outdoors during the summer?
Ironmike
01-30-2017, 08:38 AM
I've only grown for a year, but have started a few in pots, and put out during warmer weather.
Richard
01-30-2017, 09:47 AM
I've only grown for a year, but have started a few in pots, and put out during warmer weather.
Expect fruit in 3-5 years. Also consider growing a better tasting dwarf banana.
a.hulva@coxinet.net
01-30-2017, 03:05 PM
I have what I have been told are Orinoco's. I have had them for 50+ years. I over winter bare root in a heated garage with leaves removed and a few small ones in pots. I have found the Orinoco to be a very hardy and forgiving plant. I don't worry about fruit as my growing season is too short. I can furnish a start if interested.
Richard
01-30-2017, 10:47 PM
... I don't worry about fruit as my growing season is too short. ...
No it isn't. You just choose to leave the mature plants outside to freeze. If you instead brought them inside with the pups you'd eventually have fruit.
CraigSS
01-31-2017, 10:37 AM
How is the taste of a tall Orinoco plant (not a Dwarf)?
I am looking for more tall banana plants to give me a high canopy in my Arboretum; but I do want good tasting edible fruit also.
Craig:03:
Richard
01-31-2017, 12:37 PM
How is the taste of a tall Orinoco plant (not a Dwarf)?
Identical.
a.hulva@coxinet.net
01-31-2017, 03:57 PM
Richard, I apologize for not being clearer in my post. I have successfully bare rooted in my heated garage for fifty years. I also have a few in pots also in a heated garage under lights. I have also left a few in the ground, cut off, heavely covered with wood mulch and straw with a pot upside down on top. Both indoor methods have been successful. The outdoor method is problematic because of process, temperature and luck. I have had plants that did produced fruit but didn't have time to properly ripen. Sorry for the confusion.
That's how I winter over my "Orinoco" Trees also. But in my basement, it stays around 60F. Bare root and leaves cut off, no water until it's warm enough to wake them up in the spring. It's worked for 25 years. I usually have a couple trees bare fruit each year but it gets cool before they are big enough to eat.
a.hulva@coxinet.net
02-03-2017, 03:53 PM
Perfect. We are on the same page. I think it must be a combination of lower temperatures and way less light. I am not sure how long a corm can last in that state but in your area it must be at least 7 or 8 months. I have a cousin in Cedar Rapids that did the same thing.
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