Richard

Hi, I'm in the research phase of adding a row of bananas and papayas to my orchard -- about 5 of each. I've never grown bananas before but got inspired from Jon Verdick's talk at the CRFG Conference last September. Any suggestions you have would be appreciated

I'm in usda zone 10a, sunset zone 23. More specifically, 8 miles east of Del Mar CA on the western side of Black Mountain. Stone fruits that require 250 chill hours do fine here. Three of my immediate neighbors are growing some dessert bananas smuggled in from the Phillipines. The leaf structures are a good 15 feet tall. There are enough pups generated that each neighbor harvests 2-3 hands per year of 6-inch or so fruits.

My desire is for less height. I could probably tolerate 10 feet of leaf structure over a 4 x 4 square foot area per plant. Mildew is present here and I have to keep vigilant on many plants -- so hardy bananas is a must. My current plan is to plant alongside an eastern-facing 5 foot high wooden fence where the plants could enjoy all-day sun with height. This is a 40 foot stretch, alternating with banana and papaya every 4 feet. At least with the bananas, I would like to have several different types. Again, any suggestions you have on varieties are welcome!

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the flying dutchman

Hi and welcome Richard, we have a lot of members from CA here, i am
sure they will give you advise.


Ron

MediaHound

Welcome Richard! Sounds like an awesome plan!

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kerrin_g

welcome to the club Richard.....

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Richard

Thanks, I'm learning a lot here!

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magicgreen

And you've already taught something!

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

mskitty38583

if you want to keep the height to a minimum, try the dwarf varieties, it will also come in handy if you have to do an emergency cover up due to a frost or a light freeze. that is what im doing. im also planting mine in locations that can easiely be wrapped completely in with black plastic(almost like a tee-pee) and then filled with leaves and straw. just my .02 cents. lol

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bencelest

Richard: If you want dwarf hardy bananas try California Gold, Dwarf Brazilian, Dwarf Orinoco, Raja Puri. Someone will add more I am sure.

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Richard

Yes, CA gold looks mighty good. Also some of the not-so-dwarf bananas whose pseudostem doesn't grow more than 9 or 10 feet in San Diego CA will be a good match.

I will grow 5 varieties. Here's what I'm currently thinking about growing:
1 - a modest size fruit, 1000 fingers looks interesting esp. the hold factor
1 - a fruit of unusual fragrant flavor, perhaps orange fleshed
1 - CA gold
1 - Dwarf Orinoco
1 - A fresh-eating plantain

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bencelest

"a fruit of unusual fragrant flavor, perhaps orange fleshed"

Philippine lacatan is what comes to mind because the flavor is so delicious and fragrant. But the color is not orange but close to pink -yellow to red. You will not be disappointed on this.

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Banana Nut

chong

Lacatan pulp is actually closer to salmon color. So Bencelest is pretty close. Salmon is kinda pinkish-orange, and that makes it very close to what Richard is looking for. The Philippine variety with pulp that comes closest to orange is "Dinorado". The peel of the fruit is very similar to the Dwarf Red's, albeit, when ripe, "Dinorado" will have yellow burst coloring on its peel. But the pulp is yellow-orange, like 24k gold. "Dinorado" loosely translated means "obtained from gold", or "made into gold". This is probably because of the color of the pulp. The flavor of this banana is excellent, so too, is its fragrance. Though not as strong as Lacatan.

Señorita is another sweet smelling fruit with lighter yellow-orange pulp.

I haven't seen one, but I suspect that Kru has those same qualities. Kru may be a relative of "Dinorado". Kru fruit, though, from pictures I've seen, has a slightly more curvature than "Dinorado".

None of these are cold hardy, though.

Richard

This is very interesting information about possible super fruity-fragrant banana varieties.

Taste is far more important to me than fruit color.

My USDA hardiness zone is 9+ / 10-. Three sets of neighbors behind me are growing bananas that one of them physically imported from the Phillipines years ago. They are narrow-leafed, completely green, quite tall and produce many hands of 6 to 7 inch bananas each year. The flesh is yellowish, sweet, and fruity -- but I have had fruitier at tasting events.

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Richard

After way too much study, I think these varieties will be the first I'll try growing:

Dwarf Brazilian
Ebun Musak or FHIA-21 (the latter if I can find it)
Golden Rhinohorn
Pisang Raja
1000 Fingers

The location for the 5 plats is shown below, with the camera pointed south. The fence and sun position are such that anything under 3 feet in height will have shade the last 1/3 of the day.

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STEELVIPER

Try Mysore. mmmmmmm best tasting banana out there in my opinion. Blue java also great for your area.

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Richard

I've launched a new site loaded with free information and a space for my future store of services and products:

Plants That Produce

Enjoy!

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Kylie2x

Congrats on your new site It looks great!!!
Kylie

saltydad

Richard-love the new site! BTW, you can add baptisia to the rabbit lunch list; they've decimated mine.

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Dean W.

Way to go, Richard! I don't think you were a new-be though.

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mskitty38583

richard i love the new site! congrats on it. so when does the new store open? i might be interested in some things come spring. are you going to have berry bushes? if you do let me know i would love to have some tayberries, and if possible some elderberries. there is nothing better in the morning then elderberry muffins with a cup of joe!( with the exception of banana nut muffins of course!) yummy! again congrats on the new site!

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Richard

This is my 3,000th post -- about 14 months and as many banana plants from the first post below. Oh! I guess there is the matter of the 144 banana TC's ...

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