Balbisiana Gigantea
 

I got some seeds from another member but cannot find any info on them. They have sprouted now and I was wondering if anyone here had heard of this banana or had any info/pictures of it.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

This is the same one that sunshine-seeds.com calls 'Neue Art', I'm pretty sure anyway.
It is a very robust form of M. balbisiana that has persistent male bracts when it flowers. There are some pictures on sunshine-seeds.com.

From their website:


http://www.shop.sunshine-seeds.de/in...binea42338.htm

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

I looked at their website and apparently they have M ingens seeds, WOW!!!

Carlos(Tropicalkid in NC)

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

looks like they're out of stock though :bungejumpnaner:

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Well, I have several Balbisiana 'Gigantea' sprouting up. And if they make it, they will be available.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

They were super-easy to sprout for me. I had about 14 or 15 out of 20 come up. My biggest one is getting quite large in the greenhouse now! These should be relatively hardy also, but we shall see. They are very fast-growing also. I have a couple of pics in my gallery of some smaller ones, and I'll try to remember to bring my camera with me to the greenhouse this week to get some new ones.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

BigDog,
How large are we talking about the one in the GH? The one I have is in my den and is stationary at about 4' overall, which is fine with me until I can get it back outside and in the ground this spring. I has shown no ill effects to being inside with low humidity... Water once every 4 weeks or so. "Maintain" and "no grow" is my motto with her right now...

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Well, with the pot it's probably close to 7 feet overall, so closer to 6. Somewhere around 4 feet of pseudostem. At it's current growth rate, it'll be ready to bloom when planted, lol!

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Nice Frank,
If it is the same as the sunshine one, it is super fast, but didn't seem to enjoy my cool nights like the other balbisiana(more pink stem it seemed) they sell.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

what kind of temps? and location of plant and any protection?

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

musa ingens seeds straight from PNG at : http://www.geocities.com/skyfdn/

if somebody want to try this source...

Laurent

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

I'd like to give M.ingens a try again at cool constant temps, or barely fluctuating. It's a pain in the butt to get to germinate, but a few people have done it.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

D&T, not sure who your question is directed at.

Kyle, I hope at least the corm turns out to be decently hardy. M. cheesmani doesn't seem to particularly enjoy cool weather here either, but it was hardy at the corm level last year (with protection). It grows fast enough to where a mature mat could probably reach ten or more feet, overall height, from the ground in one season here.

My Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis is still growing, BTW! It grows anytime the temps get up into the high 50s/low 60s I think, or just whenever we don't have overnight lows below freezing. There is at least 6-8 inches of new growth in the past several days. It is outpacing M. basjoo right now!

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Hi, I am shopgirl from Jacksonville, N.C. Good to meet you! tell me, have you found the inges? Let m e know when and if you find them. I am also looking for them, as a matter of fact, been searching and googling all week. Nada!

Cheers

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

sorry was asking Tropicllvr about the cool temps, we are trying to sprout some here as well

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

I tried the two types of balbisiana from sunshine seeds. The one that maybe the balbisiana 'Gigantea' was really quick growing inside, and in the green house. It didn't seem to like the tempature drops that are common in the summer in the coastal northern California hills. Last summer for example it would drop down to the low 50's in June, and sometimes lower(and foggy), not a prime banana growing area, but species like Musa thompsonii, M. manni, M.sikkimensis, M.ornata and others didn't seem to mind the night time dips.
Places towards the east normally have higher night time temps than coastal areas of the Pacific NorthWest even though they are the same zone, so finding cool summer weather tolerating bananas are less of a concern for places besides coastal PNW, and coastal northern California.
But then again some high elevation naners would probably be a perfect match for coastal northern California...like Musa ingens maybe?!
For protection I put them in a cold greenhouse in one gallon pots. I killed them, but also killed alot of other supposedly zone 7 Musa(m.veluntina. M.cheesmanni, ect, ect) in the same green house in the same size pot. Definatly need to grow larger before testing most species, but I just didn't have room inside.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Hi shopgirl:
hablas espanol?
I'm from Puerto Rico, and lived in the Dominican Repulbic for a few years.
Still wanting to hear if someone has tried this new alternative of buying M. ingens seeds directly from PNG in that site posted above.

Thanks,
Carlos(tropicalkid in NC)

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Well, I remembered to bring my camera with me today to the greenhouse. Here's my largest Musa balbisiana 'Gigantia':



I have several more about half that size. By the way, that's my 3 gallon Ensete ventricosum in full bloom sitting on the sill!

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Did you start those from seed?

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Yes. They were started from seed last January, and didn't take too long to sprout. It really should be much larger by now, but I had it and the others in pots way too small and neglected for part of the summer. I have given some away, sold a few, and have a few more in the greenhouse.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Si, hablo el Espanol, y tu?

Where in N.C. do you reside? If Raliegh and/or Charlotte, it gets quite chilly over there. How are you doing raising bananas in those areas?

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

There is this seller on E-Bay and he does have a variety of banana seeds for sale. I find that $3+ for 6 seeds is too much.
What do you guys think of the price?

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Way too much. A few people here including myself are growing these from seed. There will be seedlings available for trade in March.

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

I tried in june 2006 emailing Mr Yuimb from PNG Eco-Adventure Tours. The price was 300 seeds/$100 by bank transfer (no paypal in png). Unfortunatelly I never got the seeds . PNG mail problem in Mt hagen ? custom problem ? I never knew. I'm still very disappointed but ready to try again if someone tells he succeeded !!!
happy new year.

Laurent
Carqueiranne/France

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Christian Port may have some M. ingens seeds to sell or swap, he usally does(but mostly sells now I think).
http://uk.geocities.com/bananaswap/

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea-Overseas trading
 

I had a nightmare dealing with Hong Kong. they said they could not honor the bank's check. They said check had expired (10 days?). the seller kept the check and the item. I complained to E-Bay to no avail. No more overseas for me, other than maybe UK.

Beware, all!

Re: Balbisiana Gigantea
 

Hey, hang on just a minute, we're normally fairly trustworthy over here in the UK... Ebay worldwide can be a problem (try buying Arucaria seeds from Argentina and you'll find out) and definitely anything outside of paypal is really asking for trouble.
I also e mailed the guy in PNG and got no-where (probably saved myself some money there). I ended up getting some seeds from Christian Port who was excellent to deal with.