Vette-kid

First, this is supposedly and ice cream banana. We are just hoping to confirm this.




This second plant was given to my dad with out any information. Any light you guys can shed on it would be great. It's the one in the foreground. Background is another ice cream.

Vette-kid

Nobody? I thought for sure someone would have an answer. Let me know if more pictures are needed.

robguz24

It certainly could be.

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Tytaylor77

I can't tell 100%. The ice cream looks more like an ice cream than a namwa.

The other I can't confirm either but my best guess would be a tall Orinoco.

When they flower you will be able to confirm 100% what they are.

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Gabe15

Those varieties are too similar in appearance at this stage to easily tell them apart or ID them if they are something else that also looks similar. You'll have to wait until they flower, then we can be sure. When a banana flowers, it's showing its face, and we can really see what it is as so many plants are very similar until they flower.

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Vette-kid

Thanks everyone. He lost all of the mature plants Inc a hurricane last fall, so all of these started as pups around january I think. May not flower for a while. I'll try again when they do.

Tytaylor77

Do you remember his original source for the original plant? That may help.

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Vette-kid

The ice cream were from a local nursery in titusville, or maybe Mims. The other one was given to him by someone else that knew nothing about it.

Vette-kid

Mystery banana has set fruit! Anyone able to further id this? Dad says the fruit is short but thicker than ice cream when ripe.

Botanical_Bryce

Pretty sure the mystery is dwarf orinoco the one I call small leaf. Does not make huge leaves like the other and makes less fruit. I find the fruits make good tostones at yellow stage and excellent raw 2 or 3 days after turning yellow. They are not ripe first yellow day.

Tytaylor77

I agree Orinoco 100%. The pstem doesn't look thick and squat enough to me to be a dwarf. It's a tall for sure. The talls I have vary also. Some are 10' some get 15'. Same conditions. Congrats on your bloom. Good timing they will have all summer to ripen. They need it! Orinoco take FOREVER!

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Vette-kid

I'd guess it's 8-10 feet tall. The p stem is thinner than the two ice cream bananas he has. I have dwarf Orinoco at my house so I guess we can compare when mine mature. Thanks guys!

Botanical_Bryce

Big leaf is squat and small leaf is slender. Buds look small leaf dwarf to me and should top out max out around 6 to 9 foot. My dwarfs are so slender I have to prop them up because even the smallest amount of fruit will bring them down and they don't produce many fruits. The stout version for me tops around 7 foot and produces far more fruit. The fruit on the dwarf small leaf has a fruit when ripe that is semi dense and like a very good cavendish 2 days after ripe. The tall looks identical but the fruit is very different inside producing I lighter fluffier fruit that is good when ripe but nothing like cavendish at all. My stout big leaf I have not tasted fruit from yet but will very soon.

Botanical_Bryce

Here is my small leaf. This is actually my biggest stand of bananas because even though they are the least productive they are at this point my favorite. These are common throughout Florida and in people yards and ditches seem to fruit around 7 feet but at my house 7 to 9 seems to be the average. Stems are very slender and barely stand when fruit are forming. Fall right over.
https://flic.kr/p/VP6Y1N

This is my big leaf Orinoco. This variety is stout and most people growing them around here seem to have them top off around 5 to 6 feet. Very strong and stout with massive leaves often bigger than even my tallest of Orinocos. At my house this one reached 7 foot and is having no problem holding fruit and much more fruit than I see on the smaller leaf variety.
https://flic.kr/p/VF8dog

I have several more varieties that are tall Orinoco but this variety of tall seems to look the most like the small leaf but gets 12 to 16 feet on average for me. Seems to produce more fruit than the small leaf dwarf but not the big leaf dwarf. It also is able to hold the fruit without falling over.
https://flic.kr/p/VF8cCi

The fruit of the tall is fluffy and the fruit of the small leaf dwarf is far more dense.

Botanical_Bryce

Small Leaf Fruiting
https://flic.kr/p/VP8Czu

Big Leaf Fruiting
https://flic.kr/p/UgXQYm

Tytaylor77

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing the info. The "big leaf" one has yellow flowers meaning it isn't a Orinoco! I gotta know what it is now! It also has purple on the peduncle which Orinocos are all green. Very cool man! Is it as cold hardy as the other Orinocos?

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Botanical_Bryce

If it is not orinoco then gabe got it wrong. He did the id for the guy I got it from

Botanical_Bryce

Blue fruit namwah, green blue Java, and now orinoco with yellow flowers. Banana taxonomy is tiring

Tytaylor77

Here is what my dwarf Orinocos look like. The stacking and the pstem size and squat look. Fruit is good! Much better than the talls to me.



They stack out and look very cool. They are my favorite looking of the all dwarf bananas.



The make these huge massive flowers! Largest flowers I've had. Other than maybe a tall namwa.



Huge flowers mean huge bunches. The largest fruit on these are 8-9" long. I don't have fruit pictures on here but PM me and I can share any that anyone wants to see. They taste great. It all depend if they have a core or not. Seems like 30% of the bunches have hard cores. I personally can't deal with the cores on any variety. If they have the hard core they are compost.

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Botanical_Bryce

I would be interested to hear Gabes comments on the bluggoe subgroup and the variables in it.