Paco

Hello,

I would appreciate any help in identifying this plant. Thanks to sputinc7 for suggesting I upload some pics of it.

Here in Sydney, Australia, it was sold to me as a sugar banana, but I have noticed that we also call them lady fingers. I'd be most appreciative for any help on confirming its ID or otherwise.

brod mentioned that it may well be a namwah.

I've had this plant in the ground for 2 years now and think that it may have been a water sucker to begin with. It certainly was not as sword-like as the two followers you can see in the pic. At the top of the sheath/pstem, it is about 6' 6".

I am hoping that it sets fruit sometime this Summer, which started this month down here.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ejbb0xn7r...ZviGuo5Ja?dl=0

Thanks all.

Narnia

Hi Paco
It looks like a Namwah -You will know as soon as you taste the fruit.
Lady Finger bananas are a bit tangy to taste .Namwah's are predominately sweet.Numwah Bunches are usually bigger than lady finger bunches i.e more bananas per bunch.. Is your plant in a warm & protected position?
Being summer, give it water regularly and keep weeds away from the base of the matt. A hand full of fertilizer spread around the matt every 4 or 5 weeks will help -BANANAPOSKA is one brand that works well but its a bit expensive.

Paco

Thank you, Narnia.

I'll keep your descriptions of the fruit taste and bunch size in mind. Good to hear they develop big bunches!

The plant is in a fairly protected location on the side of my house and it gets plenty of sun during the day. I'd say it is warm and protected enough because if we ever get frost in winter, it is never in this part.

So I might clear more lawn around the plant as the grass might be taking up a lot of the nutrients.

With regard to feeding, I've kick-started it with soluble fertiliser and some compost, but am aware that around about flag leaf time that I should switch to something higher in potassium.

I could not find any reference to Bananaposka - did I get that right?

Anyway, thanks again for that info.

Narnia

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https://www.incitecpivotfertilisers.com.au/


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Tytaylor77

Looks like a Namwa to me. I’m fairly sure I’ve read somewhere they call Namwa/ducasse a “Sugar Banana” in Australia. They do make very large bunches. The picture by my name is a tall Namwa. I like them. Very sweet banana.

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Paco

Thank you, Ty. I expect that mine is a dwarf...no scratch that, I hope it's a dwarf, because if it's 6'6'' now, that means it might bloom this Summer down here

Yes, I have learnt recently from brod that Namwa are what we call Sugar here. I have heard that these are quite popular, especially in their native Thailand.

What is interesting is that in Sydney, we have Brazilians as well and the names Lady Finger and Sugar seem to be used interchangeably. Perhaps the confusion stems from both coming under the "finger type" umbrella, but that's just my guess.

venturabananas

Looks too slender to me to be a dwarf, but maybe... You'll find out eventually.

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Paco

Thanks Ventura,

I was wondering about that. It does indeed get quite narrow at the top. Also, I removed the largest pup closest to the retaining wall a few days ago as it was getting too large and I had a grateful recipient for it. I have heard that the main pstem / corm can get stressed if a large one is removed and that it could possibly affect flowering. So if it is a tall namwa, it should be well recovered by the time I see a flag.