PR-Giants

Maybe Gabe will take a look.

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Nicolas Naranja

I'm leaning more towards the Goldfinger side of things now, that male flower doesn't look like a Cavendish. If you can get a good look at the petiole of the 3rd leaf that will tell us quite a bit.

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Gabe15

I agree with 'Goldfinger' 100%. The high shouldered obtuse bud is very distinct. The strongly angled fruit is also not something you'd see in Cavendish. Cavendish are fairly easy to ID from many other potential look-a-likes as they nearly always have a deep red/maroon pseudostem underneath the outer sheaths.

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PR-Giants

This looks like a good opportunity for an interesting little project, I'm 100% sure that it's not a 'Goldfinger' and would be willing to send a real 'Goldfinger' so that they can be grown side by side for comparison. This would give Gabe the opportunity to explain how to compare them as they mature.

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Gabe15

What exactly makes you think it's not 'Goldfinger'?

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PR-Giants

Susan has wanted to add a Manini & a real Goldfinger to her collection for a long time and this little project is a good enough reason to go ahead and ship. Even though the two plants that will be compared are very different and easily distinguishably, it can still be a good learning experience for folks to observe the entire process that Gabe uses as he systematically goes through the different descriptors.






Hi Gabe, the real Goldfinger has a very distinct high shouldered obtuse bud and the banana in this post is certainly not a Goldfinger.

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Gabe15

My process is mostly that I've seen a lot of different bananas in different locations and conditions, and have taken a lot of photos I can use for comparison. There are ways to systematically look at the parts, but 95+% of ID'ing something complex like a plant cultivar is just recognizing it because you've seen it before and seen a lot of other similar ones which are not it, so you know what you're looking at.

Ignoring the other compelling evidence for now, let's just look at the general shape of bud as that's what seems to be the hangup at the moment.

Here is the bud on Susan's plant


Here's some of my photos of 'Goldfinger' buds from various places around the world and in various growing conditions.
https://goo.gl/photos/8xKwK7ZmoNPZV1sB7

To me they are a match. Do you have a 'Goldfinger' plant which is drastically different from these? Keep in mind too that the buds must be compared at roughly the same stage of growth as the shape changes significantly throughout it's cycle, particularly as it is transitioning from female to male flowers.

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Lau

Thanks everyone for all your help. I have several large plants on that Mat that should bloom this year. When the plant blooms again, I will leave the bud on the plant and take better pictures as it opens. To help with plant identification, what other parts of the plant should I take pictures of?

The Peduncle is hairy.
The leaf stalks look open to me, no red rims.
Very robust plant.
The fruit has a lemony flavor.

I will see if I can find some old pictures of the fruit.

Thanks Susan.
[url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=57576][/url[url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=59272][/url

PR-Giants

It seems that you have the general idea correct so the hangup is probably just in processing the information.

Ignoring the other compelling evidence for now, focus on the shape of the bud, it will make things easier.

Here's a Goldfinger growing in Susan's area.








Susan's bud is in the center with two different Goldfingers, a younger one on the left & an older one on the right.

Do you really think they are all a match?

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Gabe15

Yes, I do think they are still a match. Susan's is indeed a more elongated in the photo, but that's about the only difference. We know the bud changes shape as it grows, and at some point early on it is more elongated and then later becomes more squat. There can always be some variation of shape or speed of development depending on the environment, and not just general area climate, but specific growing conditions. They are a little different, but are well within the ballpark of each other relative to a totally different cultivar. Unfortunately we don't have photos of Susan's plant's bud as it developed right now, but we will later.

This is a sequence from a 100% guaranteed 'Goldfinger' I grew showing the changes of the bud over an 18 day period. You can see how the bud starts out much more elongated.

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PR-Giants

This photo shows two 100% guaranteed 'Goldfingers', with Susan's bud in the center and Gabe's bud is to the right.

We know the bud changes shape as it grows, and at some point early on it is more elongated and then later becomes more squat.

Now with taking that into account, you would expect the two younger buds to be more elongated and the center bud to be more squat, but what you see is the complete opposite.

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Mark Dragt

The suspense is killing me! I hope it will last.

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Mark, if the suspense is making you hungry... I can send you some of these buds

they taste like goldfinger

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Lau

What is it?

Keith, I found this picture of your FHIA-3 in your gallery. I think it is the same bud, but I'm not 100% sure. Do you think it could be a FHIA-3? The only thing about the FHIA-3 is the Messy Rachis. The Bracts fell off my plant.

My bud and the FHIA-1 do look different, but I didn't leave my bud on long enough to see what it looks like when the banana are ripe.

Maybe my plant is a FHIA-2. The picture of the FHIA-2 in the Musa Accessions Catalog, that Gabe posted, looks like my unknown bud too.

Thanks Gabe and Keith for all your help with this plant. I think I got this plant from Home Depot or Armstrong Garden Centers in Long Beach. It was one of the first banana plants I purchased.

I purchased the rest of my plants from "Florida Hills and Aloha Tropicals, so I will have a lot of banana plants to identify later.

I still have my unknown Plant (cleaned up the old mat) and next time it blooms I know what pictures would be helpful for identification.

Remember if you want to Identify your plant its helpful if you leave the bud on until you harvest the bunch.

Maybe my plant is just a FHIA-Mutant or maybe just a Mutant!!!

Thanks Susan

Mark Dragt

I would take you up on the offer if there were corms in the same box.
This thread has been so interesting from the very start. It looks like it will come down to the tiny details to get the positive ID. Can't waite to see how it turns out.

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Gabe15

Well I guess we're just gonna have to wait for some updated photos later on!

Susan, your comment about the "lemony" flavored is intriguing. My most distinct memory of FHIA-03 was making juice from it and noting it tasted remarkably like lemonade.

When eating your fruits plain raw/ripe, does the pulp seem a bit "fluffy"/low-density and a little on the drier-side compared with other bananas, or is it of a more typical density, and maybe even a little juicy?

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Lau

I really can't remember about the pulp, but it definitely had the lemony flavor. I wish it was blooming now, so I can answer your question sooner.

Thanks again

Nicolas Naranja

I just harvested a Goldfinger and an SH-3640. Goldfinger had a hairless peduncle and SH-3640 had a hairy peduncle. That SH-3640 produces such pretty fruit.

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Lau

Okay my plant is blooming again. We know it isn't a Williams Banana. I have tried to load pictures but nothing will load. Finally something!

Attached Images

IMG_3270.jpg (1.81 MB, 3 views)

Lau