75north

Hi all, looking to get a confirmation on whether I've got an FHIA18 here. It seems to match many of the type's supposed characteristics but there aren't too many pictures that I've been able to find of the real deal.

It has the reddish, mostly blotchless pseudostem of the FHIA18:



As well as the semi-closed petiole channels with dark red/purple lines:


Pics of the bunch at various stages:





The ripe fruit are throwing me off a little bit, though. They don't really have the pronounced bottlenose shape that I've seen on FHIA18s. In fact, some of them are quite rounded and fat at the end, almost Maoli-like. I don't have enough experience to tell whether this is something that the 18 does. The taste of the fruit is pleasant, like a good Cavendish with a hint of acidity (on the level of a Brazilian, not super tart).

Other potentially noteworthy characteristics of this plant:
-Fruited at 8.5 feet (plant was cut back initially, also this was the first go around on this mat so this could easily change on subsequent p-stems)
-Seems to be exceptionally cold hardy
-Very fast grower


Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

75north

Bump to add a quick taste report:

The fruit are best when mostly yellow with some green remaining on both ends. The flavor at this stage is like a good homegrown Cavendish with an additional acidic component. I wouldn't say they are particularly fruity/berry-like or "apple" tasting, but they do have a nice brightness to them.

The texture is great! Dense like a good Maoli type banana (not as firm as a Namwah) but very juicy and melts in your mouth. The fruit is quite good overall, and I much prefer it to a homegrown Cavendish despite their flavors being fairly similar.

Does this sound like the real deal FHIA18?

Whatever it is, I am 100% going to be keeping this plant on cold hardiness alone. I don't have any long term/hard data, so a grain of salt is necessary, but this thing not losing a single leaf during a freeze was insanely impressive.

Basjoofriend

Hi,

I do also have one grove of FHIA-18 at my house in Brazil. The fruits were small and tasted a bit like apple. It has also survived two frost nights in July 2021, my wife was in the hospital in Hamburg in Germany so that we had to delay our moving to Brazil and to renew our visas at the Brazilian embassy in Berlin, finally on 28th April 2022 we could move and emigrate to Brazil. It has survived one Frost night with -6°C, now it has recovered completely.

Joachim

blownz281

Whatever it is I’m curious for you to find out! Nice looking plant and how cold of a frost did you get. 32 degrees?

Side note I have a almost 5ft D. Brazilian that got all the leaves burned with three frost days two weeks ago. Thought they were more leaf hardy. One day was 35 next day, 32, next day 35. We have been dry for months and I didn’t get a chance to water it well before the cold if that would have mattered but before the second frost I did and no difference. So doesn’t look like any leaf burn for you.

75north

Thanks! Yeah, it just hit 32 degrees in that part of the yard, so not a super hard freeze, but it was totally unaffected while other supposedly very cold hardy ones (including Dwarf Brazilian) lost all their leaves. No idea how it will react to temps dipping a little lower, but for us here where it gets below 30°F perhaps once every 4-5 years, this one looks like it could be very productive long-term