lorax

Ohh, yuck! The flavour! DCs are mealy and mooshy and insipid, and Gran Nains are firmer, a bit less mealy although still too much so for my taste, and the flavour is just a tad less "chemical" to my palate. For my dos centavos, the GN is a better banana than the DC, but with the new resistant strains of Gros Michel that have been developed down here I don't see why anybody grows the others anymore.... Except perhaps that 30cm-long bananas weighing in at about 500g each would wierd the heck out of the North American market...

Jack Daw

Lorax, please ship one or two to Europe. We will galdly replace our old crops. Of course, there wouldn't maybe be warm enough.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

lorax

No idea on hardiness - it never gets cold here The new GM was created by crossing out the old one with resistant Giant Plantains, so I'd imagine if you can grow plantains you'll be able to grow it as well.

Jack, you're on my list. When I have an export licence (dang Ministry of Agriculture - I've been waiting half a year!) and pups, you'll get a PM!

Dalmatiansoap

Well Lorax U have just foundt new Gros Michael market!!! Send them all .
And about taste, I promisse You all, ONE DAY I LL TRY THEM ALL

__________________
https://hr.airbnb.com/rooms/19220501...oda%2C+Croatia

Dalmatiansoap

Want to be in the list, want to be in the list, want to be in the list,....,
aunt Beth, please?

__________________
https://hr.airbnb.com/rooms/19220501...oda%2C+Croatia

Jack Daw

Thanks so much Lorax. The plantains are quite a question for me. But I intend to make a large greenhouse one day, so it will grow there if nothing else (thermal pump working 'round the clock , but it's quite... costly, I would need to design it myself and everything... but that's what I study, engineering, right? ). But I think that with our summers it's quite good, I'm just worried about late Russian Fronts in April or May (Bura for Ante, which you like so much in coastal Croatia , but much later in Slovakia)

Fear not my friend, I will put its hardiness to a test.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Eric

Birds have thier problems, I have mine . My Avatar Luvs Trufulla trees and Banana Cream pies .

Eric

Foot-long nanners!? Wow! That's even better'n foot-long hot dogs !

lorax

I have a few pics in my gallery for the fruit of these GMs. The first hand I bought was apparently a stunted one, because the second was truly gigantic.

Ante, of course you're on the list! I might ship them all to Jack though, and force you to go on a vacation to pick yours up.... PS, I find it amusing that you call me Auntie Beth, when it's quite likely that I'm half your age...

Compare!
Smaller GMs on their own


Smaller GMs vs. other bananas


Regular-sized GMs, with my hand in there as a comparison.


Your results, of course, are going to vary - these were grown in an area that never goes below about 15 C and gets heavy heavy rainfall.

Jack Daw

Beautiful pics. Ou, that's very nice, reminds me of some I saw that were from Central Brazil one day... Results will not vary, I will make a greenhouse, I see the sketches already. (and 1 plant will go to our botanical garden, just to keep one save on the tap of my governemt's heating bills).
Beth, I know a gentleman shouldn't ask, but how old are you? Ante's not that old, it would make you maybe 15 to be the half of his age. That would make you even younger than I am, 20 btw.
Anyways, crossing my fingers for your export license. It sure would be marvelous to have someone so well... placed would be the great word.
Also, you said this was a cross between Giant Plantain and Panama resistant GM. If so, what are the plant's mature parameters. More to that, what are the fruit bunch's parameters? If it had to carry 30 or 40 of these, that must be some pretty strong p-stem.

Now I see that I will have to grow the nanas 2 ways, one will be outside in the garden and the second bunch will be in greenhouse. Can't even think of the GH dimensions, more like 200m x 50m x 15m. One hell of a heating bill.
Ok, my priorities:
- buy a large field
- get married, have children
- build a greenhouse for nanas and smaller tropical palms (6m top should be fine)
- have a damn good job to pay for this all LOL

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

lorax

Jack, I'm 27. Not too forward at all, of course - I'm not a "lady" nor am I easily offended, so it's not a problem to ask.

A mature 'Improved GM' plant is between 3-4 meters tall (pseudostem 3/leaf tips 4), extremely sturdy - the pstem is quite thick, and a bunch normally bears between 5 and 8 hands, with a hand being 10-12 bananas. Multiply that out, with each finger averaging 500g, and you're looking at 25 kg on the small side, and 42 kg on the heavy side, not including the infrutescence and its weight, which, filled with sap as they are when you harvest, adds about another kilo or two. Average raceme stem girth is 25 cm. It's the kind of fruit that props were designed for; I use PVC or bamboo support struts. Harvesters of the GMs here are quite burly men, and they work in teams of 2 - one to cut the bunch and the second to catch it, and then both of them to carry it.

As for your greenhouse - you get sunny winters in Slovakia, no? You can tune your greenhouses to use that to your advantage. Talk to me about it; I used to heat my greenhouse and home in that manner, and I was from Northern Canada, at a latitude similar to Russia's Gulag Peninsula.

Jack Daw

My region in Slovakia is according to Koppen clasifiaction: Dfa, meaning continental climate with no dry season and hot summers.
This small part there, about no dry season means, that our winters are way too wet/snowy. I rains/snows quite often and teh ratio of sunny days to rainy/snowy is 1:1, thus meaning, that a good part of my winter I wouldn't have my greenhouse heated up. The most I hate, when itsnows and the day is so hot (3 or 4°C), that the snow just melts down. And then in the night, it snows again. And then a sudden Russian front comes and yeah, no snow to protect, but frosts of -12°C. Last year -13°C. Perfect.
The temps in WELL constructed greenhouse here rarely fall below 4°C (or very very very rarely, I don't think that the frost here in greenhouse is possible, in our northern parts yes, but not here, that would have to be a hell of a winter. Trachycarpus grows hee without protection for comparison ), but I think that the construction should be good enough, to push the plants further, 15°C could be the tops I would have in the winter. As the temps gradually Increase in the February, it could even start a vegetation.
But as I said, that wants me to design, program and construct a heat pump of my own. And that is... well... costly. Not in a manner of money, but time. Didn't actaully have time to do that.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

lorax

With 15 C indoors in winter, you're cool - these plants will grow in places where it goes down to 5 C overnight.

Jack Daw

That is true, but what about the heat differential, what's the weather in the day like and the temps? The days are warmer, significantly, aren't they? Or are they at those levels for longer time?

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

lorax

Nope, days get really hot in the best banana-growing areas. 35-40 C days are normal for the range of these bananas. However, since I've seen them growing in colder places (5 C night, 15-20 C day) hot days do not seem to be necessary to the development of the plant.

Jack Daw

Very good, that elliminates that stupid Cavendish issue with temperatures (damage below 10°C).
In the end, it could maybe be seasonally grown as the other nanas. Like Maurelli for instance.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Jack Daw

Didn't notice this one b4. So Ante, sometime soon? Will you come look how beautiful women we have?
Now seriously, that would be great, really. And if it would be next year, my nanas would maybe flower and fruit... You could take you whole family, but beware, that I might not have that much place to accomodate you. Just kiddin', there's always a free flat with all the necessary things for a friend.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Bob

[QUOTE=lorax;81096Ante, of course you're on the list! I might ship them all to Jack though, and force you to go on a vacation to pick yours up....

Ahem!!!!!

__________________

Jack Daw

Hey Bob,
Fear not, it will be there too. Someday, somehow... just let's keep our finger's crossed for Beth.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

Bob

I always do.........unless she's slapping me with a fish or suggesting my introduction to the heel of her boot.

__________________