coast crab

I bought this no-name at Home Depot a couple of months ago because none of my others have this red blotching. It's pronounced on the new leaves but fades as they age. Seems like I've seen this on 'Dwarf Cavendish', is this 'Cavendish'?

Russell

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Moonshiner

I would think that's a pretty good guess. Looks just like my DC, only taller and thinner.

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Mike

hammer

It dont look like a dwarfcavendish to me. it looks like a raja puri to me i dont think its in the cavendish family.

coast crab

I have raja puri and they don't look the same at all. RP has red blotches? Not mine.

Remember, it came from Home Depot, so it can't be too exotic!

R

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Bermy nana

I don't think its a DC they don't produce red after the first few leaves when they are very young. Plus your plant does not have the stockiness of the DC. The petioles look too long for a DC also. Unfortunately I have no idea what it could be. Somebody will know though. Good luck.

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hammer

I dont know what kind it is somebody here will know . my home depot store carrys red-green ice cream alot of banana plants.

Gabe15

Looks more like a plantain type of some kind, but it is too young to ID for sure, and also you can tell it has been in a container and in a greenhouse for a long time which distorts many characteristics until it has been in the ground for some time.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Gabe15

Here are some photos of typical young plantain leaves. It may be hard to tell at first, but the patterning is different from Cavendish. Typically, Cavendish spots are more concentrated and do not run all the way to the edge of the leaf. You can see on the Plantains they are are longer, more spread out on the leaf and can run to the edge.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

coast crab

Thanks y'all, I appreciate the input.

Gabe, those plantain pictures look spot on. I guess we'll know more later. (Please God, don't let us have another winter like the last one. Amen.)

I noticed the the same thing about being in a pot. You can see that the bottom leaves are from that time, and when it caught it really shot up. It only gets sun for part of the day, but will get more as it gets taller.

Oh, and what makes a plantain a plantain? Is it just one that needs to be cooked rather than eaten raw?

Russell

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Gabe15

It is a genetic group, called a subgroup (there are many subgroups of banana), which theoretically are supposed to be a set of clones which diversity by somatic mutation but are all descended from a single original seedling which was produced by sexual recombination. Cavendish is a good example of a common subgroup: there is 'Dwarf Cavendish', 'Giant Cavendish', 'Williams', 'Robusta', 'Valery' 'Super Dwarf Cavendish' etc...they are different cultivars, but all just different mutations originating from a single common ancestor.

Such are Plantains. One of the main characterization point is that they have yellow-orange compound tepals, whereas most other edible bananas are light-yellowish, cream, or red-purpleish. As a group, they also share some male-axis morphology which is limited in variations: either nonexistent (Horn Plantains), degenerated (False Horn and French Horn Plantains) or fully present but with persistent flowers and bracts (French Plantains). They are commonly cooked, but this is not inherently required, just preferred, as many do get soft and sweet if allowed to ripen enough and can then be eaten raw (the main difference between a dessert and cooking banana is cultural use, there are no rules that can be made regarding morphology or behavior that would tend to make one variety a preferred cooking variety or one a preferred dessert variety, considering global use).

There are about 113 Plantain cultivars in Africa, and more in Asia. Fortunately, there are only a few commonly available in the US. However, you'll have to have it fruit to tell which one (if it really is a Plantain at all).

Close up showing yellow-orange compound tepals


The "plantain male axis degradation line" (PS-says "Horn" underneath the bananas.org watermark)

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

coast crab

Gabe, somehow I missed this and I'm really sorry. It's WONDERFUL info and I appreciate you taking the time to put it together.

So now I just have to wait!

Thanks again,

Russell

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