asacomm

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Ｓｔａｎ

eggo

man, I want some banana sherry. hehe sorry I can't say no to the banana toons.

bigdog

For what it's worth, here are my observations:

Tall Orinoco is very hardy at the corm. All pseudostems, except M. basjoo occasionally, die back to the ground in my climate. I have had it come back after a low of 10F with no protection, but seen it turn to mush in 2003 after a low of 1F. I left two unprotected in the ground this year, one against the house and one out in the open, and will let you know if they come back this year. My low was around 8F.

None of the others have been tested in the ground here. I will say that Raja Puri is the last among those you have listed to get growing in the Spring. Orinoco starts growing almost immediately after replanting, whereas Raja Puri takes a while. I've also had problems with Raja Puri getting center-leaf-rot, much more so than Orinoco. I've got one at blooming size this year, so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't have center-leaf-rot. I do have Brazilian, but not the dwarf form (although it's one my short list of must-acquire varieties!). It was really small last year, so hard to make a good judgement on it. It's nice-sized this year, so we'll see how it compares with Orinoco and Raja Puri in terms of how quickly it starts growing. I have a Cal Gold also, but it's in a pot in the greenhouse, already fully leafed out and ready to plant.

asacomm

Hi　Joereal,

You wrote "Raja Puri is prone to choking", could you explain what happens
with this banana? What phenomena?
It might happen with my Raja Puri.

Stan

jbclem

It seems strange to compare the taste of these bananas with supermarket ones...and the supermarket ones win out! The last time I was in Brasil (I grew up there), I drove down the coast from the state of Bahia to Santa Catarina. You could buy the common banana from roadside stands where ever there was a banana plantatiion, they were very cheap. This banana changed names as you went down the coast, I remember it was Branco in Bahia, then changing to Prata. I'm pretty sure it was the one called Santa Catarina and also known as (dwarf or regular) Brasilian. Santa Catarina, my destination, the 2nd to last state going south, is in a cooler area...many Europeans settled there because of the climate. So it's appropriate that the Dwarf Brasilian would be from there, if that's true.

It's hard to forget the taste, it was so good. It was like eating candy. I've never had a banana in the USA that was even remotely close in taste, except for some Cavendish that I grew...they had that sweet kick that is missing in supermarket(and health food store) bananas. That sweet kick had me eating 10 bananas a day on that last trip down the coast of Brasil.

The Brasilian (aka Prata) I knew was definitely a desert banana...I wonder if there is some climatic difference that keeps it from being as good in central California. Lack of humidity, short summers? It'd be interesting to hear some taste opinions from S. Calif and other places.

jc

MediaHound

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

jbclem

Is there something bad about a raja puri choking? Does this affect the fruit in some way, or is it just visually disturbing...

jc

Gabe15

Sometimes choking can cause the bunch to form incorrectly and you could lose the entire bunch, after all that hard work it would be a shame to lose the bunch to choking.

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

bigdog

Speaking to corm hardiness only, my Tall Orinoco on the side of the house has three pups emerging. They started popping up last week. I recorded an unofficial low of 8F in my yard, official low was 13F I think. A five gallon Sabal xtexensis in the ground right next to it was completely defoliated.