BB73

I was wondering, which banana would be the most tolerant to dry conditions and still produce good fruit?
I was assuming a tropical climate, so it'll be warm enough all year round, but rainfall would be limited.
What minimum annual/monthly rain would be sufficent, if irrigation wouldn't be possible or only in emergencies?

Jack Daw

Isn't tropical climate dfined also by certain humidity? That along with low night temps is the reason why no Coco palm wants to grow in warm Mediterranean. Because it just isn't tropical.

You would need something like a desert type banana. Wouldn't you? Properly irrigated bananas don't mind the low humidity that much.

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jeffreyp

for ornamental purposes I would suggest looking into Ensete, a very close relative of musa. There is a cultivar of ensete grown in the Sahara desert where after the trunk is grown it is chopped up and used as a food staple. Ensete has a single pseudostem, normally dilated at the base, from which new pseudostems emerge only when artificially induced, that is, when the stem of the central inflorescence is removed from the pseudostem. Moore (1957) in his review of Musa and Ensete included the following species in the latter genus:

Ensete gilletii (DeWildeman) Cheesman, is native to West Africa from Sierra Leone to Angola and is ecologically adapted to drier regions.

Ensete ventricosum (Welwitsch) Cheesman, represents perhaps 70 per cent of the Ensete types cultivated in Ethiopia.

Ensete superbum (RX.) Cheesman is native to India.

Ensete homblei (Bequaert. ex. DeWild.) Cheesman is distributed in the Congo (Kinshasa) and Zambi

In dry sandy conditions I think cultivars that are resistant to nematodes should be a consideration , lady finger and mysore are known to be drought tolerant varieties. The country of Turkey has commercial banana production so I don't think your growing conditions in Thessaloniki are too different.

BB73

Thanks for your replies so far, but maybe I didn't ask my question correctly:
I was thinking of places that are actually in the tropics and have the humidity, because they're close to the sea, but receive in fact little rainfall, because the lack of mountains whre clouds develop. For example flat islands in the Caribbean, where it doesn't rain that often.
So temps and humidity would tropical, but lesser rainfall and I would like to know which species might be the best - drought tolerant.
Thanks

jeffreyp

In case you missed it in my response, lady finger and mysore are known to be drought tolerant varieties.