Musa balbisiana
 

I will soon have seeds of Musa balbisiana, and I got some questions about it.

How is the taste of the fruits, when not thinking of all the seeds in them? Is it like an "edible" banana?
I don't know how I would get a cultivated banana plant here in Norway, so I'll grow bananas only from seeds, if I don't find a way to get cultivars.

Gard

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

Can't you try to get tissue-culture material you gan grow to adult plants at home?
I've heared people do that,..and I guess it's easy to send by mail?

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

Well, of what I have seen, most of them only ship within US. Only thing I have thought of would be sending a piece of a corm, and hope it won't be checked. But it fine to grow only species, and I might get some cultivars later.

Edit: I see that Agristarts ship, but I can't say it's cheap...

Gard

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

If I am not mistaken, Musa balbisiana is a plantain (cooking banana), not a dessert-type banana. If you are wondering about how Musa Balbisiana would taste, go to your nearest "Innvandrer-sjappe" and tell them you want "koke-banan". I actually use this cooking type banana instead of potatoes. goes well with chicken, fish etc. But it does not taste very good raw, best if it's deep-fried like chips! And use them when they are slightly yellow, not green!

To buy cultivars, the easiest thing for you would be to take a trip to England. They probably have Europes biggest selection. Near london you have Paramount Plants and The Palm Centre.

Other places in England who have different and exciting cultivars are Mulu, KobaKoba, EasyTropicals, and UrbanJungle.

Cheers
Erlend

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

Achim's bananenshop is located in Europe and would probably ship to Norway. I haven't tried ordering from there so I don't know about the quality. It seems to be a little pricey compared to most US shops but there should be less problems getting the plants across the border. You might need to know a litte German to deal with them though...

http://www.bananenshop.de/

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

Hey I'm fron belgium, (Europe) I get my seeds from www.wereldzaden.nl
They will send them to you 2, Seeds are from good quality, I have a musa balbisiana from there seeds
:2236: . GreetZ Robi

Re: Musa balbisiana
 

None of these can ship to Norway without a phytosanitary certificate, since Norway is not a member of the EU.

Best thing would be to take with you 5 plants when visiting other countries.

Seeds offcourse, is no problem. You can get balbisiana seeds almost anywhere. I would have to say Trebrown has the best quality banana-seeds I have ever tried. My Musa Balbisiana seeds from there have started sprouting in just over 1 WEEK after sowing!!!

Erlend