momoese

This cute little Ae Ae is at $255 with almost 12 hours left. Maybe they think it's a money tree?


http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130025431157&ssPageName=ADME:LBS:US:13

nucci60

make that $280 with 10 hours to go.

jnstropic

I was pleased that the seller was able to show you a mature plant. Unfortunately he didn't get to eat the fruit due to the hurricane. I have eaten the fruit every year for the last 35 years. In 2004 we had 3 trees produce fruit and in 2005 we lost one of the three stems due to Katrina and immaturity. It is our favorite plantain and also one of our favorite table bananas. I don't think of it as having a vanilla taste. When it is dead ripe it's just plain good.

http://togofcoralgables.com/Hurricanes.aspx
This link will show you what a hurricane can do and for more pictures go to the Ae Ae page.

momoese

I've been to your Ae Ae page numerous times but have never see the hurricane pictures. Wow what a mess! Is the corrugated metal on the house a common thing in your area? On the news we generally see plywood over the windows.

mikevan

Ouch. Glad it didn't level you completely like some places, but still a terrible mess. Thing I love about plants is their ability to put damage like that behind them and continue growing if they're not killed outright. I wish houses grew back!

Hey - is that corrigated fiberglass on top of your greenhouse? I'm still pondering pro's and con's for various glazings for the permanent cover for mine. How long does yours last before it yellows?

Be well,
Mike

momoese

Well Stokes added another large Ae Ae so if the bidders are paying attention that should slow down the bidding. It's at $324 now!

Zac in NC

I can't believe its that high. Thats just crazy.

Zac

mikevan

That's what people said about gas prices - now they're saying "Wow - it's almost down to $2.50 a gallon! Can you believe how cheap it's getting?" I think $100 is much for a nanner plant even, but what can you do if you want the Ae Ae?

Be well,
Mike

jnstropic

Momoese my hurricane shutters are aluminum panels and are about 20 years old. We changed to these when we replaced our windows. The old ones were stainless steel and they lasted 50 years. The aluminum panels are easier to put up. I have osteoarthritis with a lot of back problems, but I can get the shutters up in two hours. When I take them off I stack them in my poting shed and it takes up about a two foot square of floor space. I have 23 openings that need shutters. Plywood gives great TV viewing but it's a bear to work with. Wood is less expensive, but the plywood doesn't last. I had some solid pine shutters for a waterfront home in the Florida Keys that are 50 years old and stored out doors. They are now too heavy for me. For the last 9 years my kids have put up the pine shutters.
Mike I put a frosted clear fiber glass roof on my 40 x 12 greenhouse 11 years ago after hurricane Andrew. In 6 years the panels darkened and were not giving me enough light. I replaced them with clear Lexan panels. Its more expensive but it gives me more light. But in Katrina one panel shattered.
I noticed that when I post here I get a rise in hits to my site, but only one or two pages by most viewers. First I am an orchid grower, then a fruit grower and the Ae Ae is just part of my fruit collection. Please look at some of my other pages. I posted a lotus in an orchid chat and some one wrote that he had no idea of what it was. The one called Bali Red lotus is the Ae Ae of the lotus family.

Zac in NC

It ended at 355 ?????????????? WOW that sreally high. I woner if that Red Thai one will go for less? That would be funny.

Zac

mikevan

That's a reason why I almost never shop at eBay. It seems all too common for bids to get out of hand and inflate the price above what you would pay normally retail.

Be well,
Mike

mikevan

It's hard to see - is that the corrugated lexan panels or the Thermoclear twin-wall panels? Those have been on my radar, tho the twin-wall panels are indeed very expensive. Heh - having only one shatter in an F3 hurricane isn't a bad track record, methinks.

Be well,
Mike

jnstropic

Mike, I used the plane corrugated lexan. The twin-wall and the tri-wall lexan is for heat control. For the last three years I haven't even closed the sides of my greenhouse. And before that I just ran the well water on the floor. But 15 years ago I needed to use gas on an average of three times a year.
That plant that went for the big bucks didn't make much sense. If the new owner lives in zone 9 or 10 he maybe OK. September is the latest that I would move an Ae Ae. I have had small plants that looked that good in September that stopped growing in October and then died in February. Not a problem for me because I didn't pay $355. Many years ago I had 20 healthy pups that I sold to a professional grower in October. He knew what he was doing. The next summer he told me, all of the pups died. Now I sell a few only in June through August to commercial growers.

MediaHound

I'd like to see someone post a BIG Ae Ae on ebay so we can see what it fetches.

__________________
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.

jnstropic

I know of one nursery that had 4 mature plants two years ago. My orchid society (Coalition for Orchid Species) had a bus trip to the west coast of Florida in 2004. One of the stops we made was Tropiflora (http://www.tropiflora.com/) near Sarasota Florida. Orchids are only one part of this nursery. I bought a seedling of an Adinium, it was an unflowered seedling and very expensive, but look at what I got: http://togofcoralgables.com/FlowersofSept06.aspx scroll down past the orchids. One very tall green house had 4 of the tallest Ae Ae bananas that I have ever seen. The leaves were flawless. You could see in but the greenhouse was off limits. I have never seen such perfect specimens. I am sure that they must have been full of fungicides. I know that I would not try to eat the fruit. I ask the grower were he got the plants and he said from a commercial grower in Homestead. The Homestead grower buys his Ae Ae from me. I didn't tell the Tropiflora man that the plants were most likely from my garden. A few months later I was talking to a local nursery man and told him about the bananas. He said that the asking price was $1,000.
The Ae Ae does not appear in the web site, maybe you can visit or email the grower.