Mauro Gibo

I have been growing many species of Musas here in Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, Japan, for the past 10 years. Most of my bananas die out in the winter but come back in the spring. The only one which never dies is the Musa Basjoo which until recently was thought to be native in Japan. People say the M. Basjoo's natural habitat is Fujian China, but no one has found a M. Basjoo with the same DNA in China, yet. All the species of Musas I've grown are clones. I have learned that all the Musa Basjoo in Europe and the U.S. are sterile. That means that it does not produce any seed. Well, in the beginning of this year my son, who lives in Chiba Prefecture, found some M. Basjoo with seeds in the fruit, in a place called Yamaki. He sent me the seeds and I asked my wife who lives in Okinawa to plant the seeds of the Basjoo for me in the beginning of March. On March 6, she planted 7 seeds in a pot. On April 16, all the seeds sprouted and are growing well. I think I was very lucky because I didn't know if the seeds were viable or not. Professor Markku Hakkinen told me that about 50 years ago, botanists in Trinidad, Central America crossed the M. Basjoo with M. Velutina but the seeds did not germinate. I don't know if my seedlings are pure M. Basjoo or a crossbred variety. I am very happy to be successful with my M. Basjoo seeds and I have posted some pictures in the Photo Gallery for everybody to see. From now on, I plan to stop growing M. Basjoo clone and grow mainly M. Basjoo from seeds. I am eager to see what kind of fruit my M. Basjoo will bear.
Greetings to everyone.

ivo_nekitov

Congratulations, Mauro, and thanks a lot about that new information! That variety seems like Cindarella of bananas in tropical areas, but for us(or me) that's a banana princess - especially since I saw the new pups 2 weeks ago arround frozen stem of last-year great and beautifull Basjoo
And that - only 10 days after snow melting in my area.

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hydroid

A few years back I bought a basjoo and it only survived one season so I purchased another one the following year and for a few seasons they only thrived but did'nt do well like my other musas. This year they grew all winter and I have 2 fruiting and looks like I will have 2 or more fruiting from the same mat. They just struggled for years and blasted off this spring.
BTW- My son is in Nagasaki with my brand new grand daughter.

Dalmatiansoap

Congrats Bo!

It would be nice if U can follow the Basjoo story with few pics Mauro?

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jmoore

Exciting news Mauro! Pictures of the sprouts would be good.

Mauro Gibo

Mauro Gibo

Thank you, jmoore. Here is a picture of my M. Yunnanensis seedlings.