Java16

Did anyone ever grow a Kru banana plant? Any pictures? Are they hardy?

pitangadiego

Yes.

http://webebananas.com/bvar-J-L.html

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MediaHound

Hey all you gotta do is visit the gallery and type kru into the search
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showg...x=0&y=0&limit=

This photo is from looking down a hill, overgrown with grass.
This plant is taller than it looks here! It's about 7' tall or so.



and this is AnnaJW's


It's pretty hardy. Mine ditched it's first leaves when I got it and started growing from out of the base. Here you can see the first leaf from when I got it being held up by a stick of bamboo, and the new growth emerging from the bottom. A fighter if you ask me.



I think the Kru is absolutely beautiful. Mine is a little over a year old and yet to fruit, so I cannot comment on the taste. The coloration on the pseudostem is rivaled only by few other bananas, it's really enjoyable.

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mikevan

I have a very young kru and will test it's protected hardiness next winter with a wrapped pseudostem. It's a lovely nanner! If you have the oportunity to get one, jump on it - not a lot of places carry it regularly.

Be well,
Mike

jeffreyp

Yes I have both red and green forms.

Here's a picture of some young ones I have grown..

http://www.worldwideplants.com/images/kru.jpg

MediaHound

What form is mine, pictured above?
TQ!

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jeffreyp

It looks like the red form. Time will tell. I think sometimes if the ph of the soil is off, it can make them go from red to green.

MediaHound

Thanks.
They like it slightly acidic?

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PaulOdin

I have read that Kru is cold sensitive. I have about a dz., grown from tc's I got at Agri-Starts last March. They are doing well enough- anywhere from 12" to 30" in an outdoor bathtub/planter- but that is really limited experience. They will be put in a greenhouse some time in December. We didn't have a freeze in central Florida until February last year, but I'll build the greenhouse, probably on Mike's cattle panel model, around Thanksgiving. My theory is that if I protect the plants most at risk, it will never freeze?

Paul

pitangadiego

Yes, Kru is very cold sensitive. Two large ones didn't survive winter that was never below 40 degrees. Most reds are very cold sensitive.

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jeffreyp

I think kru is an "ok" tasting banana, I don't think there's anything particularly special about it.

mikevan

Ouch - I've yet to overwinter my Kru - I was thinking of just wrapping it with burlap and bubble-wrap layers but I may opt for the hay-and-chickenwire method. Has anyone overwintered these guys outside with wrapping successfully in Zone 8 or above? Our winters are mild, but the occasional arctic blast can chill things out for a few days...

Be well,
Mike

hulagirlmele

A local farmer grows KRU banana's and they are the very best banana's I have ever tasted. I noticed that the peel of the KRU banana is thinner than regular bananas. One of the favorite local banana's are apple bananas because they are so sweet, BUT these KRU banana's are my ultimate favorite they are the creamest I have ever had with sort of a vanilla taste as well.