Velutina

Has anyone else noticed how different websites will use the exact same pictures and descriptions of their bananas? Some of the bananas that I see the EXACT same photo over and over are Ice Cream, Double, Kru, praying hands, saba, african horn, etc.

Just a few examples

Stokes
Bananas/ Stokes Tropicals

Banana-tree
Banana Plants Plant and Seed Section - Tropical Plants

Agri-starts
Agri-Starts, Inc. - Musa


And there are many others (ie. going-bananas.com, rarepalmseeds.com)

And it's not just the pictures, but the descriptions!! Seriously??
How hard is it to get an original photo or description??

Anyone else find this odd?

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Adam

Richard

What's worse is that the description or picture they copied might have been erroneous in the first place! (Not necessarily the case with your examples).

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Velutina

A couple more with a lot of the exact same pictures. Is there ANY major banana seller that has original photos? lol

I honestly think this is the ONLY photo of 'Kru' I've ever seen...





3 more...

Central Florida Farms - Musa Edible Bananas & Ornamentals Sikkimensis, Abyssinian, Ladyfinger Baby Banana Plants, Musa acuminata Cavendish, Elephant Ear Plant, Xanthosoma, Alocasia Robusta, Colocasia for sale - PayPal Mail Order

Achim´s Bananenshop*-*Musas - dessert/cook bananas

Dragon Agro Products - Aroids, Alocasia, Anthurium, Aquatic Plants, Banana, Begonia, Bromeliads, Carnivorous Plants, Cordyline, Ferns, Ginger, Grass, Hosta, Orchids, Perennials, Syngonium, Calathea, Tropicals, Euphorbia


A few more photos that I see all the time

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Adam

pitangadiego

When I started We Be Bananas a few years ago there were only about 100 banana pix online, anywhere, and many were duplicates. So I started posting pix of my plants, fruit, etc., not knowing how many were labeled correctly (or not) - but it was somewhere to start from. It is nice, now, with bananas.org, that more people are taking and posting pix.

So when you see those old pix that have floated around for a long time, and when you see them on Ebay, TyTy, and other places, you can pretty much figure that if they don't have their own pix, then don't have much, if any experieince with what they are selling, and buying from them is probably a crap-shoot. Maybe they don't even grow them, just buy them and sell them and never know what they actually bought or what they sold to you, other than something that had the right name on the container.

I have been to nurseries where they are growing out tissue cultures, and there will be 100 plants all labeled the same but they are not all the same - some have red splotches or other differences that are quite pronounced. So you have to ask, how many different varieties are actually present in that 100 plants that all have the same name, but different characteristics. How many varieties are not distinuishable at that stage? So what are the odds you are getting what the label says? I have walked away more than once without parting with my money.

When I sell a banana plant, I can say, here is the parent it came from, here is what it looks like full grown, here is a pix of the fruit that it has produced, and here is what I know about it. Maybe it wasn't labeled correctly when I got it, but here is its history and track record. If it is an unknown, I can say, I don't know what its name is, but here is what it does, and if you are here on the right day, here is what it tastes like. If it tastes good, performs well, then the name doesn't always matter for someone who only wants to have one or two varietes which will produce well for them in their climate. That sort of "unknown" thing doesn't work well for the mass sellers, but works fine with one-on-one education and sales, when you can provide a track record. But if you are pushing volume, most often to people who don't have much education about bananas, it is just important that they look or sound "cool" (honey, wouldn't it be fun to grow a banans tree...) and that you ad copy or catalog looks enticing.

Similarly, when you buy a Dave Wilson tree, they actually made it, so they know what it is. Many catalog nurseries just buy "stock" and have no clue if it is labeled right or if the wholesaler/source put the name you ordered on 100 of whatever trees, because they needed to fill an order for 100 of that "name/label".

The dark side of the nursery trade. Caveat emptor.

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We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com

LilRaverBoi

LOL...I totally know what you mean! I've seen all of the pictures on this thread a BUNCH of times in all over the web (LOL...no pun intended on the 'bunch' thing...purely accidental/serendipitous). And like you said, the descriptions are often the same as well. I guess some people are just too lazy to write up their own descriptions, or figure it is more accurate to use the pictures/descriptions others have used before. At least the pics you do see often are quality ones, but I'd appreciate sellers to take their own quality pictures of mature plants for their sites (and write their own descriptions).

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Richard

Amen.

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Bob

Great thread! This is why sites like Jon's and this one are so valuable. In a few years if not sooner these could be the standard for all doing some research. I have to say that the E. Glaucum picture was what caused me to purchase the seed initially with the powdery silver/ blue p- stem against the white washed wall. My seedling is looking just like that so at least it seems to be a valid picture.............just need to find a white backdrop for next year.

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MediaHound

I have a lot of Kru pics in my gallery They are beautiful plants.

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MediaHound

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