Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

I was recently on a collecting expedition to Bougainville Island, PNG. There will be many more photos, stories and official reports to come later on, but for now here are some teaser photos to enjoy.

https://goo.gl/photos/cUrfMg8PzZ68UxD38

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Very amazing pictures. Thanks for sharing Gabe.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Wow!

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Double WOW ... Which ones did you bring back?

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

What diversity, Gabe! Are you in the epicenter of banana genetics???

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

You must have had a blast! All those bananas!

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

I'd like to have those red plantains

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Amazing! Thanks for sharing.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Just AMAZING! Thank's!

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

I didn't bring anything back, we were collecting for the PNG national collection and for the international collection in Belgium.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Me too !!! I've started 2 mats of ARH cause some of the neighbors got wind of my plantings and none of them want sweet breakfast naners. Would you believe that Home Despot put out some ARH this year? The other one I got from Humacao, PR.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Actually none of the photos are of Plantains, most them are unusual unclassified AA types.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Well, my mind is blown.:woohoonaner:

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

It's surprising how important bananas are to humanity, yet we have done relatively little to preserve many of these cultivars. Hundreds of organizations in the US (and probably thousands worldwide) are focused on saving rare and endangered animals with great success, but plants have generally been placed on the back burner... We've literally only had one single major successful organization, FHIA, work on improving bananas.
Thank you Gabe for taking action and doing the heavy lifting for us! Preserving the landrace variants is the first step to long term preservation of bananas. Hopefully one day we'll see these otherwise unknown varieties become easily available to farmers and especially home growers throughout the world :) Genetic diversity is key to long term survival....

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Incredible collection of interesting pictures of Banana's:waving:

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Thank you Gabe for sharing all the amazing pictures, information!....

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Many PNG AA types taste very similar to plantains, were you able to taste some of the unclassified AA types.

Amazing pics, thanks for sharing.

:08:

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

I agree with you that preserving genetic diversity is important and breeding bananas is relatively difficult (compared to something like maize or tomatoes), but FHIA is far from the only organization that has been breeding bananas, and in recent years, they are one of the most secretive with what they are doing. Here is a nice article summarizing the history and main contributors to banana breeding.
Who's breeding bananas? : Under the peel | News, knowledge and information on bananas


I tasted many of them and more not pictured, some cooked, some raw, some both. The tastes and eating quality attributes are all over the board and as variable as the plants themselves. Some are indeed very Plantain-like, but they are so variable you can't really say anything collective about them all.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

The images are very nice. Thanks fo sharing.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

With all those different organizations working on bananas, why is FHIA the only one we are getting cultivars from? I shudder to think of how many different varieties that would add, but wonder the above...

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

All of the released FHIA cultivars are decades old, and were made available at a time when the organization was much more willing to share their work, basically during the years when Phil Rowe was head breeder. They have created many more different new hybrids since those times, but I suppose they are banking on one of them being a potential export Cavendish replacement and so then the strategy would be to license them to the big growers, and not share until then. But like I said, who knows, they are pretty much closed off these days.

As for hybrids from other breeding programs, in reality there is probably not much that would be of great value to hobby growers. Almost all banana breeding work has been focused on trying to recreate basic landrace clones but with enhanced disease resistance, which is typically a minor concern for hobby growers. Most of the successful ones still fall short in terms matching the target cultivar's eating quality traits exactly, but may have enhanced disease resistance and yield.

For hobby growers, I'd say you're better off trying to acquire unique landrace cultivars (those that did not come from a breeding program) if you're after something that is really different, there are many out there that have yet to be collected and made widely available.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

Thanks for that quick response... I understand your point... the projects are working on either a Cavendish or better yet, a GM with disease resistance, so all will taste much the same...
I just want something I like the taste of that I can grow easily here in Central Florida. I love Paggi, and have one now, so will add anything I learn about it to the Wiki. In all the internet there seems to be only one page about it and it just has a few pics of the fruit. I know it doesn't get very tall...
Mysore and Brazilians are pretty good, and I have both of those... Brazilians are one I would recommend for here as they can take cold and grow quick. Down side is a 5-6 month ripening time.
I have a Veinte Cohol, which is supposed to be fast, but not at all cold hardy, plus I have not tasted them yet, so we will see.
I have a GM even though it's doubtful I can successfully fruit it here... 2 Namwah even though I do not like them, a Cavendish, same as GM... Probably can't fruit here, too cold... FHIA 1, one American, one not... if there really is a difference...a 3640 and a 17.

Re: Bananas of Bougainville- Teaser photos
 

[quote=Gabe15;300427]I agree with you that preserving genetic diversity is important and breeding bananas is relatively difficult (compared to something like maize or tomatoes), but FHIA is far from the only organization that has been breeding bananas, and in recent years, they are one of the most secretive with what they are doing. Here is a nice article summarizing the history and main contributors to banana breeding.
Who's breeding bananas? : Under the peel | News, knowledge and information on bananas



Gabe: have any of the other organizations (besides FHIA) been able to produce a commercially viable, improved cultivar of banana? I suspected other breeders existed, but haven't yet heard of any other success stories. Doesn't mean it's not happening on a private level...