Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Manini a'ea'e are one of the easiest cultivars to pollinate and get seeds.

Blue Java is another cultivar that is very easy.

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

I recommend growers on the mainland that are interested in breeding bananas use the Manini A'ea'e as the female parent because it's very fertile, and it's a short cycle which means it's fruiting cycle is short. It takes about 2 months between pollinating and planting the seeds that are produced. Plus another bonus is that variegation is often passed on from the mother plant.

This lightly variegated Manini A'ea'e will be made available for free to a member that's interesting in getting involved with breeding bananas. I'll start a thread in the banana plants for sale forum for anyone that's interested.

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

It's important to understand sexual reproduction.

https://letstalkscience.ca/education...t-reproduction

Edible banana cultivars that are pollinated can produce seeds.

Edible banana cultivars that are not pollinated don't produce seeds.

Think of a supermarket banana like a supermarket egg.

If a supermarket egg is fertilized it can produce a chick.

If a supermarket egg is not fertilized it doesn't produce a chick.

Here's some photos of three common edible banana cultivars that will easily produce seeds if there's a compatible pollen source within a quarter mile.

ABB Blue Java







AAB Manini A'ea'e







AA Veinte Cohol










The two most common edible banana cultivar seeds I see for sale on the internet are Blue Java and Manini A'ea'e seeds. But you should be cautious because even though those seeds are very easy to produce there's no way to be sure the seeds actually originated from those fruit. And even if they did, it's important to realize they will not produce Blue Java or Manini A'ea'e seedlings. Each seed, if it germinates will produce a new variety and you won't know if these new varieties are seedless or seeded until after they bear fruit.

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Here's a photo of a couple of the hybrid Blue Java seedlings from the seeds in the previous photos.

This is really easy and once you get involved with breeding bananas you'll probably have thousands of new varieties. I stopped naming and counting them a long time ago.






I always recommend starting with the easy and highly fertile crosses first and later try the ones that are more difficult.

Just because someone says something is difficult doesn't necessarily mean it's difficult. I've been sharing a lot of my variegated banana seeds and they are super easy too germinate but there's always going to be people that will think it's difficult. I always tell people to throw them on the ground somewhere and remember where you threw them. A few days ago I received a photo from an org member that threw the seeds outside before winter and they just sprouted now. It's really cool to grow variegated bananas from seed.

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Growing variegated bananas from seed and sharing those seeds is what I really enjoy.

There are many members on this forum that are also growing variegated bananas from seed.

Here's a plant that will get hand pollinated soon.



I recently sent this beautiful offshoot to a collector friend. The mother plant that produced it was grown from seed.

Originally Posted by Valor_X

I definitely want to try this, when both my Variegated Florida's get bigger I am going to separate them and then cut a piece of the corm off with a knife.
I will need to invest in a humidity propagation box.

Originally Posted by Backyard Banana Joe

Does variegated monstera produce edible fruit? I know some kinds of monstera don't.

Originally Posted by Valor_X

I'm ready to give it a shot
Might be a little overkill for bananas but should work great for home tissue propagation and growing from seed.

I got a very nice humidity propagation dome, thermostat controlled heat mat, grow light, and some 3.5" square nursery pots

Originally Posted by jellerbe15@yahoo.com

Do you have any more variegated bananas or more terse for sale?

Originally Posted by PR-Giants

Variegated Manini A'ea'e prepared for macropropation