tony palmer

I was thinking the other day wouldn’t it be cool if you could get a dwarf basjoo, and it flowered on a 4 foot stem, haw would you go about this would you just simply select pups from basjoo’s that have flowered at a smaller than normal height I have a friend and his basjoo flowered on a 6 foot stem.

tony palmer

i have just found this
Banana - Dwarf

Bananaman88

I'm not really sure why they would call M. basjoo a dwarf. 60" is quite small but I think basjoo gets much larger than that. However, I did see a plant at the San Antonio Botanical Garden that I'm quite sure was basjoo and it was in flower and not much over 4-5' tall. See my photo gallery for a pic of it. Still, I think a lot of things can account for bananas flowering a different sizes and in my book basjoo is not a dwarf.

Gabe15

Dwarfism is a very common mutation, I'm sure if you did radiation induction trials you could eventually get a dwarf basjoo, this method has been used many times by researchers to create dwarf versions of cultivars, most notable and familiar to us is the 'Super Dwarf Cavendish' which is a product of radiation induction mutation.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Raules

I too saw flowering basjoo at height stem 1 m. 50 cm. But I would not tell, that it is the dwarf. Other plants beside were in 2 times more it. Conditions where it is, too influence growth. Radiation induction mutation too will affect a plant.

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Tropical agriculturist

tony palmer

Thanks Gabe,
I had no idea they would irradiate them to get mutations, I’m surprised those Dutch growers haven’t already done this or maybe they have? One of the main problem with growing basjoo in the UK is wind damage you just get a new flush of leaves and along comes the wind and wrecks them, I no a number of people that don’t grow them any more because they look unsightly for most of the year, your lucky if you get a couple of weeks were they look good, so the main draw back is there size also people in the north would find it easy to protect them in winter, I think there would be a good market for dwarf basjoo don’t you

Bananaman88

I agree, there should be a good market for a dw. basjoo, and probably any dwarf variety for that matter as more and more people have smaller spaces in which to grow.

mskitty38583

i would buy quite a few dwarf basjoos. i like little trees they would be easier to protect in the winter...but with the way the global warming is going it may be tropical tn, before too long.

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Gabe15

I'm currently working on a radiation induction experiment to produce new ornamental bananas, perhaps we can work M. basjoo into it later on.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.