PR-Giants

Yeah variegated Florida are beautiful.

__________________

PR-Giants Photo Gallery


15,000+ Varieties

WildernessGreen

Since I throw so many Dwarf Cavendish pups to my compost bin, I need to start experimenting with the sand I have available to me - two types, one comes out of our local New Mexico arroyos, and two, comes from a local quarry, sold as plaster sand. I have a huge pile here. However, I can tell, it is far finer than yours, which appears almost like fine aquarium gravel.

PR-Giants

The good news is that you didn't kill an A'ea'e

Now the question is why did you think one of your Variegated Florida was an A'ea'e?

The A'ea'e is a triploid with one balbisiana gene

The Florida is a diploid with no balbisiana gene

Knowing this let's you focus on the differences between a diploid and a triploid and also the differences between having a balbisiana gene and not having a balbisiana gene in it's genotype.

__________________

PR-Giants Photo Gallery


15,000+ Varieties

WildernessGreen

Hi, it was sold to me as an A'ea'e.

I would sure love to hear about the visual differences between a diploid and triploid and balbisiana gene, especially in how it relates to looking at pictures of both Florida, and A'ea'e, and telling the difference!

Thank you

PR-Giants

Leaf habit and petiole canal are easy ways to distinguish the two.

Did you notice any differences between the two?

__________________

PR-Giants Photo Gallery


15,000+ Varieties

WildernessGreen

Thank you for these diagrams.

One note, in this thread, when I refer to "A'ea'e, and "Florida" - this is what they were sold to me as. I have not fruited either mother plant so will never be sure of what I have until that point. Although I have a lot of years growing musa under my belt - I only have a couple years with A'ea'e and Florida.

I wish my mother "A'ea'e" plant was still here so I could spend a lot of time studying the petioles. I have read how the A'ea'e petioles should be more curved inwards than the Florida. I have a question on this though - does this petiole difference show in small leaves as pups? Or as they mature? Can you feel the leaves of a 2' high Florida, and A'ea'e and there is the difference? Is this 100% of the time, period, or does it vary?

The main difference I saw between my Florida, and A'ea'e, was their stance, and size. The Florida was smaller, much more erect leaves, and the A'ea'e was much taller - around 12' when she died, and her leaves were far more droopy than the Florida. Unfortunately I made the same crucial error on both - putting them into whiskey barrels with not enough. and too small drainage holes, getting fooled by the top drier soil, hiding the wet bottom soil.

When studying hundreds of online pictures, it appears A'ea'e will have overall more white, and less grey than Florida - BUT, I have seen many contradictory posts/pics on this - some folks have strains, they claim to have fruited that have very little variegation. It gets very confusing as I'm sure a lot pics I have found are mislabeled, and then you bring in possible different strains, and then growing conditions, and then of course, did honest sellers including the Indonesian sellers calling them "Florida AeAe's"........yikes!!!!! Danger Will Robinson!

Jeff zone 8 N.C.

PR-Giants wrote;
"Second, the unhealthy tissue in your photo is the cortex of the mother plant and does not help the nub in any way so it should have been removed regardless of it's health because it will die.

Third, same with the roots for the same reasons. Sometimes this can be confusing if some of the roots of the mother plant are exiting through the cortex of the nub but upon close observation it should be apparent which are which.

All unhealthy nub tissue should be removed."

Thank you PR-Giants for this info. I know you have said this with other wording but I just did not grasp it till you said it this way. I am a long time banana grower but this explains a lot about my losses of some rotting corms of rot sensitive bananas I have tried to save.

PR-Giants

Here are some 6' A'ea'e



Here's a Florida and an A'ea'e



I've helped many curators of botanical gardens throughout the US including the head of US Tropical Agricultural Research Station and I know that a person's education or years of experience is not necessarily a good way to measure experience.

The reality is with the proper training it can take less than a few hours to become what other's may consider to be an expert.

In my experience the banana in the photo below is clearly spiraling downward and probably has been for many weeks.

It's better to notice a problem when it's minor than to wait until it's catastrophic.

__________________

PR-Giants Photo Gallery


15,000+ Varieties

Foxhound

For us newer growers, what in the bottom picture cues you in to the downward spiral?

I could only see a slight drooping on the leaves which is usually caused (in my very warm and very humid area) by heat or over watering. Was there something here that we could all learn from?

PR-Giants

Compare the last leaf to emerge in the August photo to each and every new leaf that appeared by the November photo and you should be able to determine that the problem started around the first week of September. The cause and effect is obvious so troubleshooting is normally what's left to figure out.

__________________

PR-Giants Photo Gallery


15,000+ Varieties