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Best day 04-09-2018 11:37 AM

Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
The plant is beautiful but how does it taste?

Bill

WonderKeeper 04-14-2018 04:33 AM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
I am surprising that no one in this forum got the answer for you yet. Even though there are few members in here grown this variety succeed with fruits. I was searching for this answer as well ,so that I can add it to my collection beside AeAe .I ran across a web that offering both Ae Ae and Variegated Florida. Base on feedback from 1 buyer , whom bought both of this varieties . He said that he disappointed of "Florida" fruit. I when back to check the information for you and somehow the feedback was removed from the web. I got the feeling that this variety may not have good fruit for fresh eating like the AeAe. If it does have good eating fruits, then the growers would jump allover to tell everyone about how good it is. Oh well , I just grow AeAe. Here is the link that other members in this forum were talking about Variegated "Florida". You may ask them about it. http://www.bananas.org/f2/variegated...ida-13178.html

edwmax 04-14-2018 08:51 AM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
I know several forum member have bought that variety over the past year. But i don't recall that anyone in the states has fruited it yet. ... PR Giant may have in Puerto Rico.

Best day 04-14-2018 04:35 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
I was thinking the same thing. If no one mentions how good the fruit is on the web that is because it isn't very good. The plant is nice to look at but don't grow it for the fruit.

PR Giant has got it to fruit according to his posts and pictures.

Bill

Tytaylor77 04-16-2018 10:47 AM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
One of mine fruited last year but froze as the flower emerged! I have only heard from 1 person in Thailand who grows it! They said it is seedless sub par fruit.

They are beautiful plants. I do not recommend any variegated Musa over a green variety! They have half or less the clyrophyll which means half the energy of their green counterpart. There are way better all green varieties for a lot less $$ that will fruit much better and most likely taste better!

I have several Florida and they do not like cold or moisture! I lost 10+ this winter vs no other variegated Musa losses including AEAE. However I still love growing them! They are beautiful!

Best day 04-16-2018 12:53 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
As usual Ty is full of great information. As a side note it must be the cold that "variegated Florida" doesn't like for you Ty. Per mda1515 on ebay, who sells both and is in Florida, the "variegated Florida" is much more hardy than AeAe.

Bill

Tytaylor77 04-16-2018 11:40 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
I totally agree! AEAE and Florida both hate cold! AEAE is sensitive until it reaches about 4’ then it’s tough! I’ve only been growing Florida 2 years but to me AEAE seems better vs cold. AEAE HATES moisture! A lot of people keep them too damp (especially in cold) and have problems.

Both are sensitive plants but can be grown successfully fairly easily! I just wouldn’t recommend them for fruit vs a green or for beginning Musa growers! Your getting them for the looks!

PR-Giants 04-22-2018 07:20 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by WonderKeeper (Post 314380)
I got the feeling that this variety may not have good fruit for fresh eating like the AeAe. If it does have good eating fruits, then the growers would jump allover to tell everyone about how good it is. Oh well , I just grow AeAe.

I think it's a much better dessert banana than the aeae but the aeae is a great cooking banana. Overall I'd say the florida tastes ok but the people I know growing it up north say it tastes excellent and it's really not important because taste has a lot to do with what's available. Most bananas taste good but if you always have better tasting bananas available than good isn't good enough. I'm sure there are people that like Pisang Awak but for us the chance we wouldn't have better bananas available is zero so our's are used for making compost. Pisang Awak are great bananas for making compost and during drought conditions when most other plants have difficulties growing these plants do very well. Here are some variegated Pisang Awak types we harvested yesterday that will be used to feed some Florida plants.


PR-Giants 04-22-2018 07:34 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
In many banana growing countries there is a popular belief that eating bananas makes children dumb and eating corn flakes makes them smart. Even thought the data is in line with that belief most educated people can understand the socioeconomics and realize that more affluent families can afford corn flakes while poorer families eat more bananas.

Our variegated bananas grow at a similar to slightly faster rate than the green version but many people encounter more problems growing the variegated types which can cause their plants to grow slower. I often tell people to try and replicate what they believe using all green plants and then follow the data. Leaf pruning or removing entire leaves is a common practice in areas with Sigatoka and it doesn't affect the maturation period of the plants vegetative phase. If people are interested in understanding how not enough green area affects a banana plant I would recommend learning about why commercial farmers count leaves towards the end of the fruiting phase.











Quote:

Originally Posted by Tytaylor77 (Post 314423)
One of mine fruited last year but froze as the flower emerged! I have only heard from 1 person in Thailand who grows it! They said it is seedless sub par fruit.

They are beautiful plants. I do not recommend any variegated Musa over a green variety! They have half or less the clyrophyll which means half the energy of their green counterpart. There are way better all green varieties for a lot less $$ that will fruit much better and most likely taste better!

I have several Florida and they do not like cold or moisture! I lost 10+ this winter vs no other variegated Musa losses including AEAE. However I still love growing them! They are beautiful!


PR-Giants 04-22-2018 07:51 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
Quote:

Originally Posted by Best day (Post 314433)
As usual Ty is full of great information. As a side note it must be the cold that "variegated Florida" doesn't like for you Ty. Per mda1515 on ebay, who sells both and is in Florida, the "variegated Florida" is much more hardy than AeAe.

Bill

The aeae is an AAB which explains why it is much more cold hardy than the AA Florida.

The Florida is a very special banana for many reasons. It's the fastest grower in our collection and is one of the more interesting bananas we have. It's a slender banana plant which makes it a great choice for growing in containers and it produces near normal size bunches in smaller container than the other cultivars. The fruiting phase is about 3 weeks which is similar to the 'AA' Satetagai cultivar. AA bananas are not cold tolerant but do grow great during the summer and they make a tons of pups, so as more people grow these I'd expect prices to drop to the $10 range.

If you can get your hands on one about this size it will easily produce fruit in one summer.


Best day 04-24-2018 07:54 PM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
Thanks for the advice PR Giant. As per the taste of Florida VS AeAe I guess I will have to wait and see if anyone else chimes in. I have you saying the Florida tastes better and I have another grower in Florida saying the AeAe tastes better.

I pickup my AeAe in a couple weeks and hopefully in the next couple of years I can report on the fruit quality in cooler Southern California.

Bill

Tytaylor77 04-28-2018 09:50 AM

Re: Has anyone tasted Variegated "Florida"?
 
In the sub tropics the green versions grow much better. My green mailong out grew my variegated! My green Florida outgrew my variegated! My green dwarf namwa outgrows my variegated dwarf namwa. It’s common knowledge chlorophyll uses the suns energy and converts it into plant energy? You should research chlorophyll. I bet even the “dumb” corn flake eating children know this! In my opinion there is no dumb child. Some sellers will say or make up anything to sell plants it seems.

On plantations they do trim leaves but I’m sure they would rather keep those leaves! More leaves/larger leaves means more energy from the sun!

Sigatoka is the reason they remove the leaves! I doubt they remove them to have less green which your saying means faster growth!

Sigatoka is bad but there is a lot worse Musa diseases out there! Like nematodes, Fusarium wilt Tropical Race 1 and 4. TR4 is the scary one! It has been found in Jamaica but is mostly still in Asia. There is few to none that is resistant! This is one of over 100 Musa problems! That’s the one advantage is sub-Tropical growers have!

Do your research! DONT GET Planting material from the TROPICS unless it’s in tissue culture!! A soilless mix does not mean it’s safe! The #1 way it is spreading is NOT soil. It’s WATER! How can a tropical seller know it’s not in their water? We do not need these problems in the cont. US!

I’m not trying to scare anyone! The threat is real! Be smart! Do your research! Once you have it, it’s done! You can’t cure it or remove from your soil!

Fusarium wilt | The knowledge platform on the banana


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