Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Hello

Bought a 3'tall Darf red Banana grown and shipped from Dewar Nursery in Apokola Fla. at Lowes last night.

Can anyone school me on this variety, I'm new at this Banana thang as a shiney copper penny.

Thanks in advance
Snookie

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Red varieties like Dwarf Red aren't cold hardy and take a longer time to make fruit than most, but the fruit are good and they are nice looking plants.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Thanks that helped.....
Now to get it in the ground lol

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

That wiki entry is not correct about ripeness. If you let reds turn black they will be mush just like any other banana. The photo Gabe posted showing the nice orange, red, yellow colors is ripe.

Pretty plants, pretty fruit bunches, very aromatic fruit with a unique flavor. As Andreas pointed out they do take longer to fruit, and longer for the fruit bunches to mature.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Coolio Maybe I should go buy the other two remaing plant's Lowes have/ had?:waving:

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

If you want more plants right now then yes, but that one plant will provide more pups down the road that you can replant wherever you want. Just depends how much of a hurry you are to fill in your space.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Wow didn't think about that:}

Thanks, I like DAT me!:nanadrink:

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

I have a Dwarf Red with over 12 pups currently and it hasn't even fruited yet, so I'm sure there will be even more. I'm not sure how many pups bananas typically grow (I'm still learning, too), but to me it seems like a lot. I'm thinking that you will have 'plenty' before you know it, and may be having a hard time keeping them under control. :08:

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

That's interesting. Mine has been a slow pupper. It is fruiting size (6+ feet) but sill only has two pups. Both are big healthy pups. And it was slow to produce those. Different results in different conditions, I guess.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Yup, and maybe cultivar differences too. Mine is about 8 1/2 ft, and I had expected fruit by now. It has a pretty stout p-stem, too. Everything about this one appears to be wide and/or thick.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Mine put out lots of pups and was pretty good at temps. in low 40's

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Dwarf doesn't necessarily mean small. Here is a picture of my DR, the fence behind is about 5'-8", the p-stem is just over 8'. Started out just under 3', 10 months ago when it went from it's nursery pot and into the ground.
East coast of central Florida, the couple of cold nights this winter (upper 20's and frost) fried the leaves. All the leaves showing are since then.

It hasn't fruited yet but I think soon, but has produced about 8 pups. I think it would be hard to beat for color tho.

DM

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Awesome nanner! Wonder if one would survive here zone 8b Wilmington NC. We are a mile from the ocean. I could always bundle it up it temps got cold in the winter.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

WoW!! If you placed that next to mine, you'd swear they were not even close to the same type at all. Mine has short thick petioles, and the red is more like dark maroon. Also, yours has narrower leaves. I love that red color.

There must be different types of Dwarf Red. This has an 8 ft p-stem at the date of this photo.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

And mine looks somewhere in between the two you guys have. Short petioles like Yug's but much more red. Maybe Yug's is a green red? Or just in a different environment. The color of the fruit will give the answer.

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Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Could it be a Kru ?

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Which one?

DM

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

This one ?

http://www.bananas.org/f2/lowes-dwar...tml#post194791

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

I've thought about getting one of these. For some reason I never have. Probably because of the time it takes to fruit.

Which has always puzzled me - it takes a very long time for the initial plant to fruit and then what? The pups fruit in a more 'normal' banana way?

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

I think the fruit take a long time to ripen as well.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

I was thinking that each subsequent p-stem would still take around 18-21 months from inception to harvest, but that if you could get a good 2-pup rotation going, you'd get a harvest every 6-7 months. (i.e. when mother is being harvested at 18-21 months, older pup is at 12-14 months and younger pup is at 6-7 months).

That's just my impression, though. I don't know for sure.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Thanks for all the info folks.

Hope I can get enough NO FREEZE time and miss the Hurricanes this year to be able to eat me some nanas...LOL:08:

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Yup, yours is more like mine.

No, not a green/red. It has the red color, just stout everywhere, and the red is dark. I'll get some photos tomorrow that show what I mean.

This is a better shot showing some of the color on the petioles


This one shows that the pups do have red in them, just not as bright as Dangermouse01's banana.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Are these dwarfs? I assumed that these topped out at 8-9 ft overall, not 11-12 like the two above. I was about to give away my dwarf since I prefer talls, but maybe I'll hang onto it for now.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Measuring the p-stem, mine is at the 8 ft mark, but consdering the height of the Tall Red, mine could still be called a dwarf. I expect a bud any day now. Of course, I've been saying that since it went over 6 ft, so I'm not holding my breath.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

As Gabe reminded me, dwarfism in bananas isn't actually defined by height. It is has to do with growth form, e.g., length of the petiole relative to the blade of the leaf, leaf overlap, etc. Put more simply, a dwarf of a variety that is really tall (e.g., Brazilian, Red) could still be pretty tall. I've seen Dwarf Brazilian that were around 12' of p-stem, but that's still a lot shorter than regular Brazilian, which can hit 20'.

And then there's the whole height measured as p-stem, not the tip of the leaves. I got tripped up on that one early on!

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

LOL I know with the Mix Up of what I bought from Home Depot and the Banana from Lowes and the DC California Gola and Gran Nan I got online I'm confussed as h*ll on what I got...

I got 6 of something.....Tomatoes, Bell Peppers and Watermello a whole lot easier to identify to me lol

Oh well we'll see how it goes...

I like DAT me!

:0519:

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Snookie - where in tarnation is 'Lizard Creek'? (I just gotta know) I grew up in a 'Mid-vale' which is about as common as can be, and I had folks that lived in 'McCracken Corners', but 'Lizard Creek' is a new one on me.

Based on the post mentioning what Gabe says a dwarf really is, I guess a 12 ft Saba could then be considered to be a 'dwarf' since it is much shorter than typical.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

I knew that about the pseudostem being the true height, but the funny thing is that it seems nobody applies that to dwarf varieties if at all (even places like going bananas). You'll never see dwarf listed as 3-5 feet, for a typical dwarf. You will see 6-9 feet listed. I suppose this is to let consumers know the plant's ultimate height.

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

Perhaps people that are not familiar with bananas don't know to measure the height based on the p-stem, and the sellers are worried about being accused of misrepresentation of the plants ultimate height?

Re: Lowes Dwarf Red Banana ? Questions
 

[quote=Yug;195555]Snookie - where in tarnation is 'Lizard Creek'? (I just gotta know)

Lizard Creek is in South East Louisiana North of New Orleans and South of Baton Rouge Louisiana.

Google Tickfaw State Park in Louisiana and you'll see where I be.

Give em a call be glad to have you visit:}

A little way frrom your crib LOL:08: