MediaHound

Link to another thread with some updates on the Dwarf Ladyfinger

Dwarf Lady finger

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momoese

I heard a report a few years ago about one of the very few human tests ever performed with GM tomatoes. The findings were very scary indeed. The GM Tomatoes actually made the people resistant to the effects of a certain antibiotic creating a whole new health concern.

Zac in NC

Mitchel- That is very scary indeed. With the way Doctors prescribe antibiotics now, the bacteria are already adapting to be resistant to the commonly used antibiotics. Thanks for sharing.

Zac

chong

OK,
I'll buy some. Do still have any? I know it's a little late, but it's only been a few days since I joined this group. If you wish, you can e-mail me directly at:

bi054@scn.org

Thanks.
Chong

P.S. In order to stay within the subject matter, I have a strong hunch what variety it is that Logee is selling as "Dwarf Lady Finger Banana". From their description of their banana plants, I suspect that they get them from a TC'er in FL. Although this TC'er does not have a photo of the variety that I think it is.

MediaHound

Agri-starts?

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chong

Yes, it is. If you check the description of Dwarf Niño, it matches the description of the Dwarf Lady Finger from Logee's. I ordered a flat of these from Agri-Starts 2 years ago. But between giving some away and "inattention" by my family when I was away on assignments chasing hurricanes for FEMA (from Charley thru Katrina), I only have 2 surviving plants that was less than 7-inches tall when I got back last July. At the time, even their leaves were "pointy", like from the TC plug. I transplanted them in Aug. in larger pots and they grew pretty quick, and the leaves are more round. Yesterday, after I saw some pictures of the DLF that you posted on another thread, last 09/05 and 09/11, I was more convinced that it is the Dwarf Niño.

I took pictures of the plants just now, but it's pretty dark in my greenhouse. So one of them is off-centered. And, I have an 8-yr old digital camera to boot. . . . . very hard to see in there.

This is one of the 2. We were caught by surprise on the night of 10/29/2006, when the temps outside went down below 15degF. Plants and cars were covered with frost in the morning. These came out with flying colors. No damage to any part of these plants. But the SDC had some, and so did the DC from the Canary Islands. Had to bring them in the following day.


No. 2 is struggling a little, but it's pushing new leaves inspite of the 58degF in the greenhouse:


Cheers . . .
Chong

jeffreyp

TC plugs will grow very quickly given good soil, water, fertilizer, and warm temps. Ideally (if you live in a cool/cold climate) they should be grown in increasingly larger pots in a green house or by a sunny window sil. Under these aforementioned contions, tc plugs will grow just as fast to fruit as a corm.

JoeReal

I hate to disagree with jeffrey, but I still have yet to see the tc plugs grow and bloom as fast as the average pups that I get from exchanges. It is always 3 to 4 years before they bloom, and my bananas pups grow crazy here. If I were to plant those TC plugs in the ground directly, they won't survive after one winter. I will have to do a labor intensive loving care of potting and repotting them until they're big enough to go into the ground, and the potting and repotting takes about 2 years alone.

There is one best online nursery ever, and I got most of my TC plants from them, these are the www.going-bananas.com. Their TC plants are expensive, but they are no way called plugs, are very large and can be planted directly. With all of that headstart, still took about 3 years to bloom at the fastest. If ever I would obtain good TC plantlets, I would order from these guys.

When a TC plug gets damaged, like the pseudostem broken in half, mine did not survive. Doesn't grow back from corm, as their corms are microscopic.

You can tie a banana pup to the back of your car, drag it around the block, and then plant it, it will grow. Tie a TC plug the same way, there would be nothing left to plant, and if there is, it will not grow.

jeffreyp

I too prefer corms, because they are easier. In fact, all of the plants I sell out of my nursery are corms with exception if someone wants to buy a tray of plants. Nevertheless, like I said, if you grow a tc plug under the ideal aforementioned conditions, they will fruit at the same time a corm would. Remember, bananas are heavy feeders, if you give a tc plug plenty of liquid fertilzer during its lifecycle, it will grow just as fast as a corm. The keys are heat, humidity, sunlight, and plenty of fertilizer - given these conditions, they will fruit the same time as a corm..

NANAMAN

This is the latest picture of my(Logee's) ladyfinger! We had some windy, cold weather a couple weeks ago, other than a little leaf damage, it's doing fine! background left to right ladyfinger, high color mini foreground belle, nino

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harveyc

FYI - They're back in stock. I ordered a few weeks ago and noticed my credit card got charged on Thursday 8/16.

Anybody have fruit to show from these yet?

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kgbenson

I know this is an older message, but I was reviewing the thread as it has been brought up again and what Jeff P suggests (that TC plants can grow as fast as corms) is backed up by considerable research. In fact, on commercial plantation, TC plant materials fruit faster and more uniformly than traditional propagules. I just keep seeing the opposite reported repeatedly as fact and there is more at work here than a simple TC bananas are not as fast as corm raised bananas issue.

It think the issue is one of how close to ideal a situation one is in in terms of banana climate. Corms tolerate more abuse because they have reserves, but they do not have an intact root system. This is important if the plants are shipped well and cared for properly. When that is the case, TC plants have a slight edge. It think the big thing is not to treat a TC plantlet like a corm, they are a different beast.

TC bananas go through more than they should for proper growth because people have to get them through retailers instead of the source as would any commercial banana nursery. Your mention of Don and Katie's stuff supports this as they likly keep the plantlets in a very stable environment for some time prio to shipping. How many ebay sellers do that? Not to many, most keep the plants crowded and poorly feed, sending lanky light and nitrogen strved plants that are easily damaged in the mail and who don't tolerate being planted out.

The booklet "Post-Flask Management of Tissue-cultured Bananas" is a decent read.

Keith

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musaboru

Hi, Im sorry to bump up a very old thread, but I am interested in hearing about the progress of the lady fingers. Anyone get them to fruit in a pot yet?

harveyc

I haven't seen it but if you look in Nanaman's gallery you'll see his which fruited in the ground. Mine is in a 5 gallon pot and has something going on with leaves curling (I don't see any mites, etc.) but a pup did emerge last week.

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Clare_CA

Did anyone determine which 'Dwarf Ladyfinger' Logee's sells?

Clare_CA

Hope it's okay that I revived an old thread.

Here are two of my bananas that I am hoping to identify. I think one of them may be the 'Dwarf Ladyfinger' that I got from Logee's in February of this year. The other may be 'Super Dwarf' or 'Dwarf Cavendish.' Can anyone help with identifcation?

Here's the first one:



This is the other with it's pup:

sunfish

I think the first pick is the d.lady finger and the other is sdc.

Clare_CA

Awesome, Tony. Thanks!

musaboru

I'm still wondering about this variety. Anyone?

The one I got from Logee's died from neglect (didn't water it, left it in the logee's pot out in winter, lol).

venturabananas

Dar,

I mentioned on another thread about Logee's Dwarf Ladyfinger that I talked to Byron Martin, one of the owners of Logee's about this cultivar. This is what he told me:

"I don't know it by another name. It came to us from Hawaii about 15 years ago as a sample plant under its present name. We do the tissue culture here at Logee's."

In short, nobody seems to know what it is. Maybe we'll be able to figure out what it is (with the help of our resident experts) if one of us gets one to fruit and takes lots of photos of the inflorescence as it progresses. Brian (Nanaman) has had his fruit. Maybe he can weigh in on what it tastes similar to, which might narrow things down a little.

Mine dwarf ladyfinger is looking good. Babied through the winter, keeping it inside and on a heating mat when it was really cold and wet. But still a very long way off from being big enough to make fruit!

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