nph

I am sooo happy, my first eatable bananas are flowering. So far 2 of my Icecreams have flowered and the third one just sent up a flag leaf!
The funny part is that two of them remained outside heavily wrapped this mild winter and the third one (second to flower) spent the winter in the garage, just p-stem and rootball. Like I said I am soo happy!


However when me and my wife look at them to us it seems it might be that one of them is the real deal Icecream and the other maybe Namwah since the hands look different and so does the bananas themselves as well. I have included pics of them here. First three is one plant and the other three is of the other plant. Will also be interesting to see when the third one blooms!

Any idea if one or either is a true Icecream or something else? They were all pups from the orignal Icecreams I bought from 3 sources, local very reputable nursery and that plant had really green/blue leaves with heave wax under them. One was bought from Going banana and I think that is the second banana in the pictures. Third one came from an online source.
Unfortunately with the exception of the one from Going bananas I no longer remember which plants originated from what mother corm, local or online nursery. The online nursery was also quite reputable and definitely not Ty Ty or similar one.
Anyways, I can no longer see a difference and some pups from the same corm outdoors come with thin pink stripe on the leaves while the ones I grow indoors first doesn't so I dont think that is any conclusive evidence one way or the other.

I also have a Dwarf Orinoco that also survived outdoors so I hope it will soon shoot a flag leaf as well and it definitely looks way different than the Icecreams I have that is for sure. It is above 6 feet p-stem now. That leaves one Icecream that spent the winter in the garage that is not flowering. It has the most shade out of them all and is also the smallest but still a respectable 5-6 feet.

So here are the pics, enjoy and any thoughts on what it could be are most welcome! Regardless if they are Icecreams or not I will enjoy watching them grow in my backyard and look forward to the day I can eat them!

Icecream plant 1:


(The one to the right in this picture is the next shooting up a flag leaf!)






Icecream 2:

venturabananas

I'm pretty sure neither are true Ice Cream (Blue Java). They aren't blue enough and don't have long enough pedicels. They are probably both Namwah, which is a great banana -- maybe better than Blue Java.

Congrats on the blooms!

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nph

Thanks! Btw a thought I had is if being around the pool helps the to flower earlier?
Reason is that the Dwarf Orinoco and the last ICecream are far from the pool and despite being same size or bigger (D. O.) they have not show any sign of flowering yet.

Do you think they are the same kind, I thought the hands were quite different?

venturabananas

I think those two are the same, but I wouldn't bet my life on it!

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RandyGHO

The South Pacific identification notes Blue Java has "Distinctive silvery wax bloom on fruit" They do not note the color.

How did you winter protect your bananas?

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Thinking outside the peel always.

Abnshrek

I think its great your banana's are doing so well no matter what they are.. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

rspencer1497

Congrats on the bloom!!! I am right outside of dallas in a suburb and also have what I think are ice cream plants. Only a few are growing tall and I'm wondering if you have any tips for me...How many in each area, fertilizer, water schedule....ect: Also curious how you protected them during the winter....Thanks

Rmplmnz

Wow...you have a keen eye..I need to ask you about a couple of others in my yard.

Thanks again for keeping us on track (I need to update the descriptions on a few of my pics).

nph

Thanks for all the great posts. This year I got lucky, thanks to the mild winter all three I left outdoors survived with several thick layers of frost cloth! Two Icecreams and one Dwarf Orinoco. There were parts that started to rot that I had to carve away but in all they survived quite well and I hope even my Dwarf Orinoco will flower soon.
I also had two Icecreams in my garage that survived really well with no rot what so ever and one of them was the second to flower.
However I made a great finding which is that you can not store them lying down, even if somewhat elevated from the floor. Last year and also this year my biggest Icecreams (at least what I believed to be Icecreams) both rotted and didn't survive after I planted them outside. They were huge with a fantastic root ball intact. So for me I will never store any bananas horizontally going forward. Garage was probably in the 40s-60s during the winter depending on the temperature outside, and the ones stored vertically did fine. Challenge will be if they grow too big, the one I had lying down simply could not stand up due to the height but I guess I am better of cutting it back to standing height than storing it lying down.

Wil be exciting to test my bananas if they survive the summer here in Texas but I sure hope so!

GreenFin

Nice!!

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RandyGHO

I am in Zone 8b too. Your results this year are really interesting and I thank you for sharing. I am going to try to winter mine in ground this winter with lights and wraps. If I bring them in I know now to store them standing up.

Thanks.

Randy

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Thinking outside the peel always.

nph

I forgot to mention that if I compare these Icecreams/Namwahs to other bananas I have had they are way more resistant to bugs and faster growing than most other bananas ok have tried so far, including, Dwarf Cavendish, Gran Nain, Saba, Dwarf Brazilian, Mona Lisa and Basjoos.

venturabananas

Yep, I've had the same experience. The only thing I'm growing that is even tougher is Dwarf Namwah, which is basically the same plant, just a shorter version. It takes the wind better (due to height) and seems to take the cold a little better, too, though that may be a peculiarity of where it is planted in my yard. The only weakness I've found of the Pisang Awak ("Namwah") varieties in my yard is they are among the most susceptible to boron deficiency -- but that's a problem that most people probably aren't going to have to worry about.

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nph

I am qurious, how do you detect boron deficiency?
And how do address it?

venturabananas

Have a professional soil test done. Add boron either to the soil or as a foliar spray (borax or solu-bor). If the leaves are emerging malformed, floppy, and chlorotic, you may have a boron or calcium deficiency (or both).

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nph

How high does the Dwarf Nam Wah get? Mine flower at 7-8 feet of p-stem so I wonder if I have the dwarf or regular variant.

venturabananas

Dwarf Namwah normally flowers at 6-8 feet. Looking at the leaves of yours, they are not the dwarf variety, which has shorter petioles and broader blades. Is it possible that yours die back in the winter a bit and so lose a bit of height they would otherwise have? Whatever the case, seems like you have a great plant for your climate.

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nph

Fully agree!

How long before they ripe do you think?
4 months or more?
Also how do I tell they are ripe, full yellow or other signs?
Thanks for answering so many of my questions.

venturabananas

They might be ripe in 4 months with all the heat you get in Dallas. At my house it would take a minimum of 6 months -- and longer over winter.

Once the fingers have filled out (plumped up), you can harvest them green and they will ripen fine. Or, preferred by many who aren't growing commercially, wait for some to turn yellow on the bunch and harvest a hand or a few fingers at a time. The advantage of that approach is it spreads out the harvest and so you don't have 100 fruit ripe at the same time. The disadvantage is that rats or birds might get at them before you do, or they might split their peels, or both!

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