nph

Late last year I planted some bananas and the only two that came back was Basjoo and the Yellow Chinese banana.
In the spring I planted two Gran Nain from Home Depot and then maybe a couple of weeks later a very small ice cream. I also had a big pot I overwintered in my garage that I got at Costco last year that is edible banana but I have lost the name tag. I planted that in the ground as well. It turned out to grow fast and quickly looked great and produced several pups and in some cases I even got pups from the pups on that one.
During late spring and summer the Basjoo started looking kind of ragged and produced mostly Pups instead of adding height while the banana from Costco looked ok but not fantastic.
However my Gran Nains has produced some magnificent leaves, really wide and beautiful. They have also produced a ring of pups around the mother plant.
But the crown goes to my "little" Ice Cream plant that went into the same flower bed as the Grand Nain and the Costco Banana although several weeks later. It was tiny, bought at a local nursery (probably not a pup but grown from tissue culture) but it is now the pride of my yard. Huge, 50% higher than the Gran Nains and higher than the Costco banana that had a big advantage when it went into the ground. Plus the bluish color and long leaves makes it look great.

Reason I went with Basjoos was to have bananas around the pool that would not die during winter and come back. However seeing how the IceCream and Gran Nains grow and how pretty they are I am leaning toward going with only them next year. I have taken pups from the Gran Nains but so far only one really small pup just recently showed up at my ice Cream.
Is that normal that the Ice Cream doesn't have that many pups and showing up really late based on the size of the plant? By the way I have given them all BananaFuel that I found out about in this forum.

Now I only need to figure out how to make the p-stem survie for the Ice Cream and Gran Nain, insulate it with leaves etc outdoors or dig up and bring into the garage...?

My conclusion is that Ice Cream is not only the fastest growing Banana I have planted but also the most beautiful. If only it would flower as well... Ah wishful thinking.
But the Gran Nain is a close second. I recently got a very small dwarf Orinoco that I will try and keep indoors (or in garage) over winter and plant next year for comparison.

I just had to share!

stumpy4700

I truely love the Ice Cream too. I live in Tn and after over-wintering it bareroot in the garage, it not only flowered this year, but I might have a shot at the bananas might actually be able to ripen. This is definately on the top of the list for around here.

nph

Have you taken any Pups from it? How difficult was that and did you store it bare root in a garage or similar structure? If so when did you dig it up?

Many questions...

Thanks

sandy0225

Ice cream seems to pup at a taller height than most I've grown. Like my mama plant got real big before it even sent up one pup. Sounds like yours is doing the same.

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