sunfish

Are TC banana plants inferior to pups or corms ?

Dalmatiansoap

I dont think so. Large commercial plantages wouldnt use them if they are.

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sunfish

Thanks. That is what I was thinking but was't sure.

Kostas

Well,that sure is a tough question because there are many variables involved. Assuming proper TC practices are followed to prevent mutations(off types) and the TC plantlet is true to type and healthy(they usually do are both true to type and healthy to be fair),that plantlet is no better than a healthy pup or corm. They take longer than pups to grow to a set height(simply because they must produce all the energy needed for growth with their leafs and do not use stored energy like pups do from their mother's corm) but supposedly take about the same time to flower in the tropics as plants grown from pups(i would bet this is due to disease slowing the pup's growth while the TC is disease free and as a result,has a faster growth rate). When disease is not an issue,the advantage of a TC plantlet is lost i would guess and you have to wait it grow through its tiny stage which takes months while a pup can grow big in the same amount of time because it starts big when you remove it from the mat.

Now,if you mean if it will be inferior in ''quality'' or genetically inferior,a TC plantlet produced following the proper procedures should be as good as the pup it came from and about as good as any other pup. In other words,once it grows and get to be ''pup size'',it will grow equally fast as a healthy pup removed from the mat.

As for corms,they can pup fast and grow these pups real fast so in terms of growth,they provide the most explosively growing pups as long as the pups are left attached on it.

Another sought after characteristic of TCs is uniformity and this is another reason they are chosen as plantation material. The main reason though is that they are disease free and produced in great numbers.

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sunfish

Yes I meant once it's grown some and is no longer in the plug or plantlet stage

Kostas

Then it is just like a healthy separated pup with a well developed root system,growing well and fast!

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

venturabananas

This document is all about tissue cultured bananas after removal from the flask:

http://aciar.gov.au/publication/tr018
(Despite the appearance of it costing something, if you just hit the download button, it'll download for free.)

In short, aside from it taking extra time to get them from the "plantlet" stage to the size you might see for sale in a nursery or big enough to plant in the ground, the only other major concern is "off types" -- somatic mutants that are not true to type, i.e., not the same as the plant that was cultured. Apparently there are lots of off types, with dwarfs being one of the most common. But you can tell the off types even when they are very small in most cases.

Like Kostas and Ante said, if you are comparing a TC plant to a non-TC plant that is the same size, there really shouldn't be any difference between the two, except the TC plant would be disease free, whereas the pup from the field might not be.

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trebor

I’ve only grown bananas for about ten years . This week I figured Id try a few TC from a local in state supplier (Florida). I Only got 3 of them I’m just more curious than anything else . But also they do offer a chance to purchase some things I just never see pups offered for also. So ….I got two FHIA-17, one Gran Nain. I have 8 trees now and always have had good results producing great tasting fruit … at present I have All Apple bananas .. It was good to see this question and see the input from you guys!
Oh a special thanks to you venturabananas for posting that doc.. Interesting stuff there

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If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

sunfish

Great info. Thanks

RobG7aChattTN

I'm glad Tony asked this question and I really enjoyed reading that article that Mark linked to. Well, now I know how I killed all those TC bananas that I got a few years back. I thought misting would be the best way to keep them moist until they could be gradually hardened off. From the article I learned that this hurts the little plants and that high humidity without mist is best. I also found it interesting that there is an off type that causes black pseudostem and petiole. I wonder if Thai Black is just an off type of balbisiana. This article might also explain why it seems that some people get explosive growth out of Thai Black while others have small plants that seem to fail to grow. Perhaps the dwarf off type is just especially common with TC of Black Thai (and might further suggest that perhaps pups of Black Thai are a better route than TC, or at least more reliable). It also seems like a lot of people have problems with Siam Ruby growing well and this might also be that dwarf is a common off type of TC with that variety. I always assumed that the rate of mutation was very, very low with TC, but it appears that you can get a high percentage of off type plants with TC. That article really explained a lot. Thanks!