Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I'm sure some or most of you serious Banana growers have allready seen this site but just in case here is a link to a site I just stumbled upon that is truly mind blowing. I have spent about an hour just looking amazement at all the crazy stuff they have! There are so many things I want to order. Has anyone here ordered from this place?

http://natureproducts.net/index.html

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I find it interesting that they list a "Musa Yunannensis" as a new species on this page Plant List
The page it goes to is titled "musa_acuminata.html" and the description says
"Yunnan Jungle Banana (Musa itinerans)Wild Forest Banana." It is described as having leaves capable of withstanding frost!

I understand the language/translation issues, but I wonder which terms are accurate because I am REAL interested in a Banana that can keep leaves through the winter. I understood the Basjoo is the most cold-tolerant, but even it is not claimed to keep its leaves after frost.

Anyone know anything about this "new" species?

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

most of the new stuff has not officially been published yet, but the names the use are the proposed names.. just a matter of time before the writeups are done and published etc. I haven't seen too much listed on cold hardiness trials of the newer species yet. They are fairly new, so it will be awhile before mature sized plants are put to the test. I have seeds of most of their species still. They stopped selling retail seed packets apparently. There are some other new species coming out of china, don't know if they'll have those too or not, but lots of stuff still being discovered here and there!

Tim Chapman

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I have yunnanesis, rubinea, itinerans var. gigante, basjoo, cheesmani, Musella, and will be getting soon nagensium, thomsonii and that 'Giant Bract'. I must say that so far (although no real tests of its tolerance have been run), Musa yunnanensis (which is very distinct mind you) has taken the cooler temps much better then other more common ones (not including basjoo and those hardy ones, but like "normal" bananas). I should add that I will be testing hardiness on most of these species in the near future.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Its their "Vino- Tinto" that enthrals me.
Cant wait for that one.
Due for release in 2006 I believe.
I have Emailed them (they have an office in Germany) but no reply (didnt expect one !!).
Lets find out as much as we can.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Yes, the Vino Tinto is what got me excited as well! What a great looking plant! I also tried emailing the German company but recieved no reply. It looks like they also sell some majic snake oil that is suposed to fight hiv or aids but all the people on the message board seem very dissapointed and can't get any replies to their questions either! They might not be a very reliable company so it looks like we'll have to wait for someone to export it. :drum:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

They were selling seeds for this rare banana plants a while ago too.They no longer do so though.

tropicalkid:cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

So who has the goods? Speak up!

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

As far as plants, they are a very reliable company. I got mine within 2 weeks of order from China, they arrived fine. I emailed them directly to there Chinese office and got a quick reply so I would just try that. Importing was also very easy as they did all the work.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

So did you get any Vino Tinto seeds? The China email does not work. This may be due to political reasons. I have heard that China and some other countries have shut down export of exotic TC's and seeds for the time being.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

They never offered 'Vino Tinto' seeds, it is a hybrid ( yunnanensis x rubinea ), so seeds are not even a reliable way to propagate the plant, plus, plants are not even available yet so I would doubt they would have seeds as well. The only similar seeds they offered were Musa rubinea which is as mentioned, one of the parents and of supposedly similar.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Good point!

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I assumed gabe had something from them:rolleyes:
Besides him, Gingerwod Nursery (the owner Tim Chapman is a member here too) imported some seeds from them when they were still available.That's where I bought my E. glaucum, E. perrieri, and M. giant bract seeds.They have other rare variety seeds/plants too.
Here's the link:

http://www.gingerwoodnursery.com/

tropicalkid:cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Thanks for the link, I'l check it out. I did finally recieve an email from the German company stating the the M Vino Tinto is still under registration and not available yet.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

There are so many interesting "new" types becoming available now, it's hard to decide which are worthy of cultivation when basing a decision on a sellers hype. Itinerans does look like a very worthy prospect based on its ornamental qualities. Musa Ingens has got to be the most interesting prospect currently for myself, maybe because there is not much information out yet. It seems that people are simply not interested because of its huge size, or are only interested in edible varieties??? I've read of a few people with seeds currently, but no news on germination or wheter Ingens could be tissue cultured, or even grown outdoors any place other than New Guinea. I've got to admit, it would be really neat if only to grow the thing outdoors as an annual plant every year.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Musa ingens is not popular yet because there are no plants in the market and seeds are rediculously hard to germinate. I will be doing some extensive studies on in vitro embryo germination this year and hope to possibly get a few M. ingens plants from it. In past trials, only a very very small percentage of seeds have ever germinated in cultivation.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I can tell that.Mine haven't germinated after more than 4 weeks, switching temps. outside and always wet potting soil.

tropicalkid:cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Somebody on gardenweb has reported that one of their Ingens seeds has sprouted. :)

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

:eek: :eek: :eek: Who is it???:eek: :eek: :eek:
Is he or she also a member of these forums????

tropicalkid:cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Eric_9b right there on the Garden web under the Ingens post. Says he had one sprouted.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

He posted a picture of the Ingens sprout. Very, very exciting.

I wonder if there would be any interest in cultivating these for the commercial market? Sold as somewhat novelty for banana growers or an annual type plant for us northerners.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I dont think ingens will ever be very widely grown where other bananas are grown. It is a unique species that absoutly hates tropical conditions. So I would count out Florida, Southern California, Carribean, Central America, anywhere else tropical, as places to grow this species. It seems to require cool daytime temps and cooler nights, although more trials need to be done, this is what has been observed in the past. Most of the people who eventually get one of these plants may be surprised to find they cant grow it.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Thanks Gabe. So what do you think of its viability growing as an annual type plant in places like our own? Nederland, Rapid City? etc. where the nights are usually 15 degrees cooler than daytime temps during the summer? We have much less humidity than Pau pau New Guinea also...

What's your take?

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I think it will do better in our type of climates. Here in Nederland, it has never in recorded history been above 89°F, and the warmest night I ever remember was last summer it was about 55°F one night. But again, lots of testing will need to be done. Its pretty much been detirmined where it will not grow (tropical places), but it is not really known where it will grow outside of its habitat yet.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I'll let you know guys.Night and mornings are beginning to get cooler here.:D

Carlos(tropicalkid):cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Are you growing an Ingens?

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Sometimes the reason why a species is not found growing in a specific area is due to other problems like the lack of pollinators (ie, Brazilian nut pollinated only by special bees that needed presence of special orchids), failure to germinate, presence of other pests and diseases, or absence of symbionts, and other factors. It could be that these species can grow in another area, but they could not reproduce, and hence after that single specimen dies out, it will no longer be found there outside its normal range. Of course, we just have to try it. For example, a lot of the published high chilling hours requirement of fruit trees had to be revised, and even the chilling hours model itself have to be revised or improved when people started finding out that some of the fruiting plants can be grown and productive in areas having far less than their published chilling hours requirements, thanks to the brave and oftentimes hard-headed home growers like most of us are or will be when trying out plants that supposedly we can't grow them. To some of us, we take great pride in showing that we can do it. If we only grow things that we can get from the stores very cheaply, it wouldn't be very interesting hobby. Of course sometimes we do grow things that we can buy cheaply from the stores because a tree-ripened fruit, or the product of your own sweat and labor sans economics, is the best food there is.

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Yep, I watch the pots every morning.
Carlos(tropicalkid):cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Do you have a growing plant? or do you have seeds waiting to germinate?

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

I still have seeds waiting to germinate, but I hope that this cold-weather wave that hit us this past week has done something to them.:D
Carlos(tropicalkid):cool:

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

What happened to this link? I wonder if there are still some unusual seeds out there?

Re: Uber rare and cool stuff!
 

Tim Chapman, along with Gingerwood Nursery just kinda fell off the face of the Earth as far as I, or anyone else I've talked to who knew him, knows (as of a couple years ago though). I used to frequently communicate with him and we would trade materials. He was even an active member here at one point...one day he's running a nice little nursery...the next its all gone.

Any know the whereabouts of Tim Chapman?