Lagniappe

Are you crazy???? Leave me outa this one!

Those fruits look bigger than 1 oz. was that peel and all?

harveyc

No, but I thought you were!

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Bananaman88

Come one, Pete! You can take him! BigDog is all bark and no bite! (I'll stop now before I get myself roped into this as well.)

Thanks for sharing your experiences on the VC with us, BD. I think that it will likely perform better and taste better if grown in the ground. I think there is something about these soilless commercial mixes that make plants lack in taste and there just seems to be no substitute for growing most things in ground. I think bananas really need that free root-run to do their best.

bigdog

Well, I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one! If you let them get very ripe, they're difficult to peel without making a mushy mess out of them. That being said, I just ate a whole hand of overripe ones, and the "peel" taste wasn't there in the first bite, or the bland taste. Kind of a conundrum! I bet they'd be good in a smoothie, or ice cream or something. They are decent, but I've definitely had better. Let me know how that 'Pisang Berlin' comes along!

Pete, yeah, that was peel and all! In fact, I rounded up just a little bit to get to an ounce, lol.

Oh...you don't want to test the "Bigdog's" bite! LOL!

Frank

harveyc

I missed this post when went to page 2.

It's easy to understand why it's popular. To borrow a phrase posted here a couple of years ago by Jeff Earl (something like it, anyways), "A fair tasting banana is better than no banana at all." For many people in marginal climates, something like Venite Cohol offers a better chance to get ripe fruit than any other available. I have pups of Senorita but I've been told that it's a taller plant and didn't ripen very quickly and I've heard from others that there is a dwarf version and I'd like to try that. Put me on your list for some TC plants, Gabe!

Thanks,

Harv

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austinl01

More plants need to be into the TC realm so that temperate gardeners have more access to try new varieties. The process of TC seems way behind of demand in my opinion (or maybe just the demand of crazy folks like us on the board)!

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Austin
Arkansas River Valley

Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F
Extreme Winter Lows: 5-15°F, Extreme Summer Highs: 100-112°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

musaboru

I guess this could be said about Orinoco too, right?

harveyc

Orinoco is known to be hardy, but not fast at fruiting. As long as we get into the low 20s for several days, Orinoco's psuedostem will probably stay alive and be able to fruit the following summer if it's large enough. But if you grow a pup in the greenhouse and set it out in the spring, it won't flower and mature fast enough for fruit production. Dr. Wallace grew Veinte Cohol in this manner in Savannah over a three year period and every plant (50 plants, I believe) produced ripe fruit my October. He tried 40 varieties and Veinte Cohol was the most consistent producer.

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musaboru

Oh, I mean in regards to the flavor and popularity. Like how Orinoco is probably not the tastiest, but its quite popular for a reason, albeit in a different aspect which is its hardiness. I personally would never grow an Orinoco cos it doesn't seem worth it for the fruit to me. And I probably would never want to grow a VC if the fruits weren't so pretty darn cute.

harveyc

Oh. "Now I see", said the blind man to the deaf mute as he picked up a hammer and saw.

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island cassie

Harvey - Musaboru - you couldn't be more wrong about orinoco ripened on the plant - they are about the most delicious fruit around and perhaps I have a good cultivar, but people here are begging for pups! Let them ripen on the plant and then don't think of eating them until they start to soften. The only problem is the size - you need to share a finger as one is too much to eat.

Much better than blue java, manzano, dwarf cavendish and even dwarf orinoco - the jury is out on the saba.

harveyc

Cassie, I made no comment as to the quality of fruit from Orinoco. I've not had one. Please add me to your list of beggars! :P

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harveyc

Frank, have you fruited this one again since 2009? Just wondering if it was any better if it fruited in the ground. One of mine bloomed a couple of weeks ago and weather is cool so I expect mine might even taste worse than yours!

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RobG7aChattTN

I'd be more excited by a seedless velutina than VC. They are cold hardy and still usually manage fruit by fall even up here in Tennessee!

bigdog

Harvey, sorry for the late reply. I haven't fruited anything in several years, since all of my banana plants are at my folks' house in Gainesville, FL, and I no longer keep very many of them due to a couple of moves in the past 2 years. I have a mat growing in Gainesville, but they have yet to fruit there. It has proven to be cold hardy enough to grow there, but we'll have to wait and see if it will ripen a bunch in one season there.

Frank

nph

Those two definitely sounds interesting. Are they being sold by any nursery yet in North America?

harveyc

Veinte Cohol is sold by Going Bananas and some seller on eBay advertises plants but I don't know if their trustworthy (they also list plants as California Gold but they appear to be something else).

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nph

Thanks

But I was thinking about Señorita and Pisang Berlin.

DoctorSteve

Hey Harvey, did your veinte cohol ever turn out or did you lose the fruit?

harveyc

The flower was too late for the fruit to develop and all of the plants and pups died. There's a chance that a new pup may still come up from the corm now that the weather is warm.

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