robguz24

In giving my opinion on fruit I've had, I can't speak for anyone but myself. Since I haven't personally created any banana varieties, I don't take any offense if someone criticizes a type I like or not, but we're all here to give our opinions and share our experiences with bananas. That said, I like different varieties for different uses, and I'm sure there are many others out there that I'd like more than my current favorites, but I just haven't tried them yet.

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My micro-farm

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PR-Giants

Why are banana plants so expensive in Hawaii ?


In Puerto Rico if you see a plant that you like, you simply need to ask,

and you'll probably get a great cup of coffee in the process.

If someone wants a hundred or a few thousand, then money becomes part of the equation.

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robguz24

That's a good question. At nurseries here they tend to be quite a lot. There is a company that sells small plants, maybe 10 varieties that are carried at Home Depot, and they're usually $7 which isn't bad. I sell mine for $6-15 for common varieties (DB, Ice Cream, Williams) and others that are more rare or larger plants for $15-35, but I do it on a very small hobby scale. I think a lot of people do just get them free from friends.

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Julian

I bought my DB and Ice Cream from Ko'olau last year. They are doing well. I bought a Mysore from them a few months ago, and a week or two later it showed some BBTV symptoms. I brought it back to them and they replaced it with a big $36.00 mysore. It's doing okay. That first Mysore was the in the cheaper pot, but you could tell that it was at Koolau a long time. I am pretty sure all of the bananas that are sold at Koolau, Walmart and Home Depot are from the same Big Island Nursery. I am pretty certain that's the only nursery doing banana Tc's in Hawaii. I have not seen the small cheap banana plants at Walmart, only the bigger ones. That silk banana in the Pearl City Walmart has been in there since September or October. No one wants it?

venturabananas

Are cheaper TC banana plants available to you in Hawaii from the UH program? I get that they don't have all the varieties you might want to try, but they do seem to have several, and they would be virus free.

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/UHMG/dow...nanas_ADSC.pdf

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Julian

Aloha. The program lost their funding last year. It's too bad. Those were $2.50 a plant, but they were very young TC's that were not even introduced to soil... At Ko'olau for $13.99 you get a older TC plant that is really ready to grow quickly.

robguz24

I've got everything (I want) on the UH list already from other sources, but it's a shame to hear that the program is no more. I don't know if they ever made them available outside of Oahu. Apparently UH in Hilo does do TC, but not for the public or growers.

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My micro-farm

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Julian

They were selling them to farms all over the state. When I went in to pick up my order they were getting ready to send a shipment of Mysore to Maui.. UH had a grant that paid this gal from the Philipines to do the TC's. The goal was to provide affordable disease free TC's for all. When they lost the grant, they could not keep her. It's too bad.

venturabananas

Boy, that really is too bad! For a state that grows a lot of bananas and has problem with banana bunchy top virus, you would think there would be state support for an affordable program like that to provide disease-free TC plants.

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venturabananas

I guess I don't view an honest statement of one's opinion about a particular cultivar to be bashing. Aside from a couple of folks like you and Nick who grow bananas commercially, most of the rest of us are hobbyists, growing bananas for fun and food, not profit. If we "promote" our favorite varieties and "bash" those we don't like, I think we're only doing it to provide information to help other folks make choices about which cultivars they might want to grow.

As for Cavendish bananas, I eat them all the time -- because when I don't have ripe bananas on my plants at home, that's the only variety that I can regularly get in good condition at the stores around me. They're good. But I won't grow them in my yard any longer because they are other cultivars that taste better to me and that do better in my climate.

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Nicolas Naranja

If you want to experience the Cavendish that most of us eat from the store, pick it 3/4 full and put it in a 57 degree cooler for 2 weeks and then ripen it with ethylene. The ones that I have harvested at home over the past couple of years taste good to me. But they don't ripen to that yellow color you get in the store.

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Julian

Very true. The program ended last summer, and I am sure that a lot of people will be affected. You could start up a banana farm for just a small investment. It's a shame really. $2.50 for a disease free plant in Hawaii? You could not beat it.

PR-Giants

I think I'll pass on that idea, but it is a logical approach and maybe other cultivars wouldn't fair as well under those same conditions.

IMO what makes a Cavendish special, is because it has a rich banana flavor w/out being overly sweet, with a nice firm texture.

Another reason might be that any banana past the perfectly ripened stage is composted, not eaten.

I think the Morado is great, but is definitely too sweet to be an everyday banana for me.

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PR-Giants

Maybe if you take a step back and view it from a different perspective you might understand my point.

When I see videos on how bad a Cavendish is, it appears simply to be an in vogue prelude to describe another cultivar.

I presume it is done in an attempt to compare an unknown to a known.

Bashing is effective in politics but not in marketing a product.

There was no disdain in my words, only pity upon the approach.

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Julian

Practice what you preach buddy.

PR-Giants

FYI, if the situation arises in the future another option would be to cut at the base of the pseudostem and keep the peduncle attached and the fruit will actually continue to fill.

There are examples of this with an ARH and Maricongo in this thread

Can fruit mature without leaves on the P-stem?

photos were deleted in Aug due to limited photo space.

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PR-Giants

Try being part of the solution instead of the problem.

It's all good man. More dbs for you, buddy.

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Julian

Oh yeah. More Db's for me.

PR-Giants

Back to Bananas

I just harvested a bunch a few minutes ago, thanks to a full moon.

A 50 oz & 51 oz - Bloom to harvest 59 days.





EDIT

If you chose the 24" box, you would have been eating one of these tonight.

Wholesale Value - approx. $2.00 each

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Dangermouse01

Working my way down the Gran Nain bunch, 62 down, about 50 more to go. Yum!


DM