Abnshrek

I killed 6 mounds of fire ants w/ orthene.. :^)

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Yug

I killed a Manzano, and all the pups. The fruit was ripe and beautiful on the outside, but hard with brown areas on the inside. If a tree bears bad fruit, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.


The bunch


The fruit


That space is now occupied by my mystery (possible Iholena Lele) banana.

G.W.

squirrel

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winter winners, jackfruit, carambola, hua moa, d namwah, hak ip lychee with pink leaves 2 days before a cold snap eeeek!

Winter losers, kohala longan, misi luki, 80% jackfruit seedling loss

first bloomers, HUA MOA, DC, D NAMWAH, FHIA 17, KANADARIAN, RAJA PURI, M D NAMWAH

best bunch FHIA 17 , undisclosed

WORST BUNCH hua moa, 2 fingers

robguz24

I have one growing too. That's one of the one Kepler & Rust say just never tastes very good in Hawaii. They said for it to be edible it has to be super ripe, much more so than the ones in your picture. Occasionally I have bought Hawaiian Apple bananas which were chalky and astringent when eaten at the same ripeness I'd normally eat a DB, so they were probably Manzanos. I would not have boughten one had I known, but since it's in the ground, I'll at least wait til mine fruits.

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Yug

Good luck with that

I waited and waited, and finally when the top ones began turning yellow, I waited a little more until one had split its skin - THEN I harvested it since the birds would have had it if I hadn't.

Do you know of any other types that 'never taste very good in Hawaii'?

robguz24

That was the only one I recall them mentioning, which they did a few times. They made their disdain for it very clear, perhaps because it is more commonly grown than many other deserving varieties. It sounds like you harvested at the ideal time. Maybe see if you can get them to ripen until the skins are all black now that they are off the plant. I'd be curious to see if they improve or if they are yucky no matter how long they ripen.

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venturabananas

Gabe has mentioned this before, too. He's been trying to find a Silk (the subgroup that includes Manzano) cultivar that doesn't have this problem in Hawaii. But it's a problem that's not limited to Hawaii, at least the hard brown spots in the fruit -- most of the Manzanos I've bought in the supermarket here in CA, presumably grown in Central or South America, also have the hard brown spots. Occasionally I get a good hand of them, but so rarely that I've almost given up buying them. (Hopefully it won't be too much longer until my own mat puts out its first bud.)

On the other hand, I did buy some Manzano (definitely not "Hawaiian Apple" -- Brazilian/D. Braz.) at a farmers market in Hawaii that were good and didn't have the chalky texture, astringent flavor when fully ripe, or brown hard spots. So, at least somewhere and some times in Hawaii, you can grow this cultivar and have it be good. On the other hand, personally, I prefer "Hawaiian Apple" anyway, so maybe it's not worth bothering with Manzano in a place it doesn't normally perform well.

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venturabananas

PS -- The Manzanos shown in these two photos aren't ripe enough yet. There has to be some brown/black on the peel and the peel has to be very thin. Letting them get riper will get rid of the astringency, but unfortunately it won't help with the hard brown spots.

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robguz24

I'll keep my fingers crossed. Mine probably has a year to go, and given that several plants haven't been what I bought them as, it's worth the wait for me to try.

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venturabananas

Cool, let us know how it works out. Manzano does fine in French Polynesia -- your next nearest neighboring set of islands!

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Abnshrek

Does 4 fuzzy rats count? lol :^)

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Abnshrek

an Ice Cream pup.. :^(

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Illia

A Gran Nain and an Orinoco banana. Our greenhouse roof got turn up, and the following night it froze well enough to kill the leaves off all our bananas, but thankfully all but the Orinoco and Gran Nain survived at the rootball and even lower P-Stem. They're now indoors in pots and re-growing. The Gran Nain I kinda expected to die off entirely, but the Orinoco's issue was being too small.

bananahusker

I killed off my 8' ice cream, to test some transplanting methods. These plants a very hardy. This plant suffered from a spider mite infestation when it was younger. See post: " Fungus in my ice cream".

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robguz24

2 Gran Nains or possibly Williams. Can barely stand eating them at this point and I'm ripping out all cavendish types except for my Double Mahois because I want to see the multiple bunches eventually. Hoping someone will take these huge plants off my hands locally.

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Julian

Sad to say, but the Iholena that was given to me looks dead. I received it in bad shape and tried my best, but it could not take. Bummers. Got to find another Hawaiian out there. So hard to find someone who has them that is willing to kokua. A'ohe aloha i kiea manawa.

Julian

Aloha Yug. Where did you get your Manzano from? Just curious

Julian

I think there are a few different types of Manzano's in Hawaii. It may depend on which one you have. The UH site states that Manzano is the favorite of the local Filipinos, so it has to be good. Filipinos are very picky with their bananas.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q...LXaCT_lqDmNDTw

robguz24

Mine was sold as Silk Fig, but I don't think that really tells much.

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Julian

This guy in the Big Island thinks that is the best tasting variety.

Silk Fig (Dessert): One of the best-tasting dessert bananas available in Hawaii. Plants are 7-12 ft. high with medium-size bunches. Fruits are smallish and mostly round, and the skin is thin and edible. They have a wonderful taste and consistency. If you're only going to plant one banana, this is an excellent choice. After Apple and Williams, probably the most-planted commercial banana on small farms.

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