BullShark

...my other burning question...

My grandparents have been growing bananas since sometime in the 60's. My dad took some of that stock and now grows them on his property and I have some as well. They're tasty but nobody remembers what variety they are. They don't seem to grow more than 6 or 8 feet tall so I suspect they might be dwarf Cavendish. The fruit are small though, maybe four or five inches long at the most and the few references to the actual fruit of the dwarf Cavendish that I found seemed to suggest that though the plant is small the fruit are normal sized. Does it sound like I have dwarf Cavendish or maybe something else?

hammer

The dwarf cavendish fruit ive seen 5 to 6 inches long.

Gabe15

Sounds like it could be (but it could be something else too), it would be best to post a photo of a fruiting plant if you can, then we can see what it actually looks like and make an ID from there.

__________________
Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

BullShark

I'll definitely do that but it may be a while. My plants are still about 18 inches high and I only just moved them to their permanent location. I'm not entirely sure I'll even get a full sized plant this year so I'm not holding out much hope for fruit till next year. I'll definitely continue scouring the forum's archives for more info on banana cultivation.

Speaking of unknown banana types I've noticed a lot of people in my area have 8 to 10 foot tall bananas that aren't producing fruit afaik. I don't think they're ornamentals because this is a rural agricultural area and not many people out here are into that kind of thing. I'd guess they're the descendants of somebody's efforts at a banana plantation in the past. They're all under the shade of large oak trees so I'd guess that a lack of sun and possibly poor nutrition is keeping them from fruiting. I know there's quite a number of former crops that have gone wild in the local area. Some are fun, some are rather invasive.

BullShark

One of my bananas just unfurled a new leaf and it has red marks on it. I have heard this is dwarf cavendish trait. The other had grown a new leaf but it's still rolled up. I'm glad to see they're doing well in their new location.