What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Ok so I figured I would check with the experts here to see what you guys think will be next years hottest banana. Ouside of CA. Gold and AEAE which are always the most desired.:0519:

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

It seems Viente Cohol is becoming highly sought after .

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

The Dwarf, cold-hardy, prodigiously pupping, quick-to-fruit- Ae-Ae, brought to us by the advances in Musa biotechnology!

Wouldn't that be nice?!! Actually, smart as Gabe is, he may acomplish this some day! I call dibs on the first one!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Brent, Gabe already wrote recently that his "boss" (not sure if that's the correct term) at school said that they thought they knew how to TC Ae Ae and that he (Gabe) wanted to try it, but that he needed to get a pup. I suggest you buy one and send it to him to earn your top spot on the list! ;)

Don't know about that cold hardy part, though! On the other hand, GATroops has over-wintered his in zone 9 and I'm willing to give it a try here also.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

My post was purely in jest. However, if I do ever get enough pups to share around I wouldn't mind giving one to Gabe to give it a go.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

This is true...all we need is some material to test on, about 3 pups to be safe. I will hopefully be getting some eventually, at least one maybe by next summer. However, seeing as that you can't send banana plants to Hawai'i (without going thru tons of paper work, time, and money), I will need to find a source on O'ahu for the meantime, there is a way to do inter-island banana plant transport, but I haven't figured it out yet. I know of only one plant on O'ahu (which about 2ft tall and struggling), but I'm sure there are more somewhere, if I can find them and get a few, then we will be able to do the tests sooner.

As for hot new banana plants, I have a few things members here might be interested in, but who knows what will be popular with the greater horticulture community.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Hey Gabe,

As for hot new banana plants, I have a few things members here might be interested in, but who knows what will be popular with the greater horticulture community.

What ones would you be refering to?

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

M. peekelii (30-40ft tall), a few different Fe'i bananas (one with fruit the size and shape of a grapefruit), a new variety of M. beccarii with more red, maybe some different variegated ones (Pisang Mas, a very small ornamental mannii hybrid, balbisiana x velutina), a new color variety of E. ventricosum, true M. textilis, a plant that looks exactly like zebrina but has fully edible fruit (doesn't appear to be the 'sumatrana X Gran Nain' either)...and there's always room for more, so we shall see.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Gabe,

Don't any of the botanical gardens there grow Ae-Ae? I only went to one or two when I was there and I didn't see any but I figured at least one of them had some. Of course, getting them to turn loose of one may be the trick. My first pup is supposed to go back to the person who gave it to me (if he needs it). I'd like to get a spare, but I really would be willing to donate one to you if you can figure out a way to get it to Hawaii. I'm sure this will be a while as it only has one very small pup at the moment.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Sounds promising!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I haven't been to all of the botanic gardens on the island, and very few nurseries, so there is plenty hope yet.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I was just looking at the rules, and it looks like I'm allowed to bring banana plants to O'ahu since there is already BBTV there, so there is no risk of introducing it (I just can't bring pups from O'ahu to other islands without inspection, but I wont need to be doing that anytime soon). So, if I can find some Aeae on Big Island, it looks like I'll be able to take them back to O'ahu with me and I can grow them and try TC stuff with them.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

did not know what bbtv was, so I did a quick search and found this great vid.

Banana Bunchy Top Disease in Hawaii: Symptoms, Diagnosis and Management

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Gabe can you tell me more about the Ventricosum are there and articals and or pics i could look at it you know i have a high leval of intrest in them sisns i have so meny of them and they are truely stuning folig plants conpaird to most Bananas

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Looking forward to that M.peekelii myself, and that variegated balbisiana X veluntia hybrid.
If you're going to TC a varigated banana, why not go the whole 9 yards and get a Musa basjoo varigated into tissue culture! Now that one would fly off the shelfs, but it would be even tougher to get ahold of.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I'm still interested in the Fe'i, personally. That one sounds cool! I had a beccarii but let it get too dry over the winter and lost it.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Wouldn't that be sweet!:woohoonaner:

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

a cold hardy varigated nana....put me on the waiting list! i can see the name now....ae ae- basjoo!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Put me down for some of those exotic Fe'i, Gabe, please!


Variegated Ice Cream may one day be a hit... its out there..

Also looking forward to the glow in the dark banana plant. ;)

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I was thinking a black with yellow varigation would really stand out

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Your multicolored Saim Ruby isn't to shabby either!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Gabe, do you have any pictures of that Fe'i you could share?

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

There's that yellow-variegated one from Thailand that is still very new and really nice-looking. The problem with the variegated bananas is that you can't tissue culture them (yet), and so they will never be as popular as something that can be tc'ed like 'Siam Ruby'. The wild, seeded species bananas are never going to be very popular either, IMHO. That's just based on how long they have been around, and their popularity today. Look how long it's taken Musa basjoo to become pretty popular, and I still wouldn't call it common by any stretch of the imagination. 'Siam Ruby' is so different from anything else out there that it caught the eyes of people who normally wouldn't look twice at a banana. It would take something spectacular like that to happen again to equal the popularity of 'Siam Ruby'. I don't see that happening any time soon, but I guess you never know! M. itinerans 'India Form' is very highly attractive as a young plant, but it has several obstacles to becoming widely used in cultivation. First, the older the plant gets, the less and less red shows on the top of the leaf until it is just gone on large plants. Second, and probably the biggest obstacle, is the rhizomatous habit of the plant. This makes it difficult to contain it, and eventually pups will start coming up where you really don't want them to.

I think that some of the banana cultivars that most people have never heard of, but are widely grown in other parts of the world, will be the next big thing among collectors anyway. 'Veinte Cohol' will be available in tc very soon I'm sure, so that will be a big seller when it does. If 'Senorita' ever becomes widely available, I'm sure that one will be pretty sought-after as well. But that's just among collectors and banana nuts like us. The general, plat-growing public won't care a single bit about those cultivars, and won't know tha difference between a 'Saba' and a 'Veinte Cohol'.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that 'Siam Ruby' is one of those once-in-a-blue moon type of plants that only comes around every 20-30 years or so. It broke the banana collector and banana nut barrier because it is so spectacular and beautiful that it appealed to "regular" plant people, and probably some people who aren't even "plant people." Now, if that glow-in-the-dark banana becomes a reality, that could be another one that people go nuts for!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

At present I have 3 different Fe'i bananas in Hawai'i (one more, 'Kawaputa', in Denver but it cannot be distributed). I only know the name of one of them from Hawai'i, which is 'Poti'a'. The other 2 are unknown, I got one from the botanic garden where I got 'Poti'a' and the other I found in the rain forest near my school on a hike, but I think it might be the variety 'Aiuri'. I will be going back there in a few weeks and the one in the forest should be flowering and hopefully I can get an ID. I'll post some pictures later of the various types.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Thanks! Keep me in mind if you ever get any to distribute, as I'd really be interested in trying some of those.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I hope that they can make an edible musa basjoo!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Here is a 'Poti'a' bunch from an old book.

(sorry for the delay)

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

Those are so awesome! Like a 'Pitogo' on steroids! I'd love to grow one of those. I need to do some research on them. From what I remember reading on here (that you posted) they are primitive form of banana aren't they?

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

They aren't primitive really, they just evolved and were cultivated completely separate from the edible bananas we are most familiar with. These came from different wild species (not Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana etc..from Eumusa, but possibly from M. maclayi of Australimusa). Unfortunately, very little is know about them as there has not been much modern research on them. This book from 1947 is the most comprehensive info I've seen on them, but of course it lacks many of the modern information that would normally be associated with banana research.

In this diagram, Eumusa edible bananas are the pink spot and Fe'i is the brown one.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

that are some awesome bananas!

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

I notice that there is 2 species of Musella on that chart. I guess the one from Vietnam might be a seperate species after all.

I'd like to see more different color on some ornamental banana flowers, like a blue color perhaps, or black, or some more multicolred ones.

Re: What's going to be next years Siam Ruby
 

As far as I've read, both species are still valid, and from talking with people who have seen both of them up close, they do sound different.