emegar

I have a dilemma. My garden includes some raised beds I'm planning to devote to my bananas. The problem is that I have more bananas in containers than I have spaces in the beds. While I may be able to find other spots for any bananas that get left out, they would be subpar spots (containers, overly shaded, etc.). Here's the question, if you had to choose only five bananas to grow from the following list, which would you choose, and why?

Rajapuri
Manzano
Ice Cream
Mysore/Pisang Klotek
Dw. Namwah
Dw. Red/Cuban
Dw. Brazilian
Lakatan
Unknown Ilohene/Hawaiian variety

Richard

Here's my 2 cents.

Rajapuri -- you would probably like the Dw. Brazilian better
Manzano -- a good flavor variant on your list
Ice Cream -- not the best on the list
Mysore/Pisang Klotek -- a keeper
Dw. Namwah -- a keeper
Dw. Red/Cuban -- good for cooking, a long hang time for fresh eating
Dw. Brazilian -- moderate yield, vigorous plant
Lakatan -- weak plant in your (our) location
Unknown Ilohene/Hawaiian variety -- possibly weak plant

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harveyc

Do urban folks ever approach neighbors to see if they'd like to host space for some plants in exchange for free "landscaping"?

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bananimal

I joined a local club end of 2010. My excess pups are now growing in over 2 dozen homes in Ft Pierce, Port St Lucie, Palm City, Palm Bay and Pahokee, Fl.

Still hate to chop up and toss on compost pile.

Other benefits are finding Ag supplier with great prices and organic line of ferts.

Pups I have no room for go up for club auction every month. Big pups are picked up at my house.

Makes it easy now to decide what goes and what stays.

So do what Richard says, and join a club too.

pitangadiego

Keep Namwah, Klotek, and add 3 better varieties.

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momoese

I'd get rid of the unknown. You can always sell pups from the others even if you don't like them. Unkowns are only good for keeping if you really enjoy the fruit.

Tony O

I have plenty of space for any that you don't have room for.

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sunfish

Ice Cream
Mysore/Pisang Klotek
Dw. Namwah

Dw. Brazilian
Lakatan


Because their pretty good

venturabananas

You get very hot and dry weather during the summer and pretty darn cold weather in the winter in Rancho Cucamonga, right? You need tough bananas. That rules out Lakatan, Iholena, and dwarf Red. If you want to get it down to 5, ditch Rajapuri like Richard said -- the fruit are smaller but otherwise very similar to Dwarf Brazilian. I know Jon doesn't like dwarf Brazilian, but they do great here in Ventura. They are pretty bulletproof. Their only downside is that they are slow growers. The remaining 5 (Dw. Namwah, Dw. Brazilian, Ice Cream, Mysore/Pisang Klotek, Manzano) are all tough plants with tasty fruit. The flavor of Mysore/Pisang Klotek will blow you away if you haven't had it before.

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emegar

Thanks for the advice, guys. Since posting my question, I've had a couple of varieties helpfully eliminate themselves from the running, and I've got a couple of others that I've added, which seem to be held in high regard (Misi Luki, Goldfinger and FHIA-18).

Here is the strange thing: I bought the Lakatan and PK from Jon last fall and put them in the ground right away. The Lakatan was about 12" tall (the biggest he had, at the time) and the PK was about 36" tall. The Lakatan did fine, without growing, until the last month or so, when it began rapid growth, maybe doubling in size, up to this point. The PK, however, was hit hard with the onset of what proved to be a fairly mild winter, and before I knew it, rotted to the ground. I later poked around and found that 1/2 to 2/3 of the corm remained intact, and it has just now begun to sprout a new pseudostem. Is PK usually regarded as less hardy that Lakatan?