JoeReal

Of all online stores, I found that going-bananas has never mislabeled a plant for me. The prices are really worth it for the accuracy of their cultivars. All of their plants are vigorous, more than a foot tall stem, and roots sometimes as long as 3 ft, but neatly packed and shipped to me. A third of the banana plants that I retain came from them, a third came from exchanges, and a third from eBay. I usually give away as gifts the TC plants that i bought from eBay after growing them to 3 to 4 ft high so that the beginner grower will not kill them easily.

NANAMAN

I think this discussion, debate was covered pretty well. My experience growing swords vs. tcs is that they grow at about the same rate to fruit, in my backyard! All of the tcs I have grown produced fruit within one year, (FHIA-3 was 9mo.), but the average is about 10 1/2 mo.. I have had no corms produce any faster, in my very unscientific banana project. According to some articles that I've read, thats pretty fast , (given 9 mo. for commercially grown bananas from Mexico to Ecuador). That being said, I believe the key is a tropical / subtropical environment. If I lived in a more marginal growing environment, I suspect, and others attest, that corms would outperform tcs..I know of other S.Fl. growers who have not had the same success that I enjoy, but I have spared almost no expense to provide my plants with all that they could want or need. It's almost impossible to compare other growers results anyway, there are way too many variables to consider,(amount of sunlight, fertility & ph of soil, quality of irrigation water, individual micro-climates, passion for growing plants, etc.... My suggestion would be to try growing both and find out what grows best for you. At the very least you'll learn what does and does not work in your yard!

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