Re: Call for European members
 

Bravo Jack,
it is great that we have that list now.
I hope that it will get bigger soon!
Regards from Croatia.
:woohoonaner:

Re: Call for European members
 

idd Jack Daw im from Belgium. you can delete the ? @ my name hehe.

i have a question 4 you all europeans.
im looking 4 info about a musa dajiao.

i dont find info about it.

it was new in my local exotic shop. owner of shop cant give info .
the importer said it grows faster then de basjoo end it is from china.

pleas help me out .

Re: Call for European members
 

The question mark ("?") stands for the city, not the country ;) ...

Never heard of such banana. European dealers and traders tend to change the names of cultivars to make it sound better.
For instance, what I bought:
Musa Picolo - it turned out to be Musa 'Super Dwarf Cavendish'
Musa tropicana - Musa 'Dwarf Cavendish' (red flecks/spots on juveniles)
Musa Miska - Musa 'Dwarf Cavendish', however with strange blue like pigmentation, will post pics, when full color appears... (spots/flecks on juvenile were light blue)

and so on... I've already seen Musa chinensis , Musa basallica, Musa SuperGrow... not a big deal...
Probably a basjoo or sikkimensis, if he cant give you another info. :D

Re: Call for European members
 

The city is Antwerp.

The only thing i found on the net when i google Dajiao

Major cultivars, genotype and areas of production, China

genome type ABB Dajiao
Cultivar : Zhongba Dajiao
Gaojiao Dajiao

no pics.

Re: Call for European members
 

That's more than you actually need. :D It is triploid and probably will therefore have seedless fruits. I suggest you to go for it. There's this thing, that it will probably be not very immune to colds. Not talking about freezing, which is still in question.
Anyway, it's probably one of the classical cultivars. Most of those ABB group cultivars (if I remember well) are cooking bananas (see Musa 'Cardaba' probably :D ).
GO FOR IT :D

Re: Call for European members
 

Wats a triploid?

Re: Call for European members
 

To illustrate: Mother and father give X and X/Y. The child is then born with a defect, whereas having XXX, XXY, XYY combinations. And therefore is sterile. Some bananas, like Musa basjoo have seeds in their fruit. They aren't sterile. However the commercial varieties are sterile, can you imagine eating all those seeds? And that's when the chromosomes start to count.
Look on the forum for more details about triploids... :D

Re: Call for European members
 

Triploid in Croatian means -Go For It !!!:ha::ha:
:woohoonaner:

Re: Call for European members
 

What kind of restrictions are there for the importation of plants, specifically, banana plants from the US into Italy? Is it the shipping costs that's too high?

Grázie,

Chong

Re: Call for European members
 

Sorry not to wait for Calabrian, but I already know the answer. The hell there are restrictions. One of them is the customs in the USA (which require phytocertificates sometimes), the other is EU customs (which should be checking every package and in case of "dagerous uncertiphied content" immediately send it back). Needless to say, that the certipicates cost more, than the plants themselves.

I ordered Musa 'Pahari Kela' from Dr Parmar from India and they are already on their way. If it goes well, I will tell you the way, how to go by European lines, so that they don't check your cargo. However I don't know, what restrictions will there be from USA (Cali Gold, Texas Star...).

Other thing is, that the shops tend not to even answer on European e-mails, knowing that they won't be able to deliver. The prices for shipping are enormous (if the plant costs 20$, the shipping might even be up to 40$). The worst part is, that you never know ahead, how many days the shipping will take. There's usually quite a small chance of surviving the trip for the plants (even rhizomes).

And lastly... I have not heard of someone, who would like to ship Texas Star and California Gold to us. Not only, that these cultivars are quite rare all over the world and I said from my personal experience >> Nurseries don't communicate very much and for our (EU) requests there aren't any answers from the members, so we are forced to work with what we have...

Some problems for starters :D ;)

Re: Call for European members
 

I agree with U Jack in one part here. On other side I think they are afraid that US services will bother them for smuggling plants. Looks like they need permits for every plant they sell and report every transaction, no "gift" pacages there my friend.
That line about ignoring e-mails is almost 90% thrue. Sad but thrue.
And on the end of it there is a big lack of good will.
:woohoonaner:

Re: Call for European members
 

Chong, as our friends say, unfortunately there are lots of problems.

Few weeks ago, while searching for a Blue Java, which is my dream to find it yet, I wrote to a nursery in the Usa which was said to delivery in Europe. They answered me that there would be no problem provided that I buy around 10000 plants! (five zeros, not joking). I am not criticizing them, they for sure have reasons to act this way. But the very fact they have reasons give you an idea of how much inconvenient can be such kind of shipping.

Of course this was an exagerated example. But in general it's very difficult. I just received a corm from a good friend in California and it was possible for me to receive it without many problems, but only because he was able to provide a phytosanitary certificate. I give thanks the corm arrived safe, but it was demoralizing to see how they work at the customs. I was calling them with no answers for days and after I compiled and sent them the forms, the day after they sent me again the void forms to compile because one office had not communicated with the other.

Moreover, for me here, with the dis-organization of Italian bureaus, I would not even know where to start to find out where and how to get such a sanitary inspection on my plants. They would drive me crazy for sure.

Just to give you an idea of how Italian institutions work: few years ago I was accused by two cops (who had personal problems with me for reasons nothing to do with laws) of selling certain books without license. I had the books in a suitcase and they were pretending that I was selling them in the streets. Since there were not two equal books and there were testimonies on my behalf, and I was denied a lawyer in the first instance, my lawyer which I was able to call later told me there would no problem in winning the case. However the case is still pending and the books are still in the police station AFTER 6 YEARS. Of course it can seem superficial to quote this example which concerns another institution. But this is an example of how things work in Italy when you come to bureaucracy.

Trust me my region in the far south of Italy is wonderful. A south European=north African landscape with wonderful climate and lot of crops all year round and many subtropical things you can grow, and lot of heartful people. But you better not enter a office.

Sorry for the many comments. However, Chong, if you have particular facilities for shipping, or know different ways, I would be very interested in TX Star if you are in our local variety. Let me know also through pm if you like.

Have a nice day!

Re: Call for European members
 

I see the only way to do shipping to (and from) Europe as taking the plant personally. As ridiculous, as it sounds, thousands of Eucalyptus trees are transported this way from Australia a summer in North hemisphere. And as long as cultivars cannot be propagated by seeds, the only thing, that might not rise suspicion, is the root system...

Another way of doing this would also include samples for cloning, which can be small and kept in small boxes within the suitcases. But it would require someone one the other side to be able to clone them, if and when they survive.

So many problems, so little options. And I'm NOT going to buy the plants from German and Austrian shops (about 25€ to 30€, means 35-42$ a piece!, Siam Ruby costs 45€ that is apx 60$). I can't simply afford it and even if I could, I would have to think about it for a veeeeeery long while...

@ Kalabrian >> If it were in my country, the policemen would beat you up, you would report it to authorities, they would make a report, as soon as you leave the room discard it and you would come to the next beating for going to the station by those 2 cops. It's quite quick, will take 2 days at most, recovery another year... :D Last month, a Ferrari was stolen in Bratislava. THey haven't found it yet, even though there are 3 Ferraris in our region... :D What do you think about that? :D
I think the aspect of humanity in your bureucracy is better, but takes longer to apply. :D

Re: Call for European members
 

Come on guys, what are we talking about?
Drugs smuggling on something else?! It maybe is a bit complicate but isnt imposssible.
In good way and in bad way it takes two!!:bananas_b
Right?
:woohoonaner:

Re: Call for European members
 

What I believe is that there already are all the major cultivars spread all over the Europe, some more, some less.
It is however a certain reluctancy of their owners to share. I've unfortunately come across this many times. Yes, there are exceptions such as Kalabrian and maesy, who are willing to give, but there are more of those people, who actually don't.
I had 8 offshots on my Musa 'Super Dwarf Cavendish' this spring. 3 of them I kept to hold the line, 3 went to people who wanted it (one from Austria, two from Slovakia) and the other 2 were gift to our Botanical Garden in Bratislava, because they had only Musa 'Dwarf Cavendish' and Giant version as well and I wanted them to complete the line of Giant, Dwarf, Super Dwarf.

I just wish the Europeans started to break the walls among them, but as it seems, that's rather impossible. There's too much in the history of many nations to start trusting each other and working together. At least that's how many people see it. And that's what I regret the most.

Re: Call for European members
 

U are right on this one!!:nanadrink:
:woohoonaner:

Re: Call for European members
 

Jack, I understand what you report concerning institutions and bureacucracy in your country, and I agree that it can be worse than here. The point, however, is that Italy is accepted in the mind of the people, and boasts to be, a great democracy and one of the most advanced. Moreover, a major commercial partner of the Usa. In this the real inconsistency lies.

Best regards!

Re: Call for European members
 

Yes, democracy, that's what we accepted when the Iron Curtain fell back in 1989... :D Shame it didn't arrive, we are wainting for our promised part even nowadays. :D
Italy has wonderful land and history longer than any of other European countries (Except for Greece, no argue from you I hope...). Actually, I've been thinking what to do after studies... I have always been attracted by South American culture and lifestyle, maybe Argentina or so... dunno. Somewhere I can grow whatever I want whenever I want and not be commanded by dumheads, such as our gov. :D ;) Europe has continually been losing it's charm for the last 100 years or so. :(

Anyways, Kalabrian, how tall are the Italian bananas? Seem about 4-5m. Is that right? What about the winds in your region. Strong or not strong?

Re: Call for European members
 

Hello,

you're looking for European members. I'm living in the Netherlands and i've just signed in.

Looking for some great contacts.

Best regards,

Patrick

Re: Call for European members
 

Hi Patrick, what is you home city or hometown in Netherlands?