Bananas.org - View Single Post - Best cultivars for cold hardy cross pollination

Tropicallvr · 10-08-2007, 08:34 PM

What would be the best species or cultivar to use to create a cold hardy edible plant? I was thinking Musa helens hyrid would be a good start, since it allready has been crossed once, and seeds would be easy to transport down south to Mexico. There is allready alot of cultivars(dwarf cavendish, sumatra, giant cavendishes, saba looking ones, reds, and alot of other mystery ones) in the town where my family has a place in Nayarit, so maybe that would be a good start. There is also alot of high elevation bananas over in(michouacan) where we had to buy sweaters and pants to fend off the cold rain in late June! I wonder how cold winters are!
What other cold hardy species(from seed) would be good?
Would I have to do a couple back crosses(with hybrids) to get a seedless fruit or could I get lucky on the first try? Also would the chances for seedless fruit be increased by using the edible plant as a MOTHER or a POLLEN DONOR?
I think it would be best to bring the seeds, but I could try to bring plants later. Maybe M.dwarf brazilian, M. Dwarf orinico, for cold hardy parents to cross with Helens hybrid.
One last thing I was wondering if Musa helens hybrid (sikkimensisXchimi.champa), was a sikkimensis that was crossed with a tetraploid like FHIA 1, FHIA 3, instead of a diploid (chimi champa), would that increase the chances of getting a edible? If so then those would also be some cultivars worth taking south.
This isn't the easiest subject to wrap my head around, and I seem to have to relearn it every once in a while, so any imput that would help me would be great.

10-08-2007, 08:34 PM	#1 (permalink)
Tropicallvr Member Tropicallvr's Photo Gallery Name: Kyle Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 1,032 BananaBucks : 612,046 Feedback: 10 / 100% Said "Thanks" 230 Times Was Thanked 414 Times in 163 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 14 Times	Best cultivars for cold hardy cross pollination What would be the best species or cultivar to use to create a cold hardy edible plant? I was thinking Musa helens hyrid would be a good start, since it allready has been crossed once, and seeds would be easy to transport down south to Mexico. There is allready alot of cultivars(dwarf cavendish, sumatra, giant cavendishes, saba looking ones, reds, and alot of other mystery ones) in the town where my family has a place in Nayarit, so maybe that would be a good start. There is also alot of high elevation bananas over in(michouacan) where we had to buy sweaters and pants to fend off the cold rain in late June! I wonder how cold winters are! What other cold hardy species(from seed) would be good? Would I have to do a couple back crosses(with hybrids) to get a seedless fruit or could I get lucky on the first try? Also would the chances for seedless fruit be increased by using the edible plant as a MOTHER or a POLLEN DONOR? I think it would be best to bring the seeds, but I could try to bring plants later. Maybe M.dwarf brazilian, M. Dwarf orinico, for cold hardy parents to cross with Helens hybrid. One last thing I was wondering if Musa helens hybrid (sikkimensisXchimi.champa), was a sikkimensis that was crossed with a tetraploid like FHIA 1, FHIA 3, instead of a diploid (chimi champa), would that increase the chances of getting a edible? If so then those would also be some cultivars worth taking south. This isn't the easiest subject to wrap my head around, and I seem to have to relearn it every once in a while, so any imput that would help me would be great.