Quote:
Originally Posted by 1rainman
After reading the legends of California Gold/Texas star online I ordered an d. orinoco from a company that claimed the texas star, dwarf orinoco, and california gold are the same thing. Well I kept looking it up and I found somebody who said they grew them all side by side and tested them. Apparently they are extremely similar but with slight difference. I think like the Cal. Gold was slightly shorter than the dwarf orinoco or something. They were just slightly more cold hardy than the dwarf orinoco and I think a little quicker to fruit with the fruit being basically the same (by a little I mean like a month or something). Apparently they are just variations of the dwarf orinoco, but maybe slightly more desirable. I wrote the company I ordered off of and told them it wasn't the same thing but they never changed their description.
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Yup, the only one that I know of that says that is "The Green Earth" site -
Banana Trees Banana Plants
It's even sporting the picture from the Agristarts website of the Dwarf Orinoco. Their statement may have some validity, but it's not entirely accurate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1rainman
I also think the reputation is a little over stated. The Raja Puri is pretty close in cold hardiness as is the dwarf brazillian. I read one guys blog who tested a whole crap load of bananas. The orinoco, brazzilian and Raja puri were the top 3 with the dwarf brazillian and dwarf orinoco slightly less cold hardy than the bigger versions. Myself my Raja Puri has proven more cold hardy than the other varieties I've had and I had it out with my new dwarf orinoco and it froze and they both reacted about the same so there isn't any huge difference. The orinoco might be slightly more hardy and then the Cal Gold and Texas Star might be an almost unnoticeable bit more hardy than the d. orinoco but its not anything major.
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Personally, my experience has been that the Dwarf Brazilian is a lot less cold hardy than the Raja Puri, which in turn is less hardy than the Dwarf Orinoco. I'm sure there are a lot of members here will attest to the fact that the CA Gold has greater advantage in cold hardiness over the Raja Puri, and even more so, over the D. Brazilian.
Two winters ago, I lost 2 D. Brazilians. This winter, I lost one DB corm that I got in September, though I placed it near the heater in the greenhouse. My 3-ft Raja Puri put out a good fight in a cold greenhouse, but it doesn't look good right now. There is some firmness at the base of the p-stem, but the diameter of the firm portion is less than an inch. The 2 plants in the same greenhouse that are pushing out right now are the M. Lasiocarpa and the CA Gold.
Surprisingly, in the main greenhouse, a Dwarf Lady Finger from San Diego, a "Dwarf Lady Finger from FL"(in quotes because I suspect that I was sent the wrong plant. I think that it's a tall Orinoco), and my only remaining Dwarf Orinoco remained green throughout the winter, and in fact, continued to put out leaves. Two of the DLF bananas that came with the suspected Orinoco turned to mush, but the fourth one, the leaves turned black, but it's pushing out a new leaf now. These guys are right next to each other, with the D. Orinoco and DLF from San Diego right next to the perimeter glass. So, I don't think that the D. Orinoco and CA Gold are overrated.
I posted a picture of the TX Star from TyTy Nursery that I thought was gone but is pushing out new leaves. Here is the link again:
Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery