brod

This a great forum. I love it.

I have at the moment in my new home 2 banana plants growing.

Can someone ID these for me.

The first is what I was led to believe is Musa zebrina. Is that correct, or is it something else.

First photo is from my old home.


This one is same plant in my new home


This one I believe is a Williams. Is that correct.


I'm hoping to get a Red Dacca next week and then concentrate on ornamentals. I need seed though which is hard to get hold of in my country.

Cheers
Brod

caliboy1994

First one is probably Zebrina, second one looks like some type of Cavendish. I'm a newbie at identifying, so you might want a second opinion.

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brod

Any other takers with this

Yug

Reminds me of an un-named Hawaiian banana I've seen, but not sure.

venturabananas

Zebrina and Williams sounds right for those two.

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nph

Williams fruit looks big to me. Is that normal size for Williams?
I am comparing with my Dwarf Orinico and Namwah.

venturabananas

This photo shows an Iholena variety. Can't tell which one without a photo of the fruit. Very different from Zebrina. No wine blotches, for example.

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venturabananas

Williams, like most Cavendish varieties produce very large fruit if they are grown in good conditions.

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brod

My bunch is developing nicely and producing big fruit, should be ready in a few weeks I think.
Williams is the main crop grown in Australia and produce big fruit on big bunches.

venturabananas

Now that you have posted photos of the developed bunches on the Cavendish variety, it doesn't look like Williams. Dwarf Cavendish or Grand Naine are more likely, and can be distinguished by height.

What's blooming in your garden? (bananas) - Page 39 - Bananas.org

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brod

Here is an update of Cavendish in question. I'm running with 2 fruiting stems (hard to tell from photo, other fruiting stem is directly behind in photo). P-stem 2.6m high, 10 hands per bunch.

Dwarf Cav on left Cav??? on right.



bunch one



Bunch 2



Having looked into it just recently I'm leaning towards a Grande Naine, what do you think.

venturabananas

At 2.6 m (8.5'), it's too tall to be Dwarf Cavendish, but otherwise looks like one, which well describes Grand Naine (translates as "big dwarf"). So I'd guess that's what it is.

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PR-Giants

It's probably a Valery, they are very common in Australia.

Just looked at a map, Valery is near Coffs Harbour, just south of you.

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venturabananas

That makes sense. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Valery and a Grand Naine. My understanding is that even the real experts, those that make their livings studying bananas, have a hard time distinguishing some of the many Cavendish cultivars.

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PR-Giants

You can get a tissue culture from the University of Hawaii Seed Program.

I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a Valery and a Grand Naine until

someone showed me what to look for, and was basing my opinion on it being common there.

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brod

Thanks guys for your comments. Interesting you mentioned Coffs Harbour. That is where the sucker was sourced from. Williams is more widely planted now, especially in Queensland where I am. Not sure about further south in NSW around Coffs.

PR, you mentioned things to look for in differences between Valery and Grande Naine, any heads up on that would be appreciated. I will be doing my own research of cause, but a lot of the wisdom out there is not documented.

brod

Done a bit of study out of the book 'The world of bananas in Hawaii: Then and Now'.

They are saying Valery originated out of Vietnam and has a P-stem height of 3.1m - 3.7m and a naked rachis. Grande Naine is 1.8m - 2.8m with fully clothed rachis at high elevation and less covered at low elevation (Hawaiian conditions).

My conditions are warm sub tropical lowland, which I guess would be like winter highland (Hawaiian)for my winter and summer lowland (Hawaiian)for my summer.
Since my fruiting has been in winter would explain the fully clothed rachis.

Other differences are Valery has leaf stalks not tightly bunched as Grande Naine and Dwarf Cavendish. Mine seems to have the leaves tightly bunched together.

They also said Williams accounts for 95% of Australian commercial production. I'll have to find out where my cousin (whom I got it from) got his plant from.

So my conclusion so far is a Grande Naine, would be glad to hear of any other thoughts to the contrary.

robguz24

Last I heard the UH TC program was now defunct.

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PR-Giants

More info & sources the better, the article I read was from the Australia Gov. and was about Williams but included Valery and a timeline. I'll post it when I find it again.

In Puerto Rico it averages 2.3 m with a messy rachis.

I just looked at some descriptions in that book and they don't appear to be accurate,

but any banana book will have some discrepancies.

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