Not a Saba
 

Ordered this last fall from the Banana Tree as a corm, it was said to be a Saba. Wintered it in the greenhouse but it never really did much. Finally, in Jan. it began to grow and was solid green with lots of wax. I put it out about 6 weeks ago in my beds. 2 weeks ago when doing my daily survey I noticed red splotches on the leaves and Quickly shot Chris a PM asking about it. He said it was not a Saba as they are solid green. So what is it? Red Iholene maybe? Doesn't look like any of my others with its pink pseudo and pink on the underside of the leaves. It seems to grow pretty slow and may be a dwarf. Any guesses? :2744: Thanx-Nate

Re: Not a Saba
 

see i told you be careful what you order from them...remember my"red iholene"...that wasnt one?? sounds like you had the same problem.

Re: Not a Saba
 

Its definitely not Saba. Ones with red undersides that come to my mind right now are the Iholenas and Mysore, there are others with red too though, but its a pretty unique characteristic. I remember Iholena has having rounded leaf bases, though this could become more apparent with age. I wish I had my ID guide with me, but I left it back in HI for the summer, oh well.

Re: Not a Saba
 

Whats this about an ID guide Gabe?
:)

Re: Not a Saba
 

I have an awesome handmade guide that was given to me by a banana scientist friend. It has pictures and descriptors of most common varieties, as well as all known Hawaiian traditional varieties. Its rather handy, but bulky and I didn't think I'd need it in Colorado for the summer, oh well :rolleyes:

Re: Not a Saba
 

gabe can it be broke down and put in the wiki? that would be awesome!

Re: Not a Saba
 

Yeah, that would be sweet, though quite time-consuming I'm sure.

Speaking of the Wiki, I will be adding some information for the beginning banana grower there as soon as I can get time.

Re: Not a Saba
 

I don't think the author would appreciate me reproducing it, but I'll see what I can do.

Re: Not a Saba
 

Man we need one of those on the market, seems like there would be a demand for a Musa ID book.

I talked to The Guy at Banana tree. com. He said their plants are grown in Equador, and shipped here to the US, so the mix up maybe out of country.

Re: Not a Saba
 

Most of the information in the book is available elsewhere. There are many, many resources available to us that contain most of the things many people here are commonly looking for, its just a matter of getting out there and finding it. Check not only the internet, but your local library and if available to you, a nearby university library.

Here is an immense resource of fairly detailed information on a few hundred different varieties. Also check out the other publications and resources Bioversity International has to offer.
Banana Bioversity International -- - Catalogues of Musa Germplasm

Re: Not a Saba
 

yes you did,

well dang, that looks like my "saba" i got from him too. Although, i got a mysore and saba from him so now i think that he had the two labels switched around as the other one is solid green. both are growing like weeds though putting on a new leaf a week and I am happy with them. just planted them where i did because of what I thought they were though.