Cross Pollination?
 

Hello,

I have a somewhat large group of dwarf Orinoco banana plants. I was thinking about buying a couple of Ice Cream banana plants and planting them in the middle of my Orinoco's. Does anyone know if this will be a problem? Will they cross pollinate and mess up or will it be fine. I'm really new to the whole banana thing. I appreciate the help. Thanks.

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

It will be fine.

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

They'll be fine. Cross pollination is extremely unlikely to occur -- most edible bananas can't even be pollinated. Edible bananas are parthenocarpic, which means the fruit develop without pollination.

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

Actually, I'd lean towards a little "better than" fine; it sounds like that could turn out to be a pretty good idea.
The Dwarf Orinoco will easily handle some shade, maybe even do better with some.
I don't know how big your mat is, but starting off with a couple Blue Javas, you can add more later if you want.
My Blue Java mat has a mass of cannas growing in with them & other than not being able to dump fertilizer on them fast enough, cannas & bananas are all doing fine.
;)

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

Well, This is a picture of my "mat". I was thinking about removing the group in the center and replacing them with an Ice Cream. How big do the Ice Creams get? I just thought they were the same size as my Dwarf Orinocos but the way you were talking about it shading them I guess it is much bigger?

I assume Blue Javas is another name for Ice Cream, and I am not sure what Cannas are.

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

Ice Cream (which may or may not be the same as Blue Java -- but let's not derail this thread!) is about the same height as Orinoco, but is much taller than Dwarf Orinoco.

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

Is there such a thing as dwarf ice cream/blue java?

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

You can always create an Ice Cream related name. You won't be the first person to do so.:waving:

Re: Cross Pollination?
 

Yes and no. The plant that is sold as Ice Cream most often is tall Namwah, and there is a dwarf Namwah and it is a great plant. There is not a dwarf version of the real Blue Java.