Darkman

My last Ice Cream after blooming was deemed to be a Orinoco. Now I have another suspected Ice Cream which may be a Tall Namwah. Any way I'll be posting some bloom pictues here.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

hydroid

It does'nt look like Orinico to me but It looks alot like Amanda's.

Maybe Gabe or someone who knows will see it and comment, if nothing else maybe they can rule out Orinoco.

venturabananas

Need to let it get further along in the flowering process to tell much, but my money is on tall Namwah.

__________________

Darkman

I'll update when it starts opening.

Also my Goldfinger is pushing a bloom.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

Darkman

OK after soaking my camera in rice for a week it is now working and I have some pictures of the bloom and fruit.









Sorry about the closeup bloom picture. I think that is the last bloom too.

So is it Ice Creme?

Tall Namwah?

Orinoco or ???

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

venturabananas

Well, it's definitely not the "real" Ice Cream (Blue Java). That's about all I can say for sure. The color of the fruit is totally wrong and the pedicels are too short. I'm leaning towards Orinoco, but I'm not sure, could be a Namwah with a very small fruit set. The fruit don't seem quite angular enough for Orinoco.

__________________

RandyGHO

Darkman, I just posted this on another thread.

The Illustrated Guide to the Identification of Banana Varieties in the South Pacific notes this characteristic for identifying a Blue Java.


It is interesting they did not choose the blue color suggesting to me it is not always a sure characteristic but I sure do not know.

__________________
Thinking outside the peel always.

venturabananas

Yes, Gabe says that he's seen "real" ones that weren't all that blue. But those that are look noticeably different from any other banana you've seen. The riper they get, the less blue they have. Here are a couple pictures of the real deal:

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

__________________

Gabe15

They look like a Namwah to me. The pinkish hue of the male bud as well as it's very pointed shape are typical of Namwah. Compare it to male bud of the 'Ice Cream' posted by Mark above, it's base color is a dark purple and it is more bulbous, particularly in the apical region.

Here is also a comparative photo set I had made and posted here before showing this observation.

__________________
Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Darkman

Thanks Everyone,

I'm just tickled it is anthing but another Orinoco. I've already got seven large mats of Orinoco. I'll be pleased if it is the Tall Namwah. I have a couple of DN in pots that I will be planting in some of the evicted Orinoco spots.

Bo,
This pretty much confirms that you also have the Tall Namwah and you'll get to eat some this year.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

alemily

It looks like a Tall Namwah. Here's what mine looked like last year with a small fruit set. Current bunch is at least double what last year's size was and its about to throw another bud...

__________________
Fruting: Pisang Awak, Rajapuri, Dwarf Brazilian, Gros Michel, Dwarf Red, FHIA-1 'Goldfinger', Veinte Cohol, FHIA-3 'Sweetheart'
Ornamental/Species: M. bauensis, M. velutina, M. "Milky Way", M. "African Red"

Darkman

Thanks Amanda,

It looks like this year I'll have three different bananas to eat:

• Three bunches Orinoco

• One bunch Goldfinger

• One bunch Tall Namwah

Sounds good to me!

After Bo gets back we all need to get together, compare notes and swap some corms.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

alemily

We'll see about a get-together if I'm not busy...

Oh, I was just up at Davis Nursery in Summerdale earlier today. They have Grain Nain and Raja Puri plants for sale right now (in addition to the infamous Tall Namwah masquerading as "Ice Cream") if you are looking for alternate varieties to grow. I didn't get a chance to talk to the owner, but it appears the potted bananas they sell are likely pulled off the huge mats they've got growing on the nursery grounds.

__________________
Fruting: Pisang Awak, Rajapuri, Dwarf Brazilian, Gros Michel, Dwarf Red, FHIA-1 'Goldfinger', Veinte Cohol, FHIA-3 'Sweetheart'
Ornamental/Species: M. bauensis, M. velutina, M. "Milky Way", M. "African Red"

hydroid

I've been patiently waiting to hear the word from Gabe, and checking the forum every day. I'll be spreading more of those Namwah around in the yard.
Charles/Amanda.....this has been a great year so far for the Bananas, don't forget to prop them when they start getting heavy, I've lost several big bunches in the past from the summer storms we get because I did'nt use props.
Bo

Darkman

Amanda are you growing the Gran Nain?

They may very well be doing that and could be the reason they think they are selling IC. Probably bought it from a trusted source and have been growing and selling it every since. Maybe you could check that out next time you see him.


Yes no sour faces on the IC turning into TN. I have one pup of decent size I may remove to start a second mat.

Mine may be a little puny to require staking but that is something to look at.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.

alemily

I have a Gran Nain I bought last year. I need to move it though since its in the shade and doesn't get very big as a result.

I wouldn't advise growing Gran Nain as a fruiting banana here - more of an ornamental since it will die back to the corm here if you don't protect it well when a freeze warning goes out. Gran Nain seems to be rather tender so I doubt I'll get fruit off of it anytime soon and no pups right now to get rid of.

I also have a "Super Dwarf Cavendish" as well that is pretty good size now - about four feet tall and just as wide. It's in the filtered shade of the Tall Namwah for much of the day except for about 6-7 hours in the morning, but I'm hoping to get something off of it since I managed to cover it in time this past winter to save the pseudostem before it could freeze back to the corm. No pups on it though right now. You can find SDC's at Home Depot in P'cola and they grow pretty fast once they are in the ground.

Earlier today when I was at Davis, I bought a Raja Puri to grow since I had a twenty and a five burning a hole in my wallet and space for one to see how it does here. Apparently it pups like crazy so if it survives the winter I'll have some to get rid of next summer.

__________________
Fruting: Pisang Awak, Rajapuri, Dwarf Brazilian, Gros Michel, Dwarf Red, FHIA-1 'Goldfinger', Veinte Cohol, FHIA-3 'Sweetheart'
Ornamental/Species: M. bauensis, M. velutina, M. "Milky Way", M. "African Red"

videosilva

Why did you soak your camera in rice ?

Darkman

This is from my post at the Fig Forum about my experiences with too much rain on June 9th, 2012.

I'm glad I didn't plant figs yesterday! -

As of 2:30 PM we have had over a foot of rain in less than twelve hours. I planted some semi-tropical ornamentals yesterday one of which was a tree in a 30 gallon nursery pot. I had planned to plant out some of my fig cuttings but got distracted with the ornamentals. I thought my fig cuttings were drowning in my potting mix. How Ironic is that!

The rain has been non stop and when my pool was over run with rising water (the surrounding grade is nine inches lower) I decided that I needed to find out where all the water was coming from. I found that a large commercial tract of property that was cleared of vegetation last year now all drains to the back of my property. In 45 years of living here I have never seen water like this.

The plants I planted yesterday, well some of them are missing and some are buried in debris. The large tree is leaning over in the middle of my $100.00 hole that I dug and amended with priceless compost. All the compost and dirt is gone washed away and probably in my pool. At one point there was a creek two inches deep running into my pool and out the other side. It has done and untold amount of damage.

The good news! I know there is a problem although I do not have a solution yet and none of my in-ground fig trees appear to have been hurt.

The other bad news.

It’s still raining and forecast to continue until tomorrow morning.

I actually wandered around taking video on my camera. I think the lens was partially fogged but under the circumstances it was the best I could do. I can't view yet since when the battery died I put it inside the pocket of my rain coast not knowing that there was three inches of water inside the pocket. It seems the only thing waterproof on the rain coat was the inside of the pockets. They obviously didn't leak a drop. The rest of me was soaking wet. The camera is now taking a rice bath to see if it will work again. At least the card should be OK.

The dry rice absorbed all the moisture from the camera and it now works just fine.

__________________
Darkman in Pensacola

AS ALWAYS IMHO AND YOUR MILEAGE MAY DIFFER!!!!!!!!

Life - Some assembly required, As is no warranty, Batteries not included, Instructions shipped separately and are frequently wrong!

Kentucky Bourbon - It may not solve the problem but it helps to make it tolerable!

Statistics - Data that analyst twist to support the insane opinions of those that pay them.