Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I have been keeping track of this site where the words 'OUT OF STOCK' stayed on for almost a year. Now they're stocked:

http://www.logees.com/prodinfo.asp?number=R1973-4

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I remember looking at that same page and same picture about 6 months ago thinking I would like to grow one of those! I'm to the point now that finding space is much harder then finding the plants! You think they are TC plants? I wonder how long a dwarf Lady Finger TC would take to mature?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

IF grown alternatingly between indoors during winter or extremely hot days and outdoors during warm days, would fruit within 3 years. If grown just indoors potted, in a sunroom or bay window with access to sunlight, would take perhaps 5 years.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I have a great idea! :D How about you sell me a pup off the plant you buy so I don't have to wait so long for fruit! ;)

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Thanks for pointing us over there, Joe. I went ahead and ordered one. Lady Fingers supposedly ripen and mature quickly, and that's important for me in zone 7. Good grief! Where am I going to put it?? Thank goodness it's small! :guitarris

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I got one of them a few months back and put it into a 25 gallon container just to see how it does in a pot. It has grown very well and shows much better growth habits than the Super Dwarf Cavendish (no signs of choking, good leaf internode distance) but no bloom so far. It is about 3.5 feet tall at present and looking good. I'll keep the group posted on its progress.

Richard

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Go for it Anna! I did that 2 years ago and have never been happier. I now can cut the grass in <10 minutes with a weedeater (no kidding).

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Ladyfinger is not an actual type of banana, as compared to 'Cavendish' or 'Orinoco' or anything else. Ladyfinger bananas are ones with small fruit, there are various ladyfinger groups with small bananas, but there is no one ladyfinger banana. It could be a 'Dwarf Nino' to a 'Dwarf Namwah'. My 'Rose' fruited in exactly 2 years in a container in a sunroom, i dont think any banana would need more than 3 years in a container if well taken care of with plenty of food, water and light.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I would agree if they were from pups, but these are tissue cultured, even in the best of care, the fastest time to fruit is 3 years in my zone, and that included winter care indoors in pots during their first few feet of trunk height.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

oh ya.....those damn TC's!!! good call;) I forgot what its like to grow those things, I dont think ive tried to grow a TC plug into a large plant in at least 2 years, but i dont think i ever got very far anyways.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

SOLD!

Just ordered two of these dwarf lady fingers.

Thanks for the lead, Joe.


And, by the way, you guys..
if you ever need to watch a webpage for changes and be notified when it updates, this is a very helpful service ;)
http://www.changenotes.com

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

GATrops, (and everyone) :)

I actually have started filling in some open spots around our patio (slab) with banana plants. The grass isn't doing well there anyway, for some reason. Probably because I need to plant banana's!
And as soon as I convince my husband that this Lady Finger is essential, hopefully I can get one!

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Whatever the proper species name of that thing, it is out of stock temporarily!

Naming of banana cultivars has always been problematic, messy and chaotic. And it will be for some time to come.

Whatever that variety is, I am dying to try one that can fulfill the original claims of that dreaded super dwarf cavendish. A truly fruiting edible bananas in pots. And this seem to fit the bill, no matter what the true name of that plant is.

It is not Dwarf Brazilian, or dwaf cavendish, from the looks of it.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

About naming chaos? You can try this best knowledge site for starters:
http://www.inibap.org/pdf/IN010189_en.pdf

Nothing else beat them for the best available info on banana cultivars and their names.

You miss the important point that I mentioned, as it is the plant and its performance that I would like to test and not care for the name at the moment. The name can be resolved later when the naming chaotic dust have settled. Meanwhile I will be happy to share the info of the actual performance of the plant which is more important than the name at the moment.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Thats a great link there Joe! All the info ANYONE would need to know.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I can't blame anyone for the current chaos, plus that the less knowledgeable propagators often coming up with their own names and the marketing group thrown all into this melee.

One of the major sources of naming chaos is our perception of what constitutes a cultivar and the lack of international standards for naming of complex interspecific hybrids. In most cases, we have been at a loss when it comes to naming hybrids. Most bananas are hybrids, in fact almost all of the edible bananas are complex polyploid hybrids originating from the acuminata and balbisiana groups. But we are able to propagate these hybrids vegetatively and they would come true to type and thus somehow fit some rudimentary definition of a species but definitely distinct cultivars. How does one name them taxonomically these polyploid hybrids of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana? We have no problem with acuminata alone nor the balbisiana alone including their sport mutations but with complex hybrids, such as a hypothetical one that I concocted by hybridizing the regular acuminata primitive with an existing AB hybrid then backcrossing that with balbisiana type, shall we name them "Musa acuminata x (balbisiana x acuminata) x balbisiana 'Joe banana'"? If you are not sure about that, I can be sure that I will be able to propagate it vegetatively if I ever come up with it.


http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Musa.html


Amazingly, the same chaotic sientific naming of Citrus species has come to light also. Latest DNA analysis would show that all known citruses can be traced back to only about 3 species and in fact almost all of the commercially grown citruses are in fact hybrids of the three citrus species. One thing peculiar about citruses that has fooled our "taxonomic" forefathers is that most of them would come true to type when propagated by seeds, tricking our early growers that they are distinct species when in fact they are really hybrids. Most citruses have polyembryonic seeds with prodominantly nucellar embryos. The nucellar embryos are like a folded in cellular-tissues of the female parent that has reverted into its most juvenile form. Thus when you plant these, even if the citruses were pollinated by another, it would be hard to look for a hybrid, most likely you will get the true to type. Citruses as well as bananas can hybridize naturally, and some of these natural hybrids will outgrow the other embryos aand can then produce true to type hybrids in the wild, tricking our early taxonomic workers for separate species, thus we have chaotic naming as well. With genetic testing, it may help resolve these issues but I believe it will be more questions than answers, more chaos than order, until the scientific community knows how to deal with the proper naming of complex hybrids.

Todate we even have complex interspecific hybrids such pluots, peach cots, apriums, plum and cherry hybrids, what would be the proper scientific name for these when most often it is not a simple 50-50% genetic intermix and could span several species mix. I haven't ran any scientific articles discussing these complex hybrids as separate species. And we now have genetically engineered crops where we splice a gene from one organism to another and could end up in bananas.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Noooooooo :(

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

My two "Dwarf Lady Finger" arrived today in great shape. :)

Thanks again, Joe!

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

GMF bananas? Among processed foods, 60% of those sold in America have had genetically modified content since about 1990. It must be higher now. Congress never authorized GMF for human consumption, so the patent office did it on their own initiative.
On the other hand... bright purple edible bananas? The hobby side could be interesting. Most of my problem w/ GMF is that the genetic range of crops becomes more narrow, flavors are lost, and there is greater susceptability to world wide, crop specific, die offs... sorta like we already have w/ bananas?
When you get down to it, tissue culturing is potentially almost as bad as GM... once you get past the "Killer Banana that Stalked New York" sorta stories.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Link to another thread with some updates on the Dwarf Ladyfinger

http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?t=814

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I heard a report a few years ago about one of the very few human tests ever performed with GM tomatoes. The findings were very scary indeed. The GM Tomatoes actually made the people resistant to the effects of a certain antibiotic creating a whole new health concern.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Mitchel- That is very scary indeed. With the way Doctors prescribe antibiotics now, the bacteria are already adapting to be resistant to the commonly used antibiotics. Thanks for sharing.

Zac

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

OK,
I'll buy some. Do still have any? I know it's a little late, but it's only been a few days since I joined this group. If you wish, you can e-mail me directly at:

bi054@scn.org

Thanks.
Chong

P.S. In order to stay within the subject matter, I have a strong hunch what variety it is that Logee is selling as "Dwarf Lady Finger Banana". From their description of their banana plants, I suspect that they get them from a TC'er in FL. Although this TC'er does not have a photo of the variety that I think it is.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Agri-starts?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Yes, it is. If you check the description of Dwarf Niño, it matches the description of the Dwarf Lady Finger from Logee's. I ordered a flat of these from Agri-Starts 2 years ago. But between giving some away and "inattention" by my family when I was away on assignments chasing hurricanes for FEMA (from Charley thru Katrina), I only have 2 surviving plants that was less than 7-inches tall when I got back last July. At the time, even their leaves were "pointy", like from the TC plug. I transplanted them in Aug. in larger pots and they grew pretty quick, and the leaves are more round. Yesterday, after I saw some pictures of the DLF that you posted on another thread, last 09/05 and 09/11, I was more convinced that it is the Dwarf Niño.

I took pictures of the plants just now, but it's pretty dark in my greenhouse. So one of them is off-centered. And, I have an 8-yr old digital camera to boot. . . . . very hard to see in there.

This is one of the 2. We were caught by surprise on the night of 10/29/2006, when the temps outside went down below 15degF. Plants and cars were covered with frost in the morning. These came out with flying colors. No damage to any part of these plants. But the SDC had some, and so did the DC from the Canary Islands. Had to bring them in the following day.


No. 2 is struggling a little, but it's pushing new leaves inspite of the 58degF in the greenhouse:


Cheers . . .
Chong

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

TC plugs will grow very quickly given good soil, water, fertilizer, and warm temps. Ideally (if you live in a cool/cold climate) they should be grown in increasingly larger pots in a green house or by a sunny window sil. Under these aforementioned contions, tc plugs will grow just as fast to fruit as a corm.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I hate to disagree with jeffrey, but I still have yet to see the tc plugs grow and bloom as fast as the average pups that I get from exchanges. It is always 3 to 4 years before they bloom, and my bananas pups grow crazy here. If I were to plant those TC plugs in the ground directly, they won't survive after one winter. I will have to do a labor intensive loving care of potting and repotting them until they're big enough to go into the ground, and the potting and repotting takes about 2 years alone.

There is one best online nursery ever, and I got most of my TC plants from them, these are the www.going-bananas.com. Their TC plants are expensive, but they are no way called plugs, are very large and can be planted directly. With all of that headstart, still took about 3 years to bloom at the fastest. If ever I would obtain good TC plantlets, I would order from these guys.

When a TC plug gets damaged, like the pseudostem broken in half, mine did not survive. Doesn't grow back from corm, as their corms are microscopic.

You can tie a banana pup to the back of your car, drag it around the block, and then plant it, it will grow. Tie a TC plug the same way, there would be nothing left to plant, and if there is, it will not grow.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I too prefer corms, because they are easier. In fact, all of the plants I sell out of my nursery are corms with exception if someone wants to buy a tray of plants. Nevertheless, like I said, if you grow a tc plug under the ideal aforementioned conditions, they will fruit at the same time a corm would. Remember, bananas are heavy feeders, if you give a tc plug plenty of liquid fertilzer during its lifecycle, it will grow just as fast as a corm. The keys are heat, humidity, sunlight, and plenty of fertilizer - given these conditions, they will fruit the same time as a corm..

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

This is the latest picture of my(Logee's) ladyfinger! We had some windy, cold weather a couple weeks ago, other than a little leaf damage, it's doing fine! background left to right ladyfinger, high color mini foreground belle, nino

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

FYI - They're back in stock. I ordered a few weeks ago and noticed my credit card got charged on Thursday 8/16.

Anybody have fruit to show from these yet?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I know this is an older message, but I was reviewing the thread as it has been brought up again and what Jeff P suggests (that TC plants can grow as fast as corms) is backed up by considerable research. In fact, on commercial plantation, TC plant materials fruit faster and more uniformly than traditional propagules. I just keep seeing the opposite reported repeatedly as fact and there is more at work here than a simple TC bananas are not as fast as corm raised bananas issue.

It think the issue is one of how close to ideal a situation one is in in terms of banana climate. Corms tolerate more abuse because they have reserves, but they do not have an intact root system. This is important if the plants are shipped well and cared for properly. When that is the case, TC plants have a slight edge. It think the big thing is not to treat a TC plantlet like a corm, they are a different beast.

TC bananas go through more than they should for proper growth because people have to get them through retailers instead of the source as would any commercial banana nursery. Your mention of Don and Katie's stuff supports this as they likly keep the plantlets in a very stable environment for some time prio to shipping. How many ebay sellers do that? Not to many, most keep the plants crowded and poorly feed, sending lanky light and nitrogen strved plants that are easily damaged in the mail and who don't tolerate being planted out.

The booklet "Post-Flask Management of Tissue-cultured Bananas" is a decent read.

Keith

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Hi, Im sorry to bump up a very old thread, but I am interested in hearing about the progress of the lady fingers. Anyone get them to fruit in a pot yet?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I haven't seen it but if you look in Nanaman's gallery you'll see his which fruited in the ground. Mine is in a 5 gallon pot and has something going on with leaves curling (I don't see any mites, etc.) but a pup did emerge last week.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Did anyone determine which 'Dwarf Ladyfinger' Logee's sells?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Hope it's okay that I revived an old thread.

Here are two of my bananas that I am hoping to identify. I think one of them may be the 'Dwarf Ladyfinger' that I got from Logee's in February of this year. The other may be 'Super Dwarf' or 'Dwarf Cavendish.' Can anyone help with identifcation?

Here's the first one:



This is the other with it's pup:

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I think the first pick is the d.lady finger and the other is sdc.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Awesome, Tony. Thanks!

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I'm still wondering about this variety. Anyone?

The one I got from Logee's died from neglect (didn't water it, left it in the logee's pot out in winter, lol).

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Dar,

I mentioned on another thread about Logee's Dwarf Ladyfinger that I talked to Byron Martin, one of the owners of Logee's about this cultivar. This is what he told me:

"I don't know it by another name. It came to us from Hawaii about 15 years ago as a sample plant under its present name. We do the tissue culture here at Logee's."

In short, nobody seems to know what it is. Maybe we'll be able to figure out what it is (with the help of our resident experts) if one of us gets one to fruit and takes lots of photos of the inflorescence as it progresses. Brian (Nanaman) has had his fruit. Maybe he can weigh in on what it tastes similar to, which might narrow things down a little.

Mine dwarf ladyfinger is looking good. Babied through the winter, keeping it inside and on a heating mat when it was really cold and wet. But still a very long way off from being big enough to make fruit!

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Has yours fruited yet? If so, how big were the fruit and what did they taste like?

I think I read someone (you?) say that Gabe thought it was some sort of Cavendish variant (iirc it was termed a 'somatic mutation'). If it is indeed a Cavendish, is it the only ladyfinger Cavendish in existence? Don't all the other Cavendish varieties put out much larger fruit?

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

No fruit. I doubt it'll ever successfully fruit for me. It hates my cool winters and dies back. Sure looks and acts like a Cavendish. Super Dwarf Cavendish also doesn't make full-size fruit.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Bump

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I have something I bought from one of the larger banana growers out of Hilo Hawaii that was labeled Landyfinger. So far it looks pretty much like a Williams or a 1st generation Double Mahoi. No fruit yet after 15 months. Wide open petioles. I'm guessing it is just mislabeled, but the particular nursery had only Ladyfinger from this grower, so who knows. I guess I'll see once it ever fruits.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I bought an SDC from a local source and it looks very similar to these "dwarf ladyfingers." It could be an SDC but its almost 4 feet tall after 6 months in the ground. Other SDC's I've owned pupped like crazy after 6 months but these pups are super tiny still. I'll post a pic shortly.

I wonder if its the same plant.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

I have a dwarf ladyfinger, actually several of them now, that Byron gave me when he was in our town, but I'm not really impressed with them. They really don't do much for me and even though I've had it four years now,I don't feel it's close to blooming yet. I did nearly kill it the first winter, it died down to the ground. It doesn't like our 45 degree temps in the greenhouse, and when I put it in the house where it's warmer, it is a magnet for spider mites, much like the ensete and Siam ruby. I actually have more luck so far with super dwarf cavendish fruiting and carrying over winter.

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Bump

Re: Musa Dwarf Lady finger now in stock and on sale!
 

Four years later, still the same story -- this one has never fruited for me.