My new Gros Michel bananas
 

I was so excited when the mail truck stopped in front of the shop. I actually jumped up and down and clapped. Probably amused the mailman greatly.

Here's a picture of the AWESOME packing job done by the most excellent sddarkman619 !!

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Meet Ana and Nab!! I potted them into 3 gallon pots to give them plenty of room!

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So pleased!! Thank you sddarkman619! I promise to baby them and adore them and coo at them. :08:

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

Ban-Ana :) I like it

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

Looks great!!! He sent me 2 back in April... One died a few weeks later, the other is slow, but strong as an ox...

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

April 10...


Today...

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

Wow!! *shows picture to Ana and Nab* Now you two grow big like your cousin!!

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

As a reassurance that I am indeed taking good care of little Ana and Nab, here's a updated picture!

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Just a tad bigger than when they were first potted! They had been shaded by the nonBlueJava that is getting so huge(it's taller than me!) and when I moved everyone around a little to keep the nonBlueJava's newest leaf from draping against the wall, Ana and Nab got into more sunlight and they LOVE it, and jumped up a lot in just a few days.

Very pleased with them. I keep them near the nonBlueJava so they will be encouraged to grow big and strong like it!

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

you know i bought some of these Gros Michel here in thailand mine are all growing great but do not have any of the coloration on the leaves.

Any one have any ideas why no color like that on leaves.

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

Thaibanana,

The colouration shows up mostly on young leaves of "water shoots". It tends to be absent on larger plants. There are also many varieties of "Gros Michel" and there would be expected variation.

shannon

shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

There are also many varieties of "Gros Michel? I thought there was only one Gros Michel from looking them up on line it does not say anything about varieties.?

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

Thaibanana,

LONG EXPLANATION: Under swidden ("slash & burn"/ "slash & plant") cultivation of the last few thousand years; when a "new" cultivar appeared, I believe it was usually the crossing of a previous cultivar (pollen donor) with a fertile seeded type (egg donor).

In the native range of Musa, "wild" bananas spontaneously appear on tropical regrowth after abandonment of swidden plots. Viable Musa seeds often exist for years in the "soil seed bank" there waiting for appropriate "trigger" signals for germination.

This is, after all, one of the prime Musa acuminata life-cycle strategies.

Hypothetically, when a peasant horticulturalist discovered a "new" seedless Musa in the field on or near his/her plot it was saved and vegetatively propagated - because, of course, seedless bananas, don't usually bear viable seed. Modern "civilised" horticulturalists do this today; and certainly peasant and primitive horticulturalists do this too (from my experience speaking with, and observing them).

But this is only the beginning! The vegetatively propagated varieties mutate on their own; and many "somaclonal variants" of that one clone would come into being and be recognised and saved with time.

Farmers looked then (as we do now) for nice new qualities emerging in a mutant clone: things like disease resistance, plant size, ease of cultivation, favourable fruit quality, curious characteristics (e.g., Pisang Seribu - "Thousand Fingers") and such.

So Gros Michel has varied in plant and fruit size, ripening characteristics, bunch shape etc.

Even in places where Gros Michel was of recent introduction, e.g., Jamaica (<200 years?), somaclonal variants have emerged and were selected.

So while there is "one" Gros Michel in terms of the fertilisation event that produced the ancestor plant; there are definitely varieties within the group.


Sorry for all the words.



shannon


shannon.di.corse@gmail.com

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

I just bought this one too tissue culture happy growing!!

Re: My new Gros Michel bananas
 

I have GMs of about the same size and it is like looking at their twins!