Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I can probably get in trouble with a certain member here for saying this. Objectively speaking, under that premise, excepting for the reputation of the vendor, the same could be said about CA Gold. Both vendors claim that they got their original plants from around the same area in TX. Both describe their plant as dwarf, can withstand cold temperatures, and edible. The only difference is one has independently established his credibility, and the other only thinks he has.

I can say this about TX Star: I've heard about it at least 10 years before I heard about CA Gold. Matter of fact, the first time that I heard about CA Gold, I was skeptical, but soon was convinced by the TV footage of his "plantation." When I heard about TX Star, Al Gore had not yet invented the internet, so I could only rely on their ads and occasional newspaper/magazine clips. So, I don't think that TTN is necessarily a copycat.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

For what it's worth; In the 70's I had a business importing aquarium fish, and selling them to pet shops. In 1977 we moved into this house. I liked it, because the property was large (as per New York City standards) and I could keep my fish stocks right here. When we moved here, there were some Azalea bushes here. I took cuttings and rooted them. However, I didn't know the names of the varieties. Then I saw, in American Nurseryman magazine an ad from someone in North Carolina, offering rooted cuttings of named varieties of Azaleas. I figured it was just as easy to grow named varietis, as unnamed, so I bought some. Rooted cuttings was all they did, but then I got a letter saying they had planted any unsold cuttings in 3 gal. pots, to use as stock plants, but were overstocked, so they were selling the stock plants really cheap. I bought a trailerload. In the meantime, I was a Navy Reserve transport pilot, and anytime we went someplace warm, I'd bring my fish traps, and catch some of my own. One day, while sitting on a stream bank, in Panama, waiting for something to get in my trap, I noticed many palm seedlings growing. (This was the time, when there was a house-plant craze), and many stores (short lived) opened selling just these. I decided I could sell some of the palms, so brought them back. These things got me started in the plant business.
Then, approx. thirty some years ago, my wife's boss invited us to spend a couple of weeks at their vacation house, in St. Lucia. While there, we met many people, as they knew everyone. (Wife's boss and his wife were both MDs). Met some of the locals, and asked about the bananas. Was told they were Gros Michel, and got to bring a couple of corms back with me. Had to give them up, when they started to push the tiles out of the suspended ceiling, in our playroom.

However, at that time, I saw an ad from TY-TY, offering several different Azaleas, that I did't have, for a very good price. I ordered the Azaleas, and added a couple of things else, like a filbert & some others.
I got the order, and there was no Azaleas (they said they were sold out) and the filbert certainly did not produce nuts like they said it would. It looked like some little wild thing that they had dug out of the woods.
So, needless to say, nothing ordered from them again.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Mario,
Thank you. The name "TX Star", as I explained earlier to Jack, was coined by TTN. I've seen other vendors use that name on their bananas, but they have no connection with TTN, so there is no way know if they are, in fact, the same plant, except in the case of one that I have, if it fruits and the TTN TS fruits, then I can compare them. Cold hardiness appears to be the same. Maybe a little better than CA Gold, even.

Regards,
Chong

PS. For Figs, have you checked out Jon's(Pitangadiego) site "We Be Bananas"(Figs4fun)? Great stuff!

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Chong, you continue to make a reference to getting in trouble with some member here. Such vague comments reminds me of some other member who no longer posts here. This just causes more confusion and is more likely to cause trouble than saying what you're thinking, IMO. If you're talking about Jeff Earl, he doesn't ever bother to visit here unless I happen to mention something to him that he might want to comment on (like when he had an auction running last year under his new eBay ID and Taylor questioned if it was really Jeff Earl). I'm going to visit Jeff Earl tomorrow to pick up a LHI banyan and check out his big flowering Mauritius lychee, but wouldn't bother to mention any discussion about speculation of the Texas Star and Cal Gold being the same.

To the best of my memory, Jeff hasn't said what part of Texas he got his original Cal Gold from. I remember it was mail order, before Al Gore invented the Internet, and was some old Mexican guy that didn't have a name for it. Jeff's comments are posted in some old thread which I've linked here before if you really feel inclined to see what he says about it. Also to the best of my knowledge, he's never bought a Texas Star from Ty Ty. Maybe I'll give him one if I get enough pups this summer.

You've made a comment here that Texas Star might be a little more hardy than Cal Gold. On what do you base this statement? I've never read of anyone growing them both and comparing them. I plan to do that but on a small scale with no statistical significance, but will make some comments about them when the time comes.

Just be happy, warm weather is here! :D

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Probably based on availability of plant matter and customers..lol.....

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

That's not what I said, exactly.

That's not what I said, or even implied, either.

I will post some side by side pictures after I take them.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I'm already looking forward to seeing this pictures. Musa 'Texas Star', Musa 'Calfornia Gold' and other musaceae family members showing high resistnace to cold and/or frost is interesting enough for me.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Here's a photo of TX Stars and CA Gold. I just took these outside to do a side by side photo shoot:

L to R: TX Star from Ty Ty Nursery, CA Gold, (Next 3) TX Star from TX. Taken 05-22-2009.

As stated earlier, the TX Star from TTN was set immediately next to the sliding door to the house, but still inside the greenhouse. The CA Gold, and the 3 TX Stars from TX were located in the middle of the greenhouse, approximately 5-feet from the exterior glass. There is a 750-watt oil-filled heater between the CA Gold and TS from TX.

For further comparison, here's a Dwarf Orinoco that was smaller than the CA Gold when they were transferred to the greenhouse in late October:

As the photo depicts, this plant about 18-inches from the West glass and 2.5-feet from the South glass. The 750-watt heater, mentioned above, is 12-feet away to the East. The wall of the house is 3-feet from the railing to the right of this picture. Leaves that are showing on the right of the photo are from the Cinnamon Tree (Canela) that I bought for $14.98 last early December from Lowe's.

Peace, Bro' . . . . . .

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I asked Jeff Earl today if he had ever tried growing Texas Star and he said he hadn't. He said he got his banana from Texas in the 80s and it was over 10 years after that before he had heard of Texas Star. I haven't grown Dwarf Orinoco (I would have except Wellspring sent me a mystery banana instead, though I was very happy with the quality of the fruit which was harvested in late December, just 4 months after flowering), but many others have grown it and have reported that California Gold has fruited for them much more reliably.

I don't believe comparing potted bananas is a reliable way to compare most bananas as watering is more variable, etc. I also think you need to take a banana to fruiting to make a meaningful comparison.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Sorry to sound jealous but it seems we just dont have any specialist nana nurseries here in Oz.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I've been growing bananas at home here in Seattle since the early 70s. I can assure you that I've read about TX Star since the 70s. Whether or not Jeff has known about TS in the 70s or the 80 or the 90s is really irrelevant to me, or this discussion, because I've acknowledged, time and again, that they appear to have "discovered" their booties independently. I have never claimed one or the other "discovered" their plant ahead of the other. Only that I learned of, and was interested in, TS as early as the 70s. I've only learned about CG in the early 2000s. If you say that Jeff only learned about TS in the 90s, what that tells me is that that's when he heard about it. Just as I'm saying that I learned about TX in the 70s. Also, if I were to believe, and I do, your statement that Jeff got his banana in the eighties from TX, leads me conclude that TTN found TS ahead of Jeff's "discovery" of his CG. Beyond that, I make no further conclusions.

Harvey,
You asked me where I based my statement that it would appear that the TS was a little more cold hardy than the CG because you believed no one has ever done a side by side comparison. After I gave you my basis, you now state that you don't believe potted bananas is a reliable way to compare most bananas, and introduced another parameter in your challenge, i.e., "watering is more variable . . . . . needs to . . . . fruiting, etc." I thought you were asking my basis for why I thought one was a little more cold hardy than the other, and nothing about fruitfulness, or superiority of one over the other.

Given the description I wrote that the TS's from TX and the CG were in the same area of the greenhouse, and the TS from TTN was 3-feet to the North of it in the same greenhouse, would it not be safe to assume that when one plant is watered the others in the same area would also be watered? It appears to me that you have a preconceived idea, based on your belief, on how these plants are supposed to behave, and when shown otherwise, you have to say that there may be other influences to make that happen the way they did. Okay. All I'm saying is that this is what I have. It may be a fluke. But it is what it is, at least for these plants. I have stated before that I do not agree with the adage that "Seeing is Believing". Rather, to me, "Seeing is knowing". It doesn't mean that I don't believe in anything. Rather, it means that I do not have to see it to believe in it, and when I see it then that's what I know.

Since we're talking about production, and I have not had any of either variety produce any fruit, I believe you. But I'm hoping that they both would produce well for me (if ever).

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Chong, you're excessively argumentative so, in your own words, please chill. Maybe you just needed more sleep.

I mention Jeff's knowledge about the Texas Star just because I asked him if he had ever tried growing it. By the time Jeff had heard of Texas Star he was more than satisfied with his California Gold. That's it. NOTHING MORE! Okay? Don't get into a pissing match over the comment.

Fine, you gave the basis for your comparison and you think for some reason its off limit for me to discuss it??? I explained why I think more is done to compare these varieties besides plants in pots. Hopefully, you can fruit them one day outside.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Guys, don't argue, we are here to help each other, not get crazy over some statements.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

like i said earlier i can aquire a fruiting size "tyty tx star" corm for each of you. by using my idea that i posted earlier. this is the only way you can really say you have the "ty ty tx star". you two can each do your own separate tests. i dont know who has a california gold mat and want to give a few large corms.

i would love for the two of you to have big corms in the ground and do the tests. its the only way to settle it . lets do this . i have lots of space here i can also grow the two here just to make sure its unbiased. you two will have to finance the corms first of course. i could start with only a small sucker and grow it in the ground. you two should give it hell. if anything should ever happen to your corms during testing you can always get one from me anytime(i hope to establish a mat).

let me know something soon..now is an ideal time to start. the weather is perfect not too cold or hot.:nanadrink:

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

The amazing thing is that there are so many different species of bananas (a plant that is primarily propagated vegetatively by corm divisions). I have seen the same banana species look very different under dissimilar soil, climate, precipitation conditions, etc.,

Anyway, the board is amazing in that we all get to experience the wide variety of species growing under such a diverse range of conditions. I am hoping to see Fehi growing in French Polynesia next month.

:bananas_b

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Agreed, Chris! Bring me a pup of that Fehi if at all possible. ;)

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

How would I go about getting a Texas Star' TyTy will not ship to ca. Thanks

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Tony, see Ronald's comments above, he has offered to get one from Ty Ty for us that want one, though I've got some that should be headed my way this summer from another source. :)

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

tony if you want one i can get you a fruiting sized one as soon as you cover all the the costs. i will make sure i see them take it from the mat. so there is no doubt that its whats its supposed to be. if you order by mail its a crap shoot ill tell you that now.

maybe they ship what they have in reach if they dont feel like going into the elements and digging?? i think its more laziness than really trickery with that bunch.:bananas_b

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I will take you up on the offer.I don't need a fruiting size one though. One of the small corms is all I need.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

ok,hypothetically if i got enough serious people wanting tx star i could probably get 1 gallon pups shipped to their door for $25 ..you get exactly what you want.their minimum shipping cost is $20.00 no matter what you order.

there will probably be people thinking im making a profit from this?

remember i do have to drive there,watch them get the pup from the mat,and plus ship your stuff to you.this would definately be a one time offer.. :bananas_b

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Sent p.m.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Ronald, it's readily apparent you're offering this as a generous offer to help others. If you make a dime you'll be lucky but it will be well-deserved!

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Hopefully when you go there one of the hott chicks (possibly in a bikini) from the Ty Ty web site pics handles your order.

On a serious note it would be cool to see some "actual" pictures of the place.

:nanadrink:

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I wonder if TyTy would give Ronald a discount if he (or anyone of us) poses as a model in a bikini for their website. :goteam:

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Ha ha..that might result in a price Increase....

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Maybe they just read this forum, find out how and when you order, and depending on what you wrote about them, they will send you the plants. :D ;)

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

if you are reading this thread after o5/26 10:00 e.s.t. then you will be too late to request anything. for all the people who p.m.ed me about the tx star i will do everything in my power to satisfy your request. thanks.

:nanadrink:

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Update?.. Did you get to go by the nursery Ron?

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

See the discussion Ron started at http://www.bananas.org/f2/reliable-s...star-8172.html

In short, he went there and things were a mess.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Good luck with your Texas Star bananas! I ordered some from TyTy years ago and they turned out to be M. Ornata. They did survive several Zone 8 winters with protection but the ones I left in the ground perished this winter in a true Zone 7 winter.

My orders came from TyTy in a timely maner too.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

So what happened with the Texas Stars?

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

well to sum up things without stirring up anything.. it's good to be careful of who you deal with. this applies to buying or trading.. an honest person will at least own up to or offer to make good on mistakes.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

I have 2 Texas Star ? The problem is there's no pic's of this plants flower or fruit.So if mine fruit and turn out to be Orinoco ,did I not get Texas Star or is there no such thing ?
Are there any Photo's of this plant ?

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Texas Star - Banana tree Banana Plants Texas Star Banana tree grows 6-8 ft. tall with tasty, medium size fruit, and produces a sweet flavor. The original trees of the Texas Star banana were obtained from Central Texas. Cold hardy. Approx. 10" to 12" plant with leaves and soil shipped.

TS5 21.95 11.95

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

The Texas Stars that I received from Ty Ty survived the first winter in my unheated greenhouse and in fact did better than the CA Gold that I got from Joe Real. The CA Gold survived as well, just that it died down to the corm and did not resprout that following Spring. The TX Star grew to over 4 ft. before the onset of Winter. Meanwhile, before chucking the corm of the CA Gold, I removed it from its soil and noticed a couple of white spots on opposite sides of the corm. I promptly cleaned it and dried it out before putting it in a mixture of pumice and water gel. After several months, the white spots developed into 2 pups that grew to over a foot each.

The TX Stars, in the meantime remained at the under 5 ft height into the following Winter, and turned brown as the weather got colder. So did my 5 year old Dwarf Orinoco and D. Brazilian that were trailing it in height. I just left them as they were and withheld watering, thinking that it might go into hybernation. That same Winter, I kept the CA Gold indoors and the pups stayed green. As fate would have it, I lost my job and was pre-occupied in job hunting that I neglected my plants. So by the folowing Spring, I had lost most of my plants, including many bananas. The TX Stars, D. Orinoco, D. Brazilians, even the Thomsonii and CA Hardy (it was over 4 ft tall), were just a hole in their respective pots.

The CA Gold was doing great when I moved it to Richland, WA where I'm currently working, but last Summer I slowly placed it to more sunny spot and all the leaves burned frjom the intense Richland sunshine. I brought it back to its original shady spot and they re grew new leaves.

In November last year, the plants ithat I brought with me in Richland were taken indoors in my living room. All this Winter, the CA Gold did great until two months ago, it was infested with spider mites, and they almost whithered away. Several other bananas were infested as well, and in fact died. The 2 CA Golds are still struggling but I think that they will survive.

I had several banana varieties that were left behind in my home in Seattle, and for a while all were doing great. When the temps dipped in the single digits, all but the TyTy Gold that I got from Richard and one !000 Fingers died. Both are indoors in my house in Seattle and are sporting new leaves.

If my work situation becomes more stable, and I can complete my home project in Seattle, I will definitely order several corms of TX Stars from TyTy. That time will probably come when I'm close to retirement. If only I could have retired a couple of years ago. ( Sigh!)

Hope Harvey can give an update on how his TX Stars are doing.

Also, big thanks to Tony for his update. Hope he can get some bloom/fruit this year! Did you get yours from Ty Ty or TX? I tried emailing the source from TX several years ago, but she never responded.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Check this out.

Banana Trees Banana Plants

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Thanks, Tony. It looks like they're selling TC'd plants. But without quoting their source, it's just another Dwarf Orinoco. In the past, they've advertised the D. Orinoco as "sometimes called the 'Texas Star' or the 'CA Gold'. . . . " I notice that they've discontinued selling the D. Orinoco. I also notice that they're also selling CA Gold at cut rate prices. Hope that's not another D. Orinoco TC packaged as CA Gold. It would be nice if it's at least a TC of the actual CA Gold.

I bought their Greenhouse Business book, and I didn't find anything new in it. I'm not complaining. They're practicing what they preach.

I really know of only two sources of TX Star - GA and TX. Unless GB got their stock from either source and TC'd them, I will be skeptical as to whether it's the same as the one from Ty Ty.

Harvey got several pups of TX Star from a grower from UT after I posted his pictures here. The grower indicated that he got his stock from TyTy.

Thanks again.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

My thoughts exactly. He has said in the past that Texas Star and C.G. is orinoco.I think if these were tc of T.S. and C.G. he would ask a higher price.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

But, by golly, I'm just tempted to order a few in the hope that they're the real McCoy! From what I've seen of the pictures of the fruit from Ty Ty and TX, tlhey look very similar to the D. Orinoco and CA Gold. But then so does the D. Brazilian. There may be differences in taste though. I will need to try all of them to tell for sure.

Thanks again, Tony.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Here is what I have as Texas Star.6' p-stem.May bloom this year

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Their adds used to be a lot more risque" than they are now. I did order from them couple of years ago spent way more than 200. I bought 3 varieties of Bamboo and I dont even remember how many varieties of bananas. I dont have any of the bananas and I only have 2 of the bamboos and one is not what I ordered. The bananas did not grow for me but that is the first time in years that my old bananas barely grew also. We have been having summer droughts for the last few years and this is not so normal in this area. Now the bananas did not die they just never go over a foot high.

Re: Surprise Texas Star Banana shipment from Ty Ty Nursery
 

Ty Ty Nursery has literally NOTHING on site. Everything is drop-shipped. They have a 6 acre lot down in Tifton, GA and from what I understand, it's horribly disorganized, they are as rude as they can possibly be, and heck...I posted a comment about them on pissedconsumer.com and I'm currently being SUED BY THE OWNER OF TY TY in Federal Court out of Valdosta (I'm so worried..can't you tell). I've spoken with previous employees and the work conditions are HORRIBLE. The owner CLAIMS to be a grad of Clemson Univ. but conveniently, the alumni office can find nothing on him. DO YOUR RESEARCH before ever ordering from an online company. The website might be spectacular because there's a tech school down the street with students who need side jobs. There are MULTITUDES of websites where you can screen complaints, etc. The BBB is also a good avenue. Trust me..if a plant can be drop-shipped for Ty Ty, it can also be sent directly to YOU. I have YET to want a plant that I can't get my hands on that Ty Ty can. He has purchased multitudes of Google Ad Words so his ads come up first...it's a shame he had to do that, but if he relied on word-of-mouth, he'd be bankrupt.