i want to grow a couple banana trees but there are so many types and i dont know which ones to choose? i need some suggestiones. double mahoi looks pretty cool.
which banana do i choose!!!!!!
The Hawaiian Mahoe (twin) Banana requires a lot of care compared more common cultivars, such as Dwarf Cavendish, Brazilians (Hawaiian Apple), Bluefields, Red Spanish, etc.
You need to work out what you want them for, or what effect you want to achieve..
There are so many varieties different heights, colors so you have to decide what you want it for. do you want a fruit bearing variety is strictly ornamental. you are in Ca. so you can grow any variety.I have at least 15 varieties and most of them except for the Chinese yellow goes to the garage during winter. Good luck!!! Belle
Some take cold better than others, Cody is in Morgan Hill which is northern California and they can get frost there. I had one of the Manzana types, small, red, sweet fruit, next to the filter at a pond near Palm Springs in the southern California desert. It grows well, loves all the water and fish poop from the pond filter draining, and it blooms and produces fruit but it has never ripened. I think by the time it sets the fruit the nights are too chilly for it to form well. I've tried removing it and putting it in a bag in the garage but it still didn't ripen. I don't live there but it is at a friend's house that I landscaped and I just was talking to her last night and she said it has fruit again but by now the nights are chilly.
oh i guess i should have been more specific with what i want. lol. i want fruit! not an ornimental.
--extranjera
iv seen a couple trees bearing fruit around town but come to think of it iv never seen them turn yellow. the nights get pretty chilly here.we get frosts around jan/dec but it only lasts during the night and warms up a little during the day. but anyhow i still want to try to get fruit from one and i was thinking about trying 2 different types. ok so now thats all cleared up...i need some suggestiones!
I have a praying hands banana and it is wonderful. The leaves seem to be a tad bit broader than most bananas i have seen and although mine is too young to fruit, they say it's fruit has a slight taste like vanilla ice cream.
You should go for a dwarf variety in a pot so you can move it inside when the weather gets cold. I remember seeing some small (less than head height) bananas fruiting many years back. I was told they were dwarf cavendish. I'd only ever seen the larger cavendish. This was right up in the tropics so I don't know what their cut-off point is when it comes to cold. Cut off bunches of bananas need to be fairly close to ripe to properly complete their ripening.
dankistner-
i was looking at the praying hands banana too. that looks pretty neat.
tropicbreeze-
i also have alot of room on my patio to grow something and that dwarf cavendish looks like it would fit nicely.i've also heard of a banana that ripens in 3 months. is there such a thing???
My father had a banana for many years. He lives in about the equivalent of USDA zone 10, but his fruit would only start to develop after the summer was over. He only ever got less than finger sized fruit before it got too cold. The problem is that it takes the plant a while to rev up to where it starts to develop the flower. By the time the flower emerges it's already late into the season. By the time the flowers have finished so has the season. And just the fruit itself needs a long time to fully develop.
They are really hard to find but the Viente Cohol will fruit in a much shorter time, as little as 6 months. This gives the grower in cooler areas a chance to actually get fruit.