Well, actually, Momoese (Mitchel) is a lot more experienced than me. I read a lot of his posts when I'm digging for good info! But I do know a few things from the 3 years I've been growin them.
Lorax (Beth) lives, and grows nanners, in Ecuador (home of Chiquita & Dole) & she says Orinocos are the best cooking nanner. Some other members have said the same thing. And lots of members have said that Blue Javas (mostly what I grow) have a taste & texture that's about like vanilla ice cream! If I wasn't stuck in Oklahoma, I'd probably have a lot better luck with them.
BTW, saw your nanner photos
!! Those are beautiful!! I don't know much about Banana Identification BUT there is a section for that, in the list, on the first page of this site. There's also a section there devoted to fertilizers!
And you're right about the soil. For each nanner I grow, I dig a hole about 3' across and 1 1/2 feet deep & fill the hole with a mix of 40% compost, 40% dried oak leaves, & 20% sand. There's lots of mixes you can use, that's just what I use. I give them a good watering then wait till the ground dries up & water them again. Soggy soil can lead to corm-rot. Found that out by experience
. For food, I use a 2-1-3 ratio mix (nitrogen-phosphorous-potash) cause most nanners (especially mine) seem to like 1 1/2 times more potash than nitrogen. But each nanner is a little different so ya might wanna check out the "Fertilizers" section for lots of great info on that!
The site also has Classified Ads, at the bottom of each page, for lots of different nanners & plants of about all kinds. I'd offer you a Blue Java pup, myself, but I already traded or gave all my pups away & the rest are already indoors for over-wintering.
Oh, also, be careful about planting anything near the pine. Pines put toxins in the soil that can kill other plants. However, I grew a 14' Blue Java about 12' away from where our pine tree had to be removed & it did Great!
Thanx for sharing the pics
!!