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Old 10-25-2022, 01:17 PM   #5 (permalink)
Gabe15
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Default Re: species that can be crossed

See this thread for a convo on growing bananas in the PNW.

Bananas in the Pacific Northwest?

As for the breeding, elsewhere on this site in posts from the past, I've gone in depth on breeding dynamics. I don't have the time to find any of it at the moment, but try searching the forum.

My short answer however is that what you propose, a quick cycling somewhat cool tolerant edible banana, is probably possible to breed, but you would not be able to breed it in the PNW. You have to breed it in the tropics (or a serious greenhouse facility) in order to utilize the edible parents, or really perform any crosses at all even among only wild species. If you cross only wild species, you'll basically never end up with an edible banana, you must use an edible cultivar in the breeding somewhere along the line.

I am actually actively doing just this project, starting about 18 years ago with potted plants at my childhood home in Colorado. Almost two decades and a masters degree in tropical fruit breeding later, I have a 40 acre banana farm in Hawaii where in addition to fruit production, I continue with my breeding. I've made some progress, but I don't have anything worthwhile to show for it yet. Banana breeding is a slow and tedious process, and requires lots of field space to make directed progress. Check back in another 20 years!
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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.
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