Quote:
Originally Posted by BullShark
Thanks a lot for the excellent info Gabe!
It may be that I'm really most interested in a primitive cultivar. Hybridization is not absolutely necessary for my interests. Chance mutation within a single breed or species is often sufficiently interesting and I am a fan of rare or unusual crops and livestock. I don't mind taking some time and spending some money in the quest, especially since I already have some bananas to tide me over.
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If its random mutation you are waiting for, then it really doesn't matter what banana you grow, edible or wild, because there is always a chance that the suckers can deviate from the mother thru somatic mutation, this is part of the reason why there are so many different edible bananas even though they are not able to sexually reproduce effectively. I think the odds of finding a somatic mutant have been calculated to be about 1 in ten million (just going from memory, I don't have the book with me right now where I remember reading that). Over thousands of years with millions of farmers around the world, many selections have been made and now you can but them at nurseries. There is always the chance that you will find a mutant among your plants, I've seen them, but its not something to count on.