lorax

Hi there! I've been fairly successful at ID'ing my other nanners, but these have thrown me.

The "Big" banana is over 18' tall, with the tip of the inflorescence currently hovering about 15' in the air. It only just started blooming yesterday. I suspect it of being a platano (plantain) by the tree height and bloom size, but one of its followers (a 6' tall pup) recently finished throwing dessert-style maduros (classic bananas) which I have hung in my shed to ripen up.

The "Little" banana is a hair over 8' at the tallest leaf tip; the top of the bunch is about 6' up. It's been going about 2 weeks, and there are close to 150 bananas on the bunch already. I'm a bit alarmed, since it's tipping the tree over, and so I'm going to cut the flower off tonight (and eat that) to prevent it from over-producing and breaking the trunk. Then I'll prop up the plant and hope for the best.

Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

lorax

I don't think that either of them is Cavendish or Gran Nain, and I've also ruled out Basjoo. There's no redness at all on new leaves.... I suppose I'll have to wait for the fruits to mature.

Gabe15

The smaller one looks to me like its definetly a Cavendish variety, a Dwarf Cavendish variety. You can tell by the persistant male flowers and bracts and pseudostem coloring. The large one is harder to say until the bunch is more mature.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

lorax

Thanks for the ID, Gabe; I bow to your expertise!

Here is a photo (taken today) of the flowers and immature fruits on the tall tree; I hope it will help with the ID. However, given that a pup of this tree just finished setting dessert-type fruits, I'm wondering now if it isn't a Cavendish as well.