venturabananas

I'm not sure if anyone in the continental US has a "true" Misi Luki -- i.e., a Mysore type from Samoa. The Agristarts ones, the ones from Pitangadiego (Jon), and the ones from Papaya Tree Nursery are all the Pisang Awak "Misi Luki" from Samoa. Maybe Going Bananas does have the Mysore type Samoan Misi Luki, but I don't know.

David Silber of Papaya Tree Nursery told me that he imported "Misi Luki" many years ago from a guy in New Zealand who got it from Samoa. Presumably, the misidentification was made in Samoa or New Zealand. I would guess that the "Misi Luki" in the trade in the US are all descendants of those original plants brought into California.

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Nicolas Naranja

The link below is average number of fruits in the third hand of 82 varieties.

Accessions with Descriptor and Evaluation

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Gabe15

The 'Misi Luki' at Going Bananas is the Pisang Awak.

If your story is true, it is not incomprehensible that it was mis-ID'd from the start. They are both (Mysore and Pisang Awak) very common bananas all throughout the Pacific (and beyond), and often people are mixing up names, especially on bananas which are superficially similar. People often just consider the fruit, and if they are not experts, then it is reasonable to see how someone could give the wrong name since both cultivars are sweet and small fruited.

It is my experience that unless someone really cares about crop varieties and knows their stuff, then they will mix up names and generalize characteristics very frequently, basically lumping all kinds of varieties under the same name. In the US (especially Hawaii), this is the case of the names "Apple" and "Ladyfinger". To many people, "Apple" refers to both 'Dwarf Brazilian' and 'Brazilian', and also to 'Namwah' more recently. "Ladyfinger" refers to any dessert banana that is smaller than a Cavendish and obviously not "Apple", which encompasses a handful of common varieties.

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floridagrower

Gabe,
Here is my mother plant in 2009. What do you think?

Agri-starts "Misi Luki" = Tall Namwah?

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Bananaman88

No, Gabe, unfortunately, I don't. I only realized it was about to push a bud as I was doing some winter clean up. The bud never fully emerged. We have been so dry here again this year (over 15" below normal) that my bananas aren't going to reach their full potential this year. If it does happen to bloom, I'll be sure to get some photos. So far, I'll I've had bloom are two potted bananas: M. laterita, which is just now in bud, and M. siamensis.

Gabe15

That is definitely a Pisang Awak (Namwah), but maybe not the typical US form. Those persistent male flowers are significant, normally they do not have so many. There also a few other subtle differences, but it's hard to say if its due to the environment or more stable. I think I have seen this form at Fairchild which they have mislabeled as 'Giant Plantain'. I would upload photos but my internet is currently too slow.

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floridagrower

Awesome. I'm finally glad to put this one to bed. Also notable, the leaves are generally more upright.

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Bananaman88

I may try to post a picture of mine tomorrow, though it won't have fruit or a bud to aid in ID'ing.

Richard

Those hands look a lot like mine. Were they 8-fingered?

Also, I'm not at all bummed that I've got a Pisang Awak. Yum!! It's going to be fun watching these ripen.

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momoese

They are tasty when fully ripe!

floridagrower

It was about 8. It flowered at about 10' of stem. Pups heavily and is quite vigorous.

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momoese

14 per hand on mine
Misi Luki Contest

Richard

Yeah, we have the same plant. Zero height to 10'+ and fruit in 15 months with medium size hands and fingers, vigorous in every respect.

If the fruit is not significantly different tasting than Dwarf Pisang Awak (Agristarts Dwarf Namwah) then I will pull the corm. Basically the latter plant is shorter and produces more fruit. As a replacement, I will probably try "Agristarts Pisang Ceylon".

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Gabe15

Here is the Pisang Awak from Fairchild which may be the same form as the Agri-Starts "Misi Luki".

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Bananaman88

Here are some photos of my "Misi Luki" from last summer. Sorry you have to endure the photo of me in one of them.

Gabe15

Brent, that is definitely not a Mysore, and looks totally reasonable for a Pisang Awak. I know you know that by now, but just for confirmation.

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Bananaman88

Thanks, Gabe. Hoping for fruit this year, though it's getting pretty late in the summer to be able to get fully-mature fruit. I'll post here if it does flower so we can all take a look.

Richard

Looks identical to mine.

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Nicolas Naranja

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Richard

Given Gabe's input and the actual fruit I've obtained from these plants its clear that the AgriStarts Misi Luki is a taller, slightly larger fruited version of what AgriStarts has named Dwarf Namwa. So in an effort to identify both the source of the plant and the actual cultivar, I'm considering selling these with the name "Misi Namwa".

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