CGameProgrammer

These young plants are sold at a nearby nursery as "ice cream" but they're very colorful so I don't think that's what they are? Light pink pseudostems with very pronounced purple leaf midribs both above and below, and the undersides of the leaves are glaucous (pale).

Reminosys

Hard to say when they're still at the vegetative stage of growth, but the archetypal 'Blue Java' wouldn't have the degree of pink on the pseudostem like your friends here. When there's no flower, usually the best you can do is to rule in/out subgroups based on relatively stable traits like the petiolar canal. Abnormalities do sometimes happen from nutrient deficiency, disease, growing conditions, or chance mutations, so those should be kept in mind when trying to narrow it down based on observable traits. For example, sometimes pigmentation will only manifest with enough light exposure.

The likeliest explanation is that it's a 'Namwa' being sold under the name "Ice Cream", as it's rather common to see them pop up on the market with that misnomer. Plenty of mislabeled bananas are rolling around to confuse folks that don't spend inordinate amounts of time staring at them only to make embarrassingly blatant mistakes on the verdict of an ID.

If you're interested in getting a correctly identified Blue Java, best place to start looking for it is among the folks on this forum. Plenty of the old guard of the forum have grown bananas for decades now, and I would defer to their verdict if they share one different from mine.

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CGameProgrammer

Thanks for your reply. I know it's not blue java but all of the pictures I could find of namwah show a much less colorful plant than this one. I don't know which banana varieties have this pronounced light pink color on the stem.

Reminosys

Fair point on the coloration, there's not many complete resources readily available for cross-referencing against. I did go skim through a reference book, and AAB Silk subgroup bananas could be a better match. Would be a pretty egregious misidentification if that's the case, but it really is a doozy to try and identify bananas when they're young.

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Janelle525

This I got from Florida Hill Nursery labelled as 'ice cream' that I'm very sure is Namwa now that it has fruited many times. It is very pink.

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CGameProgrammer

Thanks Janelle, that's clearly the same plant. I assume it lost the pink color as it grew up?

Janelle525

Yes other than a bit of pink coloring towards the bottom of the pseudostem although it isn't always apparent on the outside, in some layers it is.

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Super Dwarf Cavendish, Tall Namwah, Goldfinger, Praying Hands, Raja Pisang, Manzano.

Bananas are herbs12837372

It really does look like my blue javas and they are real ones

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I don’t know why but Bananas just seem so appealing,
it is kind of is making me go bananas!

caliboy1994

Blue Java is mostly green with a waxy sheen but can have some pink on the p-stem under normal circumstances. But often this much pink coloration is indicative of issues with nitrogen and/or phosphorus uptake, especially when coupled with a yellowish green coloration on the leaves. You may want to address that once you get them in the ground/repot. Amending with chicken manure, mulching heavily, and adding some kind of liquid microbial such as compost tea or JMS will help.

Either way, looks to be an ABB or AAB type. It's impossible to say what it is for sure until you get a flower. Would not be surprised if it's Namwah. Better variety than Blue Java in my opinion.

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sddarkman619

Florida HIll nursery was banned from thisd forum,. Do some searching you will see why. That is a tall namwah, he gets his stuff from agristarts as I do. Some of it...but Agristarts calls their tall namwah "ice Cream" and go as far as to say Blue Java which it is NOT.

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sddarkman619

where did you get yours?

Has it fruited yet?

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Janelle525

Yeah I saw all that after I had already purchased from them. So far that was the only one that was wrong out of Dwarf Namwah, Goldfinger, and Raja Pisang. Although the dwarf namwah has been a huge disappointment, I think it was a dud! Has not fruited in 4 yrs. About to get rid of it, already tried moving it. I also have not had any fruit from the dwarf orinoco that I got from wellspring so maybe it's just me. The manzano has also been super hard to get to a good size, that I bought from someone. Maybe it's just my soil!

I think all nurseries selling those Agristarts need to get with the program, correct me if I'm wrong, you may be the only one honest about that.

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sddarkman619

The whole agristarts "ice cream" thing is about money, and thats it.
Most, if not all, big box places don't even know.

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Texas_gal

Mine, also has all that pink coloring. I don't really care what it is. It' is a BEAUTIFUL plant! Time will tell, I guess.