bananoloco

I am curious as to what others from this area have determined to be the best varieties for reliable fruiting in East Tennessee?

My own experience has been that the mysore has been my champion with the orinco, ice cream close behind. I start them in May of the first year with the target of flowering in June and July of the second year. This year I was 5 for 5 with the Mysore and I am going to broaden my trial to about 15 next year to see if I can duplicate the results.

I have read much about the Dwarf Brazilian but have never tried it. Does anyone know if there are there are any varieties that perform better here ?

mskitty38583

i dont know about the fruiting aspects of he dwarf red, but the one i have ( thanks kylie) is doing awesome in a pot. im hoping to plant it outside next may and see how it does. my saba and oronico have grown huge in the summer ive had them.

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bigdog

Well...haven't tried the Mysore, but I just got a nice pup not too long ago from a member here (thanks!). I have Orinocos as well, and they seem to be pretty reliable for me. This year I got 2 blooms, but both of them got knocked over by my neighbor's Red Maple tree that fell down in a windstorm and crushed most of my garden. This will be the first year I haven't had ripe bananas to eat in the fall in several years (bummed). I have Dwarf Orinoco as well, but it flowered really late last year (like in September). I could have a couple of flowers next year, hopefully. My 'Cal Gold' didn't overwinter nearly as well as my Orinocos do, but it did come back from the main pseudostem. Raja Puri and Ice Cream have been failures (pseudostem rots out more times than not), as has Sweetheart, Dwarf Lady Finger, and Goldfinger (so far, the jury's still out on this one). I have a nice Dwarf Brazilian coming along, but probably won't get a flower next year, unless it's very late in the year.

You should look into getting a Veinte Cohol. Do a search on this forum for it, and find out what the buzz is about. It's a short-fruit-cycle banana, ripening a bunch in 45-60 days. A couple of others to try are Senorita and Pisang Berlin (although they aren't exactly the easiest bananas to find!). Dwarf Namwah may be another cultivar to try.

RobG7aChattTN

Hey Frank, did you try to overwinter the Raja Puri indoors? I had the same problem with the pseudostem rotting out. I thought I might try to overwinter it indoors this winter, but I haven't heard if they handle this well. I'll probably try it anyway since if it doesn't fruit then it is just like a basjoo that dies down to the ground. I overwintered the Orinocco's last year (and the year before) but they too died to the ground. I think I'll try to bring them in as well since they actually do well this way (as I have heard from you and others).

bananoloco

Just to clarify...I was talking about overwintering in my garage which never goes below 40 and usually stays around 50 during the heart of winter as opposed to the crawl space or in the ground.

Sorry to hear about the garden crushing incident...I lost one of my good mysore bunches in July to a storm because I was too lazy to support it beforehand. Fortunately, I learned my lesson and my others are well supported now.

Thanks for the tips on the other cultivars...I must say that I have never heard of those. This Veinte Cohol sounds awesome.

modenacart

What kind of protection have you used?

I have only had good luck with orinoco. Raja puri, saba and goldfinger have not done well for me at all.

bananoloco

No protection, I dig them up right before the first freeze and put them out for the 2nd year in April. Originally I tried overwintering in the ground with mulch and only orinco and mysore were consistently able to survive but both were greatly weakened and I never could get fruit.