bigdog

First, here's a purple musa from Thailand, only had by a few collectors so far. Wow!



And here's a banana from Thailand with golden variegation. Pretty neat, huh?!

bigdog

Whoops, meant to add: photos courtesy of Hayes Jackson. (thanks, Hayes!)

momoese

Very cool. Put me in the line for pups!

AnnaJW

Awesome!!!

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-Anna Banana -

Living my life in MMORPG's

bananalover

Wow! I love the purple one! Wonder how long it will be till we have a chance at one of those?

bigdog

Yeah, the purple one is pretty wild looking! There are many varieties in Asia that aren't available here yet, these are just a couple. Don't know if the purple one can be tissue cultured or not. A friend of mine sent me the pictures, and allowed me to post them. He just went on a plant-hunting trip to Asia (must be nice!), and took those pics in Thailand. He said that only a few collectors have that one right now. I'd like one too!

sean

sign me up for a purple! gabe, got any info on these?

momoese

I second the request for more info please.

tropicalkid

Keep us posted about availability.

tropicalkid

Gabe15

The secret is finally getting out! For now, I'll just say that the red one is slowly making its way into the US and will probly be available in the next few years, there is more info on it but Im not supposed to talk too much about it Tim is up on this stuff but I bet he's been overwhelmed what with Katrina and all, he's pretty close to the diaster area being in St. Gabriel, LA.

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

momoese

Gabe, can you tell us if the fruit is edible?

Gabe15

Based on a little outside info and my own conclusions, I feel comfortable saying the fruit is NOT edible. Im pretty convinced I know what the plant is and how it came about.

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

TimChapman

The red one is originally wild collected contrary to the idea of some that it is a sport of some edible cultivar. It should be a seeded species. I'd rather not say which island it comes from, but its indonesian from what i've been told... that narrows it down a bit . It'll be available within a year or two at decent prices, maybe by next growing season. I'm working on this and I imagine a few others are as well.

TimChapman

Gabe15

Im about 108% sure exactly what it is and where it came from! And I still want one!!!

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

bigdog

You guys are just too much with the whole secrecy thing ! Darn it, I was going to make a trip to Indonesia and collect a few too. Just kidding, lol. I know it's important to keep locations of super rare stuff like that unpublicized. There are always a few unscrupulous people that would immediately go in and collect all that they could, destroying whatever is in their way along the way. I will patiently await its arrival to the States, wait for the price to go down, and buy one. Any info on its hardiness? I'm guessing not very hardy. That's ok...I have a shovel and a crawl space .

Tim, if it's a species banana, does it come true from seed or is it a mutation? Has anyone tried to tissue culture it yet, and if so, what are the results? It has to be THE most exotic banana that I've ever seen! And nobody's even talked about the other picture...gold variegation. Neat stuff. Wonder what else is out there, just waiting to be discovered? By the way Tim, how did your nursery, house, etc. fare in the hurricane? Hope damage was minimal.

bananalover

Well, I am glad someone explained the secrecy thing, I sure didn't understand, lol. I hope someone can answer your questions though, I sure would like to know.
I will do the same, wait for it to come, wait until I can afford it and get one then. I don't think the yellow one is as nice. Looks like the Namwah Pearl only not as pretty to me. Still if I had a chance to get one of those at a reasonable price that would be good too, lol.
It really does make you wonder what else is out there.

Gabe15

There is lots more good stuff out there!

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

TimChapman

""Tim, if it's a species banana, does it come true from seed or is it a mutation? Has anyone tried to tissue culture it yet, and if so, what are the results? It has to be THE most exotic banana that I've ever seen! And nobody's even talked about the other picture...gold variegation. Neat stuff. Wonder what else is out there, just waiting to be discovered? By the way Tim, how did your nursery, house, etc. fare in the hurricane? Hope damage was minimal.""

I've seen the gold one before, its a bit more "common" ie, available at least. Yellow is not my favorite, but I'd get one. I doubt anyone has info on the seeds etc, but my guess is that it would come true from seed (which for breeding is why I've been soooooooo hot for this thing). Its hardy in indonesia and thailand other than that there is no info.

I faired well thru the actual hurricane, no real damage other than branches and trashed plants. could have been worse. Three of my four scheduled fall talks/sale have already been canceled due to the lack of hotel rooms/conference centers etc. The after effects show up in some obvious and not so obvious ways around here. I live near Baton Rouge and the traffic there is ungodly now. If you've watched the news lately they've mentioned setting up the morgue to process the dead from N.O. ... that is less than a mile from my house and I see it everyday. That pretty much ends any thoughts of being "unfortunate" or upset at anything. I'm alive and have more than enough "stuff" including my health to be complaining. Its a sobering thought to imagine what goes through that warehouse.

That said, i'm still ticked about my M. siamensis breaking (only the taller ones about to bloom) and my chini champa (misspelled, but the blackstemmed indian one) fell over too. It seems to be recovering though. I was worried as its the only one. I had a massive stand of M. hybrid 'lavendar beauty' all in bloom, the leaves were trashed but the inflor.s are still up in the air lookin' good! M. laterita looks completely untouched, surrounded by plants that completely fell over.

Tim Chapman

bananalover

I think that give us some good ideas on wind resistance anyway. Here where I live though we very rarely have any wind, still it was interesting to know. Plus you mentioned some varieties I don't even know but will look into.

Casa Del Gatos

I like 'em!

I'd be interested in both varieties. The purple is spectacular!