Ethan

I wanted to join the "cool kids" so I ordered one myself. A very nice plant arrived in a 4" pot, about 1' tall with about 5 nice leaves (have pic at home). Probably stick it in a 1-3gal pot 'til spring, then into a larger one, where it will stay. Does it have any winter hardiness or will need some protection like a cavendish?

thanks for the info and making me realise I NEEDED this banana,
-Ethan

STINKY

Ya I just recieved mine to, from luggee's . A silly question but it is my first nanner , Do you need two of them to produce fruit. Or is one just fine?

MediaHound

one is all you need

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harveyc

You don't need two to produce fine but one is not "just fine." You need at least 20 to gain entry into banana bliss.

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sunfish

THIS MAY HELP. MY PLANT IS SOLID GREEN EXCEPT FOR FAINT PINK OUTLINING THE LEAVES

Clare_CA

You have a beautiful plant there. How old is yours?

sunfish

I am not sure this is one I got from Scot.

venturabananas

Despite my better judgement, since I haven't heard of anyone in California managing to get a Logee's dwarf ladyfinger to fruit, I ordered one anyway. I figured they are cheap enough to fail with and not feel too bad about it.

It arrived yesterday in fabulous shape:
[IMG][/IMG]

(Note universal scale bar, 750 ml wine bottle)

Seems like it must be a tissue cultured plant, but I have no idea what it actually is. I thought I'd take the direct approach and call Logee's and ask them what it is or where they get the plantlets from. The nice lady I talked to clearly had no idea what she was talking about. She told me she thought they (Logee's) produced them on site from cuttings. At that point I could tell I wasn't going to get a reasonable answer and thanked her and hung up.

Anyway, it is a cute little plant and I'll try to baby it through our winter (he says snickering, thinking of those of you in parts of the world that actually get really cold in winter). But it surely isn't the tropics here, which is what I'd guess this plant probably needs.

Anyone in California manage to fruit this variety?

Anyone know what these "dwarf ladyfingers" actually are? I know there was speculation that they are dwarf nino, but folks who have both say they are different.

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venturabananas

I guess since no one is biting, I'll have to reply to myself...

Seriously though, I did find out more about the origin, if not identity, of the Logee's dwarf ladyfinger.

I emailed Logee's customer service, asking what this banana variety was or where they got it. A nice guy name Byron gave me the following answers:

"I don't know the it by another name. It came to us from Hawaii about 15 years ago as a sample plant under its present name. We do the tissue culture here at Logee's."

So, yes, they are TC plants, but not from Agristarts as some had suggested, implying that they really aren't dwarf nino, as was suggested. We'll probably never know what cultivar they are unless some motivated grad student decides they just have to know the answer and does the DNA work.

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Botanical_Bryce

Bump

venturabananas

Some sort of tissue culture induced mutation of Dwarf Cavendish would be my guess. Not a plant I would recommend.

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robguz24

If they're the same one being sold out of Hilo, HI then I'd avoid them. A very small cavendish type with fruit that doesn't fill out properly. Fruits under 3 feet. I'm ripping mine all out.

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My micro-farm

Stay on my Big Island banana farm cottage

venturabananas

Right, supposedly they did get it from Hawaii, so it might be exactly the same thing.

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Little Belle

I just joined this forum - today. I would like to purchase another Dwarf Lady Finger from Logee's, but they are sold out. Based on all the reading I have been doing on this forum, it seems like the term "Dwarf Lady Finger" is pretty ambiguous as no-one is quite sure what the heck it is. Mentioned on the forum is that it is perhaps a Dwarf Brazilian, or a Dwarf Nino? Has anyone figured out what they are? I would like to purchase one elsewhere if they are the same plants, just sold by another name. Of course, I could wait for Logee's to re-stock, but what fun is that?

venturabananas

I've had a Dwarf Lady Finger from Logee's in a large pot for several years. It has never fruited and dies back most winters -- even though I live in a climate without frosts. Gabe, our local expert, says it is a Cavendish of some sort, likely at tissue culture mutant. (I don't think I'm putting words in his mouth, that's my recollection.) From what I've seen, that appears true -- a very small Cavendish variety. Personally, I wouldn't bother with it unless you have a green house and need a very small plant that probably won't produce much fruit. And if it does produce fruit, they'll basically taste like grocery store bananas, but be smaller.

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