sputinc7

A big thank you to Nick Naranja for having me as his guest to finally get to try a few varieties, including the GM I have been wanting to try.

I find the GM to be an excellent variety of the "Banana flavored" type. They took almost a week to ripen, but we are eating them now. Great flavor and texture. I, like many others, find them better on the greener side of ripe. They are kind of like Cavendish on steroids. Thick hides, too. A couple had what looked to be a big bruise on the outside, but not a trace on the banana itself.

I found them a bit of a let down, though as he also gave us a partially ripe bunch of Paggi, which I found very delicious, delectable, wonderfully flavored as well as scented. (Did I overdo it, there?) They were the best bananas I have had so far. Very fruity, with what I call hints of raspberry and lemon and maybe a little strawberry in there with a small amount of banana-ey flavor, too.

One downfall, though... About the time they are nearly ripe and ready to eat, the fruit just falls off, breaking at the top of the fruit revealing the open top of the banana. Add to that the fact they also turn to mush when bruising, even slightly and they need to be handled with great care... but the taste is worth putting up with all that. Besides, I found myself waiting for one to fall off so I could eat it! I strongly recommend the variety.

Mysore were sweet and a bit tart, my wife's favorite. (Me and the kids liked the Paggi much more.) Small though. Reminded me a lot of the Brazilians I grow.

On a scale of 1-10, where 1= "I'm gonna barf" and 5 is Cavendish and 10= eat till you pop cause you just can't stop I rate Mysore about 7, GM about 8 and Paggi 9, or more.

Blue Java and 3640 are now top of my list to try along with Namwah.

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Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.

meizzwang

anyone know the cold tolerance of Paggi?

Tytaylor77

I moved mine out of the greenhouse in March with the rest of my bananas to plant. It took the winter BAD! Looked horriable. I figured it would take off like everything else. It didn't! I figured it was stuck so I cut it. Nothing. Cut it again. Nothing. Finally about 3 weeks ago pulled it out of the pot. Roots were not bad but no new ones. I was worried I would loose the current grow point so I cut to the corm and all roots off and stuck it in coarse sand. its goring again. About 6" tall about to unroll its leaf. It was a big corm thanks to Steve. Not for sure it was the cold or it doesn't like me. Haha. I'm happy it's alive. How is yours Steve? Did it handle winter well?

Steve also I read awhile ago if you fertilize with too much nitrogen after flowering it can turn some or all of the fruit black! Not sure if that was the problem or not just wanted to share the info.

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sputinc7

I covered mine with some boxes taped together on the coldest nights, but even then the leaves suffered pretty bad. It grew back pretty quick between cold spells, though. I would say Paggi is not very cold hardy, but it was so young it's hard to say definitively HOW cold hardy it may or not be. Ask me again in a year...
As for the fruit turning black, it seems to be something that "gets inside" the bunch. My last bunch was doing well, filling in good. Then a varmint bit into a couple and there was a discoloration that began spreading which caused the top hand to ripen prematurely, so I cut the bunch, which seemed to halt the spread, but it was still pretty early. The fruits did not ripen properly. They darken from the flower end before ripening fully.
With the other two bunches I lost, I had cut the bud and the problem seemed to begin at the cut with a discoloration followed by blackening. Blossom or cigar end rot maybe... But why would it not affect uncut bunches? (The one developed normally until the vermin bit it.) Why would it travel inside the plant yet when cut there is no discoloration inside the stem of the bunch or the PS? How did I get it? I had no problems like this before the hurricane last year. It's a conundrum to be sure, one I hope doesn't spread to other plants. I just can't believe nobody else has had this...

It is frustrating. Aggravating. Maddening...

__________________

If you lose your head and give up, you neither live nor win.

https://sputinc7.wixsite.com/covwc

Varieties I supposedly bought: Manzano, Cavendish, Blue Java, Sweetheart, and Gros Michel.
What it seems I actually have: Brazilian, Cavendish, Namwah, Dwarf Red, Gros Michel, Pisang Ceylon, Veinte Cohol and SH 3640, and American Goldfinger. FHIA 1, Paggi and FHIA 17... Always room for one more.