Gabe15

When I originally ordered this plant, I got it because it said that it leaves did not tear in the wind. It's finally big enough that a clue to this interesting piece of info is showing. If you look at the leaves, you will notice they look oddly smooth and flat, they lack the raised venation common on banana leaves where the wind usually tears them. I haven't put this one in the wind to test and don't plan to be able to for awhile, but I thought it was interesting enough to share. Whether or not it can live up to this claim, I think it has unique look.

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

bikoro child

looks really great is it an Xfile banana? huhu...

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Ivan

Chironex

Wow Gabe, such a beautiful banana! Just added it to my list of "Must Haves". Where did you order it? I would like to know more about it, like edible fruit, seeded or sterile......
Thanks for the pics, too.
Oh, I see at the bottom it saying cooking banana. But I would still like to learn more about it. Where were they discovered?

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Scot

Gabe15

It's from Papua New Guinea, I got it from the ITC a few years ago.

Page from the Papua New Guinea Musalogue, Bioversity Intl. 1997.

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

Tropicallvr

That's a cool sleek looking aerodynamic leaf!

pharazon

Will be very interested to see the results of your test, when you get around to it!

harveyc

I think it is defective as it will show water spots too easily. You better get rid of it. Still have my address??? A typical afternoon/evening here of "delta breezes" consists of winds 15-20mph, so I can test it!

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tarheeldiver

Hey Gabe
I'm going to be flying thru Honolulu on my way to the Kona to do some diving sure wish my flights were not so tight as I would sure love to see your banana plants.
Any good places to see bananas or get some plants on the big island and can these be transported back to the mainland?

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Dean W.

Gabe, thanks for the info. Sounds interesting.

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Gabe15

You can bring plants back to the mainland, just make sure you wash off all the soil. To see banana plants, just look out the window as you're driving, they are everywhere! You can look up some nurseries or if you something you like, try to find the owner and ask for a pup. I'm not too familiar with Big Island, I've only been once, but am going again in a week and should get a better idea of the good spots for bananas.

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

Bananaman88

Gabe,

I'll look back through my photos from when I was on the Big Island and see where all I went. Kauai was by far, in my opinion, the better place for plants out of the two but if I come across anything good from the BI I'll let you know.

Bananaman88

OK-I checked out photos and we went to World Botanical Gardens on the Big Island. There is an awesome water fall there called Umauma Falls. It is a 3-tiered fall and is beautiful. I don't see any pics of bananas in our album but I do have a cool pic from there of my wife standing in front of either a huge Philodendron or Monstera. There were alot of orchids and heliconias there too but I can't seem to find a single photo of a banana. I'm sure they had some, though. We went by the National Tropical Botanical Garden, but decided not to pay to go in. I think it was like $20 ea and we'd already spent a lot of $$. Personally, I'd have rather gone to the NTBG than World Bot. Garden, but it didn't happen that way. Maybe next time.

Have you been to Smith's Tropical Paradise on Kauai? We went there while waiting to catch our boat up to the fern grotto. STP was pretty cool as was the fern grotto. The hike bach to the grotto is pretty much through the jungle with lots of cool plants to see along the way such as heliconias, philodendrons, anthuriums, bananas, etc. I don't recall going to any nuseries while we were there, but I'll be sure to check into that the next time we go.