Musa

[spockvr6]

Does anyone know anything about Musa "Baby Prince"? I saw one at Home Depot today for $2.49 so I bought it. But, I know little of what it will look like when larger, growth habit, etc. Right now it looks like a stout little banana that is kinda "cute".

[spockvr6]

Oops....I made a mistake. The plant is actually called Musa "Little Prince".

[Xavierdlc61887]

i all i know it pups like crazy in the ground as for fruit it will fruit but never seen one ....the fruit is edible...and grows to 2 1/2 feet tall ok well thats all i know about it....not really special about it....only its really compact size

[_Keith]

Oops....I made a mistake. The plant is actually called Musa "Little Prince".

Stokes Tropicals sells them. They are only a mile and a half down the road from me. If they have one in stock, I would be happy to bring you one in exchange for that certain little palm you have offered to me. Least I can do.

http://stokestropicals.com/Files/Product/P...Prince_7786.asp

k

[spockvr6]

Oops....I made a mistake. The plant is actually called Musa "Little Prince".

Stokes Tropicals sells them. They are only a mile and a half down the road from me. If they have one in stock, I would be happy to bring you one in exchange for that certain little palm you have offered to me. Least I can do.

http://stokestropicals.com/Files/Product/P...Prince_7786.asp

k

Keith-

You are welcome to that palm for free.

I already bought a "Little Prince" at Home Depot (and might go back and get a few more). Looks like Stokes wants $19.95 for one....while Home Depot sells them for $2.49!

[_Keith]

Oops....I made a mistake. The plant is actually called Musa "Little Prince".

Stokes Tropicals sells them. They are only a mile and a half down the road from me. If they have one in stock, I would be happy to bring you one in exchange for that certain little palm you have offered to me. Least I can do.

http://stokestropicals.com/Files/Product/P...Prince_7786.asp

k

Keith-

You are welcome to that palm for free.

I already bought a "Little Prince" at Home Depot (and might go back and get a few more). Looks like Stokes wants $19.95 for one....while Home Depot sells them for $2.49!

Stokes is no doubt high priced. I rarely shop there, unless it is for something uncommon here. They sell mail order to an international crowd that doesn't have local sources. You guys are truly lucky in Florida to get the stock you do. Same big boxes here aren't the same inventory by a long shot.

[Tampa Scott]

Larry, I picked up two a couple of weeks ago. I searched the web on info and found that U.F. named it in their top plants in 2007. But on the Garden Web it was "TRASH". I planted my two in part sun as was suggested on a site that gave good remarks.

[spockvr6]

Scott-

Thanks for the tip!

I havent planted mine yet as I havent been sure what the heck to do with it! Apparently, these top out at 2-2.5 ft, so I have to put it somewhere where one can actually see it

I might just put it ina big pot and see what happens with it. I think these pup out fairly readily?

Edited May 2, 2008 by spockvr6

[Tampa Scott]

Larry, I forgot to add that a "SEAWEED FERTILIZER" is recommended.

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

I bought one from the grocery store last spring... it grew very fast to about 4 ft tall.

I planted into the ground...unlike most other bananas... this one languished utill winter when the thing croaked.

My advice... it might make it in So Florida... but it is a strickley tropical plant.

Jeff

[Zac in NC]

I bought one from the grocery store last spring... it grew very fast to about 4 ft tall.

I planted into the ground...unlike most other bananas... this one languished utill winter when the thing croaked.

My advice... it might make it in So Florida... but it is a strickley tropical plant.

Jeff

then this one wasn't a Little Prince. It was something else. Little Prine tops out at 2 feet. It also is a pretty crappy cultivar IMHO. It gets bunchy and really starts to look like crap after a while. I had one for a while, but it caused me more problems than other more normal bananas.

Zac

[Tampa Scott]

Little Prince update. In ground in part sun (more shade than sun) for 6 weeks and doing great. Leaves look really good for a Banana plant, as they have not been torn by the wind.

[spockvr6]

Scott-

Thanks for the report.

Im about to plant a few more of these as Home Depot is now selling racks and racks of them for 99 cents.

Edited June 10, 2008 by spockvr6

[CromulentKevin]

Scott-

Thanks for the report.

Im about to plant a few more of these as Home Depot is now selling racks and racks of them for 99 cents.

They're probably so cheap because bananas grow so many pups. Though I've found I have a hard time actually separating them, so maybe it does make sense to buy them.

[kahili]

A good friend of mine is the one that bred Little Prince ( named for his son). He told me that this is probably one of the few bananas that can really tolerate shade and grow well, if that helps.

Personally, I think that its sort of weird to see a banana mature out at 2'....

[Chironex]

A good friend of mine is the one that bred Little Prince ( named for his son). He told me that this is probably one of the few bananas that can really tolerate shade and grow well, if that helps.

Personally, I think that its sort of weird to see a banana mature out at 2'....

As an avid banana fan, I was so surprised by your post about the origins of Musa 'Little Prince' I would like to know more about it, it's parentage and so on. Can you put me in touch with your friend who developed it via email? mine is skashoon (at) gmail.com Substitute the (at) with @ obviously. Thanks very much.

[kahili]

I'm at Kahili's house and I am the one who developed Little Prince. It is actually a sport from Musa cavendeshii 'Novak'. It appeared when we had some Novak tissue cultured and one of the callus tissue seperated from the rest, and gave rise to 4 plants, and when grown, were noticeably dwarfed. When grown on, they retained their short stature, and after 5 years, were definitively unique. At this point, I applied for a patent and it was granted with no further examination. The plant's chloroplast count in it's cellular stucture are approximately 50% more than the typical Musa and this is what lends its shade tolerance. Also, the leaves are somewhat thicker, similar to Musella, and gives it greater wind resistance. The other positive aspect is that as it pups frequently, it lends itself to a good ground cover in tropical areas because it shades out weeds. It is being used currently in many tropical resort landscapes, such as Club Med, for this reason. Hope this helps and please feel free to give me any feedback on this plant to me at Oasis@nc.rr.com. Thanks, Randy.