Musa tropicana

[JLM]

Found a banana plant under the name "Musa tropicana" at the big orange store for $20. It has some thick, deep green leaves. The leaves are very close together. Does it produce good fruit? What is the sun tolerance?  I imagine it's like every other banana and burns at 32F. I tried doing some research on it and never found any good information. I did see something about it being a "Super" Dwarf Cavendish, but i figured i would come to the only place i know that can give the best information before believing it.

P.S: The sticker at HD had an extremely descriptive name of "Green Banana". Yeah, thanks Home Depot. 

[spike]

Never heard that name before. From what I am seeing on the internet it's probably a super dwarf cavendish

[JLM]

  On 5/3/2022 at 2:13 AM, spike said:

Never heard that name before. From what I am seeing on the internet it's probably a super dwarf cavendish

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Thats about the same as what i found. I am slowly acclimating it to sun so it can be planted out in the yard, should be ready to plant by mid June. We shall see what happens.

[JLM]

I may have to just plant it out straight away and hope for the best, everytime the sun hits it the leaves fold. Once its in shade it unfolds and looks normal again. It probably wont be a long recovery process if i just plant it now though since this thing has almost put out half a leaf plus part of another since i brought it home.

[JLM]

It is in the ground and doing great! Its pumping out leaves quickly, but slightly slower than my basjoos which are pumping out 2 or more leaves per week. Since the new leaves are conditioned for the sun it gets, its been showing the purple spots on the leaves which is typical for a super dwarf cavendish.

[Manalto]

I'm keeping an eye on this one because I'm right up the road in a similar climate. In what kind of sun exposure did you plant it? Have you grown edible bananas before? Do you have a favorite variety? (I'd like to find 'Fat Mike' or some other banana which has better flavor than 'Cavendish.')

I've noticed that the big box stores sometimes use generic labels on their plants, such as "tropical foliage" or "succulent." Presumably it cuts down on that tiresome task of properly labeling.

Edited May 30, 2022 by Manalto

[JLM]

  On 5/30/2022 at 11:09 AM, Manalto said:

I'm keeping an eye on this one because I'm right up the road in a similar climate. In what kind of sun exposure did you plant it? Have you grown edible bananas before? Do you have a favorite variety? (I'd like to find 'Fat Mike' or some other banana which has better flavor than 'Cavendish.')

I've noticed that the big box stores sometimes use generic labels on their plants, such as "tropical foliage" or "succulent." Presumably it cuts down on that tiresome task of properly labeling.

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This is my first year of growing any type of banana. It gets full sun from mid day till almost sunset, so pretty much the same exposure my big Queen and Bizzy gets. It acclimated pretty quickly without any leaf burn to my surprise. 

I found these on a rack that had a piece of copy paper that read "Green Banana" at Home Depot, the label on the pot said "Musa tropicana". I could barely find any information on it, other than some sources hinting at it being a Super Dwarf Cavendish. I looked at pictures of these super dwarfs, and now mine looks almost the same as the pictures.

[JLM]

Well we had a wet spell and this thing has put out like 4-6 leaves since the end of June. These dudes love water, and loads of it! 

I know its only mid July and that we still have several months of warm weather left, but i would like to go ahead and start getting ideas for frost and freeze protection. Im sure bananas will be more sensitive when it comes to the added heat source. 

[Dartolution]

We have those in the nursery's here. Its just another name for cavendish. 

Not cold hardy at all and dies down to the ground with temps in the 20s. 

Pretty plant though. 

 

 

 

[D Palm]

Let us know what it does, I’m just east of you. The Blue Java doesn’t die to the ground but this is year 2 of growing…would like bananas faster than every 5-10 years LOL.

May pick one up if it’s a rockstar.

[Foxpalms]

My super dwarf Cavendish banana was labeled as Musa tropicana when I bought it so it's probably that. My one makes lots of banana pups at only around 1ft tall 

Edited July 20, 2022 by Foxpalms

[JLM]

  On 7/20/2022 at 7:14 PM, Foxpalms said:

My super dwarf Cavendish banana was labeled as Musa tropicana when I bought it so it's probably that. My one makes lots of banana pups at only around 1ft tall 

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Mine has probably 5-6 around the base of it right now. All the little pups died right after planting, but they are coming back now and getting bigger. They have the purple spots on the leaves.

[floridaPalmMan]

  On 7/18/2022 at 8:59 PM, JLM said:

I know its only mid July and that we still have several months of warm weather left, but i would like to go ahead and start getting ideas for frost and freeze protection. Im sure bananas will be more sensitive when it comes to the added heat source. 

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I experimented last winter to see if they'd survive without any protection in different parts of the yard.

They were all dwarf cavendish and NOPE.

All dead down to the roots. They've come back but they grow almost twice as slow after rebounding vs a couple newly purchased bananas.

So this year I'm building a banana house!!!

3/4" PVC fittings, 6 millimeter thick greenhouse wrapping, and compost to heat it in the cold months to keep it above freezing so they can produce next summer.

I'll do a post about it later this year more towards the fall.

[JLM]

The leaves have not been unfolding properly recently. The last 2 leaves have tears in them from where the new leaf is still attached to the preceding leaf. I will be fertilizing soon, so maybe that will fix it if its actually fertilizer related.