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Musa Ingens


ZPalms

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I know I wouldn't be able to grow them to the size they get where they originally come from, and I'm not sure if they can even be purchased, but I had no idea bananas could get that big that my mouth dropped. I'm just curious has anyone else heard of these or have one or had one? Just sharing though because it's pretty awesome and maybe interest others. 🤯

I searched the forum and only seen one person mention them. 🤠

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giant-banana-eating.png.87b5598b960a1fa7f862c97a3bc22b72.png

 

Edited by ZPalms
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I researched it back when I was into big bananas, but found that they couldn't handle Florida hot humid summer nights.  As I recall, they were difficult to sprout from seed and don't cluster profusely like a lot of bananas.  That might explain why it's not grown in a lot of places.

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I would actually try them but how trustworthy would rare palm seeds be if those seeds are actually from musa ingens.

Would be neat to give data based on winter and my spring and summer nighttime lows here are cooler than Florida but still humid so spring and summer would be doable for me but when winter comes around how hardy would the corm be or can chopping the Pseudo stem and mulching over it heavy help get it through the winter. Would be cool to find out

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I say DO EEEET!!!  I quit growing big bananas because they sprouted tons of pups and turned into an unmanageable mess.  But Ingens is a "sparse pupper" so it should be easy to control.

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1 hour ago, dalmatiansoap said:

Just a lot of fake propaganda, don't waste to much of your energy and time on them

I totally agree with you. I´ve tried seeds 3/4 times and nothing!

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I did it! I bought 2 seeds and that's all I need. I'm scared about viability but I won't be too upset if they don't sprout because I also bought Cleistocactus strausii cactus seeds which is common but who doesnt like a good cactus espcially growing one yourself 😍

Edited by ZPalms
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4 hours ago, Bill H2DB said:

  Here is one place that sells the plant itself .  $40 + Shpg.    ............

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174441594599

If they can grow it in Puerto Rico, it can't have too many problems with hot, humid nights!  I guess it depends on the location, but 70F at night in the summer is pretty normal.

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4 hours ago, miamicuse said:

I would like to order a banana split with this banana.

You could make a whole banana pudding with just one. 

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6 hours ago, miamicuse said:

I would like to order a banana split with this banana.

 

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

You could make a whole banana pudding with just one. 

I love a good banana milkshake from dairy queen 🤠

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3 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

I love a good banana milkshake from dairy queen 🤠

A banana milkshake from Checkers brings me there now and then. It hits the spot on a hot day. May the machine be working...

Ryan

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South Florida

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3 minutes ago, Palmarum said:

A banana milkshake from Checkers brings me there now and then. It hits the spot on a hot day. May the machine be working...

Ryan

We have one checkers in my area, I'll have to try it if I'm ever lucky to stop by 😋

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17 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

 

I love a good banana milkshake from dairy queen 🤠

 

12 minutes ago, Palmarum said:

A banana milkshake from Checkers brings me there now and then. It hits the spot on a hot day. May the machine be working...

Ryan

I'm diabetic so I have to be careful about sugars and what not, and this is unrelated to bananas but the Dr Pepper milkshake from Whataburger is totally worth losing a toe. 

 

Also one of my employees is a professional caterer, and her banana pudding is worth losing an entire foot. She won't give up the recipe, but it isn't the liquid crap that everyone is used to. It's a full on baked dessert, and it's like angels spitting into your mouth, it's wonderful. 

 

Sonic used to do a Banana Split milkshake which is dope too. 

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24 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

 

I'm diabetic so I have to be careful about sugars and what not, and this is unrelated to bananas but the Dr Pepper milkshake from Whataburger is totally worth losing a toe. 

 

Also one of my employees is a professional caterer, and her banana pudding is worth losing an entire foot. She won't give up the recipe, but it isn't the liquid crap that everyone is used to. It's a full on baked dessert, and it's like angels spitting into your mouth, it's wonderful. 

 

Sonic used to do a Banana Split milkshake which is dope too. 

when the biblically accurate angel brings me banana pudding 😂

I sadly don't eat banana pudding any more because it upsets my stomach for some reason, but maybe it's because it's just runny and gooey and weird. Baked banana pudding sounds yummy, but I do love cold banana pudding, so hopefully it tastes just as good cold. 😋

Edited by ZPalms
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11 minutes ago, ZPalms said:

when the biblically accurate angel brings me banana pudding 😂

I sadly don't eat banana pudding any more because it upsets my stomach for some reason, but maybe it's because it's just runny and gooey and weird. Baked banana pudding sounds yummy, but I do love cold banana pudding, so hopefully it tastes just as good cold. 😋

I wish she'd come off the recipe but this was light and fluffy and not at all runny or watery like what we're all used to. I've lived in the Dirty South my entire life and all I've known is watery runny crap, but this was God Tier dessert. She catered our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and she just straight up won't budge on recipes. The baked Mac and Cheese and the turkey were epic, too, but those lips are sealed. All I know is the baked Mac And Cheese has Cream of Chicken soup in it. 

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On 1/5/2023 at 12:57 PM, ZPalms said:

I know I wouldn't be able to grow them to the size they get where they originally come from, and I'm not sure if they can even be purchased

You can buy them, but I understand they don't readily germinate and have low germination rates. So they're expensive in banana terms. They're basically cloud-forest plants, which are hard enough to keep alive if they're small, but pretty much impossible if they're tree-size unless you live in a cloud forest.

For @Merlyn, there's always Musa boman, which apparently gets enormous, but comes from the Papuan lowlands and tolerates high temperatures. Might work in Florida, or maybe you've already tried it?

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@PalmsandLisztI hadn't heard of Musa Boman before.  A brief search on the Bananas.org forum shows they can get pretty big at 5' diameter and 30+ feet tall.  Apparently there's something called "bananaswap" run by a guy named Christian.  He seems to be recommended by the forum people for reasonable seed prices and reliable delivery.  Unfortunately a quick google search only found stuff related to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.  But it could be worth looking into for unusual banana seeds.

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@Merlyn I have one but it's still very young and only about 3 feet. I don't know if this species pups a lot but if it does I could potentially send you a pup. The fellow I bought it from I don't think has any plants left but got his seeds direct from New Guinea. I could ask him about this if you wish,

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50 minutes ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

@Merlyn I have one but it's still very young and only about 3 feet. I don't know if this species pups a lot but if it does I could potentially send you a pup. The fellow I bought it from I don't think has any plants left but got his seeds direct from New Guinea. I could ask him about this if you wish,

Are there any photos of this species fully grown?

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On 1/5/2023 at 8:20 AM, Merlyn said:

I researched it back when I was into big bananas, but found that they couldn't handle Florida hot humid summer nights.  As I recall, they were difficult to sprout from seed and don't cluster profusely like a lot of bananas.  That might explain why it's not grown in a lot of places.

This. 

They are a highland banana that requires cool humid temperatures to perform well. 

There are reports of people attempting them in greenhouses, but they eventually succumb. 

I wouldn't bother with it. 

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9 minutes ago, Dartolution said:

This. 

They are a highland banana that requires cool humid temperatures to perform well. 

There are reports of people attempting them in greenhouses, but they eventually succumb. 

I wouldn't bother with it. 

These are certainly worth a try in Leilani Estates/surrounding areas... and pretty not anywhere else on US soil seemingly. 😐

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If the seeds I bought end up being ingens, I hope I got scammed and they are just basjoo seeds because I can provide a stable cool and warm enviroment for it but only to a certain point 😂

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18 hours ago, ZPalms said:

Are there any photos of this species fully grown?

All I can find is this not-very-enlightening photo (assuming it's even correctly-identified):

AFDK6gNhYyIaXKs36e21Z68BkwvtBpFKqoqClp_Q

Obscure giant bananas from New Guinea seem to be something of an online information black hole. Even the available M. ingens photos are few and far between and most look like they've been taken 40 years ago and scanned in at low resolution.

Edited by PalmsandLiszt
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6 hours ago, ZPalms said:

If the seeds I bought end up being ingens, I hope I got scammed and they are just basjoo seeds because I can provide a stable cool and warm enviroment for it but only to a certain point 😂

If hardly any of them germinate, they might be ingens; if you get a normal, relatively high germination rate, it's unlikely. Hope you didn't pay too much for them.

If they are ingens, there's nothing wrong with growing impossible things until you can't, or, alternatively 'crossing that bridge when one gets to it' (I have a lot of such bridges).

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Years ago when Musa ingens seed was being offered, I tried a couple hundred from several batches. Only had 1 germinate. It grew a couple inches tall and died. And it was in a cooled greenhouse.

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Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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11 hours ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

If hardly any of them germinate, they might be ingens; if you get a normal, relatively high germination rate, it's unlikely. Hope you didn't pay too much for them.

If they are ingens, there's nothing wrong with growing impossible things until you can't, or, alternatively 'crossing that bridge when one gets to it' (I have a lot of such bridges).

Luckily they were only 8$ and I only purchased 2 so the odds of them sprouting are next to nothing but would be a miracle if they do but really no loss to me 🤠

 

11 hours ago, PalmsandLiszt said:

All I can find is this not-very-enlightening photo (assuming it's even correctly-identified):

AFDK6gNhYyIaXKs36e21Z68BkwvtBpFKqoqClp_Q

Obscure giant bananas from New Guinea seem to be something of an online information black hole. Even the available M. ingens photos are few and far between and most look like they've been taken 40 years ago and scanned in at low resolution.

If you ever get spare pups, I'd love to purchase one and give it a try!

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i bought ingens seed from rps... no luck germinating them

if you want a tall banana plant get thai black, balbisiana, ensete ventricosum

you could also go down the rabbit hole of musa ingens var xishuangbannaensis which is not the mekong giant

i will save you the trouble... this is the real source.. but good luck getting a response

https://natureproducts.net/Forest_Products/Bananas/Musa_itinerans_tall.html

thai black would probably the easiest for you to source and it gets 30'+

 

 

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If any of you get one of those to fruit.. I will look at you directly in the eyeball.

Edited by SailorBold
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@subsonicdroneI tried Thai Black here and it did pretty well.  It was around 1.5' diameter at the base and 20-25' tall.  It never ended up truly "black" at the trunk, more like mottled purple.  I ended up removing it because they'd get killed back to the ground every winter, and hacking up and disposing of a banana that big isn't fun or easy.  The good thing is that they are "moderate" puppers so the clump was relatively easy to control.  "Ice Cream" was a nightmare in comparison.

Other "big" options that grew well for me are Saba or Kandarian.  Theoretically they are 25-40' tall giant with a 2-3' diameter base.  Unfortunately mine got root/crown rot after I transplanted them.  I might have a sprout come back in the spring, if not I may buy another and try again.  They are not easy to find.

I tried "Mekong Giant - Musa Xishuangbannaensis" from Wellspring Gardens and also Greenhousebusiness.  These sort of hung around and struggled to get over 6' tall, I eventually trashed them.  These are maybe/maybe not the same as "Musa Itinerans v. Xishuanbannaensis" and I don't think there is a "Ingens v. Xishuangbannaensis."  The Itinerans varieties are described here: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/novon/novo-18-01-50.pdf

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20 hours ago, subsonicdrone said:

i bought ingens seed from rps... no luck germinating them

if you want a tall banana plant get thai black, balbisiana, ensete ventricosum

you could also go down the rabbit hole of musa ingens var xishuangbannaensis which is not the mekong giant

i will save you the trouble... this is the real source.. but good luck getting a response

https://natureproducts.net/Forest_Products/Bananas/Musa_itinerans_tall.html

thai black would probably the easiest for you to source and it gets 30'+

 

 

 

20 hours ago, subsonicdrone said:

it may be difficult to get it to full size in youre zone without protection

I could protect but my only problem is making my protection method wind resistant 😩 are these root hardy though if I decided to get one and fail?

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my bad on the ingens var x... 

lots of debate around mekong giant

the iterans "tall" from tian zi is the real giant from Xishuangbanna (at least as far as my internet sleuthing has determined)

i am definitely not an authority on bananas just a hobbyist from canada so by all means consult TARS etc

speaking from my experience at least, my tallest banana plant has been thai black although my basjoo got just as tall this year(about 15 feet total height)

IMG-1145.jpg

IMG-1396.jpg

IMG-3981.jpg

next tallest have been "supposed blue java" and ice cream (tall namwa)

IMG-0811.jpg

and my balbisiana var balbisiana was rocketing to the moon two years ago but i killed it over the winter

luckily i gave another of my seedlings to friend and was ale to get a pup back from him so i will have another chance with this one (pic from two summers ago)

IMG-0721.jpg

i had some ensete ventricosum "large seed" from rps germinate for me over the winter(twice)

and killed them all both attempts before i could get them outside in the spring but that was my / spider mites fault

they get 30'+  

i have some maurelli now hopefully i can get them big

check this video out of thai black grown in FL (not mine) @2:20 big up Rmplmnz!

 

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couldnt tell you about the root hardiness as i bring mine in each year although i lost mine last winter and i bought two more a couple months ago

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