Edible Cold hardy Banana

[Richard]

@FloridaFrugivoreFami

But my bananas do survive the hard freezes.

It is normal for some cultivars to survive an 8-hour stretch below 35°F followed by an 8 hour stretch above 50°F and a year-long stretch above 40°F. Many members of the San Diego CRFG will attest to it. We do not refer to such bananas as cold hardy.

[FloridaFrugivoreFami]

What about an 8 hour stretch below 25f?

[FloridaFrugivoreFami]

All of my other varieties freeze to the ground without protection! They might not be considered cold hardy but they definitely impress me.

[Richard]

@lordkiwi

The process for producing seedless bananas is well known. … produce a 4x plant by exposing the mother to Colchicine or a less toxic modern option and breed that plant back to a 2x plant to produce 3x seeds that will be seedless.

That is one approach. But 75k years ago hominids were eating the naturally occurring seedless bananas in Burma. And growing outside my window here is a 4x seedless human-made hybrid from India.

[Richard]

@FloridaFrugivoreFami

All of my other varieties freeze to the ground without protection!

I would expect that from AA and AAA hybrids.

[Kaki-pistacia]

i hope that one day someone will produce a seedless musa velutina.

some sources say that the musa blue java can be planted protected in 6.
theoretically what I’ve read about layers of mulch and temperatures it should be possible.
does anyone know more? as soon as i have another clone i will try it

[Luisport]

There are chini champa, da jiao, dhusray, malbhog and hajarai. Rajapuri is very hardy too.
Bananiers - Pépinière Ecologique La Maison du Bananier

[Kaki-pistacia]

Thanks for the link, they have a big selection.
I’ve come across Helen’s hybrid several times now, which is edible and for an banana cold hardy.

i talked to people who are doing test drilling and looking for data when something freezes.
After that, theoretically many bananas should be plantable in zone 6/7 if you protect them with a wide and high pile of mulch.

[Richard]

@Kaki-pistacia

i hope that one day someone will produce a seedless musa velutina.

Bananas are a tropical bulbs, neither annuals nor perennials. You can breed seedless bananas but you can’t change the nature of a seeded cultivar.

@Kaki-pistacia

musa blue java

What is labeled as Blue Java by U.S. retailers is actually Namwa - which is a better banana anyway.

@Kaki-pistacia

many bananas should be plantable in zone 6/7 if you protect them with a wide and high pile of mulch.

Yes, there is a growers community from those zones at bananas.org.

[swincher]

@Kaki-pistacia

I’ve come across Helen’s hybrid several times now, which is edible and for an banana cold hardy.

It has seeds, so not very edible even though it supposedly tastes good. Mine die to ground level with a hard frost, but regrow from the corm in spring, so have never had a p-stem that reached flowering size. I have two seedlings that are going on year three if they both have their corms survive winter this time.

[Kaki-pistacia]

i bought it in germany and it was just titled musa blue java ice cream banana.
there are not many retailers that offer it and if often sold out.

it should be the one that tastes like vanilla ice cream.
If there are more variants

I bought it because it should taste good and be hardy

there are certainly many bananas that taste very good. Better than cavendish. But none are available here

because in Germany there are certain criteria for how a banana should be. Sizes, color… to be able to sell it as a banana. the same with other fruits and vegetables. it’s totally stupid here with the regulations

[Kaki-pistacia]

I didn’t know it has seeds.
I thought it was seedless.

thanks for the freezing data.
i once spoke to someone who planted bananas here and at some point it produced fruit, unfortunately he didn’t know what variety it was.
others have confirmed it was yellow bananas that ripened here.
I don’t know why they should lie.
but without personal experience I’m always skeptical

[Luisport]

I think it can have seeds but not many…

[swincher]

@Luisport

I think it can have seeds but not many

I believe it is full of seeds usually. Here are the only photos of Helen’s hybrid I could find on the bananas.org forum:

[Kaki-pistacia]

If it’s cold hardy and ripens in colder climate. It is worth trying it to me even with seeds.
If the fruit tastes good.

Thanks for the picture. It looks not that bad to me with the seeds

[Luisport]

Oh Ok…

[Kaki-pistacia]

You know the saying “He who doesn’t ask dies stupid”
But in my experience especially in technical electronic forums “if you ask you are stupid”

But I ask anyway. Maybe I didn’t get it.
I’m not a banana genetic expert.
but I probably didn’t understand Richard’s statement.

Theoretically, it should work like this: double the chromosomes of a diploid banana to make a tetraploid and cross back with a diploid to make a triploid with uneven chromosome count, making the bananas seedless.

I know it doesn’t work for all plants but I thought it would work with bananas?

isn’t it possible to create a seedless musa velutina or helens hybrid in this way?