Who is growing bananas for fruit?

Here is a home-grown Nam Wah banana tree at my sister’s home, Bangkok, Thailand. Generally speaking, Nam Wah takes about 7-8 months to flower and fruit. The fruit takes about 3-4 months to ripe.

My sister does not take any care to her banana trees except for watering them as needed. This tree is about 3.5 meters tall.

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Here’s Namwa budding in San Diego CA. In our climate it’s about 18 months to flower and 4 months to ripen if the fruit appears in spring or summer.

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i’m growing california gold. i also have goldfinger but planning on getting rid of the gf and keep only 1 variety. with space being limited… only want to keep the reliable fruit

California Gold is Dwarf Orinoco – a rather unpleasant tasting fruit compared to store bought bananas.

Typically Namwa is sold as Goldfinger by retail nurseries. The good news is that it is about as cold hardy as Orinoco (USDA borderline 9b/10a) and is much better tasting than Orinoco or store bought bananas for that matter.

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Hello, I’n new to this forum and to growing fruit. You posted this several years ago. I’m wondering how it went. Did you get bananas?

Check out this thread.

Growing Manzano, ice cream and dwarf Cavendish in Miami, Florida

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I have an unknown that I have being growing since 2018. I got it cause I wanted the ice cream banana, I wanted to see if it really tasted like vanilla ice cream. It is not blue java. The fruit is about 3 to 4 inches long. The banana plant normally gets around 10’ tall. I grow them in South Louisiana zone 9a/8b. Planted cause I wanted the fruit and will continue

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Arturo, if you’re in 9a/8b you must have pretty cold weather for bananas. How does your unknown handle the cold snaps? Do you try to protect it…

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Thats impressive maybe @Richard does know some additional information. It sounds very cold hardy.

We get temps in the low 20’s and once in a while in the high teens. Depends where I look it may say 9a but some say 8b. They have taken the temps like a champ. I can tell you, I mulch them with leaves and mulch and that is all.

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I am always looking to learn. If Mr Richard can help that would be great. My kids love the little nanas. Wife and I love them in our smoothies. I eat them fresh like the kids.

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