Winter Banana Apple scion

I got a really good deal on a Mutsu (green apple) apple tree last fall. I do not like green apples, so I was figuring I could use it to practice grafting. One of the apples that I have been really wanting to try is the Winter Banana Apple. Does anybody here know where I could get some scion wood for grafting onto my tree?

You can get winter banana scion here http://m.ebay.com/itm/Apple-Pear-Scions-Graft-and-Grow-Your-Own-Fruit-Trees-Cuttings-Heirloom-Wood-/262876889236?hash=item3d34af0094%3Ag%3ADpoAAOSw241YaDlG&_trkparms=pageci%3A3c15be3c-0187-11e7-8957-74dbd1809e03%7Cparentrq%3A9dd3fb8015a0a60cca28e1d8ffe6c035%7Ciid%3A10. My winter banana is already leafing out so I can’t help with scions myself.

Thanks!

I just ordered some.

:smiley:

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Winter Banana is not known to be a tasty apple. I have tried it. It’s all right. It’s a pretty apple. If you ask 10 people here, about 9.5 people would choose Mutsu over Winter Banana.

It’s OK since you should grow what you like.

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I keep some WB around for other purposes. Compatible grafting wood is eventually a necessary thing in my experience.

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I’m probably a little late responding,but there are a lot of Winter Banana cuttings in my refrigerator.Oh well. Brady

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I don’t eat them fresh, but they dry beautifully and make a tasty cobbler. WB is also an excellent pollen source, particularly important for some of our triploid trees. One WB and one Golden Delicious seem to keep our other trees happy.

And yes, it’s a beautiful tree with particularly lovely fruit.

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Winter Banana is not my best tasting apple but it appears to be a good pollinator and it is one of my options for apple to pear interstems. It is a mild semi-sweet apple in my location and has been a dependable bearer.

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I grafted Mutsu this year so I soon will have a direct comparison with WB.

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Ron Joyner posted a nice description of Winter Banana here.

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Damn… I really should have waited before buying! :confounded:

Auburn: What are your favorites? I am just starting so I don’t know many varieties yet.

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Risshu,
You can call the place you ordered scionwood from and change to a new variety. Places that I have ordered from, have allowed me to change varieties.

On the top right corner of this page, you will see a magnifying glass symbol, that is the search function of this forum, there are two threads that I recommend you search for 1) Best Tasting Apples. 2) Scott Apple Experience

There is so much info about apples to learn from esp. The Scott Apple Experience thread. Enjoy reading.

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I suggest the same thing as @mamuang (1) Best Tasting Apples). My taste might be different than yours but this is some that I like Pink Lady, Jonagold, Empire, Goldrush. I have several other varieties grafted in that most likely will go on my list after they fruit.

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I second all the above. I took my Winter Banana tree out, but not before grafting some onto my Gravenstein. The positives: such a precocious tree, bearing in the second year, and so ornamental, smooth gray bark with huge yellow apples. The apples do have that unusual tropical smell, but alas, it is not reflected in the taste. The taste is just a decent, mild apple–and if you are accustomed to today’s super-crunchy apples, it will seem a little mealy. But if I’d known then that it is compatible (as an interstem at least) with pear, I would have kept it and grafted most of it over to pear. I guess I would say that everything is great about it except the taste!

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Yes, Winter Banana is just ok in terms of flavor, but I have to second the others that its superior pollination and grafting interstem qualities make it worthwhile as a branch. I have grafted our local wild crabapple with winter banana and it took. Then I could graft any other variety of apple and plant it in a swamp and it would be ok.
John S
PDX OR

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Grimes Golden is also an outstanding pollinator and superior in flavor but not quite the interstem.
John S
PDX OR

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I think it depends on the climate.
Here in the Puget Sound lowlands
Winter Banana is a good keeper and
I think it’s a good flavor
a bit subacid, but good aroma when fully ripe.
I would like to find one on M26.
Sadly
They no longer use it for pollen in the Eastern Washington Orchards
preferring Crabapple pollinators.

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I have not been impressed with winter banana. Perhaps it would rank lowest among all my varieties. I might graft on top of it next season.

It looks nice, and its graft compatible with some pears. Those are the nicest things I can say about Winter banana.

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