North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Dr. Chiranjit Parmar" <parmarch@vsnl.com>]

Let me suggest one more alternative.  There is a one more type of banana
which is not known at all outside its habitat.  It grows semiwild in the mid
hill regions of North West India.  It is fairly cold toeratnt.  The plant is
tall and the fruits are also large.  The fruits have to induced to ripen
like otjher commercial bananas.  he ripe fruits taste good but are more
pulpy and the fingers do not break like cultivated types.  This banana is
considered to be heavier for digestion.  The raw fruits are also cooked as a
vegetable.

30-40 years back this banana was used like a common banana in the hilly
regions.  But now with the development of transport system, bananas from the
tropical areas reach every nook and corner of India and therefore this
fruits is not used much.  Thre plants mostly used for religious purposes.

There is a picture of this banana at my website www.lesserknownplants.com.

I am of the view that this banana should be tried elsewhere too.

I have already sent a few suckers to one NAFEX member but have not had any
feedback from him.

Institutonal efforts are needed for this work.

I shall be too happy to send suckers if some group within NAFEX works on
this project.

Dr. Chiranjit Parmar
Horticultural Consultant on Lesser Known Plants
www.lesserknownplants.com


----- Original Message -----
From: Doreen Howard <doreenh@ticon.net>
To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2002 5:59 AM
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] MUSA Basjoo Banana


> George,
> The fruit, if it ever appears, from Musa basjoo is not very good.  It's
very
> starchy, with little flavor. The fruit is better baked with spices and
sugar
> than eaten out of hand.  The trick is getting Musa basjoo to flower and
> fruit in a cold climate.  This variety will survive -5F if heavily
mulched,
> but the plant, of course, freezes back to the roots (actually rhizomes).
So
> it depends on how long your growing season is and how much heat your
summer
> contains--if the plant will mature to the point of flowering.  After it
> flowers, and each bud is fertilized to create a banana, it takes about 4
to
> 5 months for fruit to fully mature, also.
>
> A better alternative in a colder climate is to plant a good eating Musa
> variety such as Dwarf Cavendish, dig up the entire plant after fall nights
> are in the 40's, wrap the plant in burlap and store it in a cold basement
> where it is dark and stays in the 40F range.  Moisten the root ball every
> week or two to keep it alive.  When spring nights are in the upper 40F's
> consistently, plant the Musa again in a full sun spot.  Bananas will not
> grow until nights stay above 55F or so.
>
> A third alternative is to grow a dwarf banana in a large pot, bring the
pot
> indoors for the winter and put it outside again when the spring weather
> warms.  I have done this in Wisconsin, and I have a short stalk of bananas
> that is maturing on my Dwarf Cavandish currently.  I just brought the pot
> indoors for the winter, as a hard freeze is predicted for tomorrow night.
> Doreen Howard
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Georger" <georger@rogers.com>
> To: <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 11, 2002 5:44 PM
> Subject: [NAFEX] MUSA Basjoo Banana
>
>
> > Hello Everybody,
> >     I was reading about this cold hardy banana. Some reports say fruit
is
> edible, others say otherwise.
> > Does anybody grow this banana?
> > Any suggestions about growing this banana? Is it edible or only grown
for
> foliage?
> > Any other cold hardy varities available?
> >
> >  Thanks
> > George
> >
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