My very first to show off (actually my second bunch), 100% California Grown Dwarf Brazilian fruit. I harvested this last 12-02-2006 and placed it under the cupboard and started to turn color about 3 days ago. All fruits ripened under the cupboard this morning, 12-09-2006. This is my second bunch this season, we have finished the first one but did not take pics of those. I still have a late bunch hanging out there in the winter, the tree so far is holding after 14 frosty nights, will try to experiment on that if it will make it through the winter and will report it here if success or the attempt was futile. Meanwhile, celebrate with me on this DB fruits that will exist but for a short while:






The results:
Taste similar to Saba and California Gold when ripened to the same color. But come to think of it, the Dwarf Brazilian has more of the Saba flavor that I remember in the Philippines compared to the Saba fruits sold in Oriental Stores! This seems better to use than the store-bought saba. Dwarf Brazilian fruits are slightly smaller than saba but bigger than California Gold.

When these are microwaved cooked, the DB's taste is not as sweet as that of Saba, but when uncooked and eaten fresh, it seems to be sweeter. This could be due to less amount of amylase which usually sweetens plantain type of bananas when you cook them.

Well, the DB are all gone now, this morning, 12-09-2006, I made tostones out of them and my wife and kids couldn't get enough! They tasted excellent for tostones. So no DB wine for me this year. Perhaps next year.

I just won dwarf Brazilian on Ebay but I believe it will be a cultured banana grown for it is so cheap. I won it by bidding $13.00. How long do you think it will take to fruit? How about dwarf Orinoco? I won that too for $6.45.

Benny,

You are officially a banana addict at this stage and can't turn back anymore,

I have a Dwarf Brazilian pup with your name written on it, and it will be hand carried to your place, and it is free! That's why you have been certified as a banana addict too!

Major problems with eBay plantlets is that, many times the plants are mislabeled. Another is that plants may have mutated slightly at least, due to the tissue culture process itself. And you will only know that there's been a mistake, some 4 or 5 years later when these pups bloom.

I have a certified Dwarf Brazilian, proven to be cold hardy, proven to be Dwarf, and with photos to back it up.

If you can't stop buying bananas, which at one time my banana addiction took over (spent $2,000 to buy and try 85 known cultivars, so be forewarned), at least go this place to order, only if you can't wait or resist the temptations: www.going-bananas.com

I know these online sellers, and all their bananas are certified to be true to cultivar type.

If ever you want more bananas, buy Sweetheart and Raja Puri. I have reduced my collections to California Gold, Sweetheart, Raja Puri, Manzano (actually is La Tundan in Philippines), and Ultra-dwarf saba.

I'm getting rid of my Dwarf Orinoco (already has a friend who is going to dig them). My Raja Puri, Manzano, and Ultra-dwarf saba has no pups (already given away). But I can get you a Raja Puri this coming spring from another friend. There are strings attached or unsigned verbal contract when I give away my bananas for free: As long as you have the banana plant, I will always have the first rights to their pups. That way, after giving away most of my banana cultivars (they occupy big spaces to have decent fruits), I can almost get most of the varieties, only if I remember what I give to whom, All of my friends forget the cultivar names!!!

Joe

BTW, since I forgot most cultivar names given to who, I would end up buying bananas again from Don & Katie (www.going-bananas.com), just for the accuracy of cultivar info. Banana plants are very very hard to distinguish from each other, and some, even after they fruited and you have eaten the fruits, you still wouldn't be able to distinguish from each other. So the correctness in the variety or its certification is the price that I am willing to pay. So I only get from reliable sources such as from Don & Katie. Although Home Depot and WalMart sometimes will sell bananas, I still can't trust them to be reliable. The least reliable would be eBay. None of the plants that I retained ever came from eBay, although I would still buy from eBay and give the plants away as gifts, especially most of my friends don't seem to care about cultivar names like we do. And for that, you should understand why buying from Don & Katie would still end up as being cheap overall, if you are unto accuracy of cultivar names.

the hardest to distinguish even after you eat the fruits are dwarf cavendish, double mahoi, grand nain, williams hybrid, and most of the dessert type bananas. These are your standard Chiquita, Dole, or Del Monte branded bananas from the store, and they are type AAA.

The ABB types are also hard to distinguish from each other when they are young: Raja Puri, California Gold, Dwarf Orinoco, Dwarf Brazilian.

As far as between AAA and ABB types, those are easy for me to distinguish, but no more greater accuracy beyond that, so don't lose your cultivar names.

Oh, wow, Joe , that's a lot to digest.
Thanks a million.
It sure is that I am a junkie now about bananas. I was hooked line and sinker.
But I guess I don't understand why you only want this"If ever you want more bananas, buy Sweetheart and Raja Puri. I have reduced my collections to California Gold, Sweetheart, Raja Puri, Manzano (actually is La Tundan in Philippines), and Ultra-dwarf saba. "?
My way of thinking is that if I have bananas that will grow only to a max of 8 feet then no matter what type of bananas they are I can dig them and put then in my garage or patio out of harms way in the Winter. And I can put them standing up.
Also you did not mention Lacatan. I thought that is the most tasty and much better bananas I've tasted. What's your opinion?
I also saved the nursery you mentioned.
Benny

"If you can't stop buying bananas, which at one time my banana addiction took over (spent $2,000 to buy and try 85 known cultivars, so be forewarned), at least go this place to order, only if you can't wait or resist the temptations"- Joe Real
Oh, boy, you are so right in there Joe.
The first thing I do when I open my computer is go to ebay and type banana plant and there are many seller offers for their bananas.
I used to order indescriminately but now I am a little apprehensive.
Learn a little, live a little I guess through experience.
Or perhaps my wallet is geting depleted too fast.

Lakatan is cold sensitive. The idea of reducing my collection to the few cold hardiest but tasting (with variations in taste) is that I wouldn't need to dig them out during winter or even during Arctic blasts. All of my bananas have their stems intact, and survived the 20 deg F weather with just a white sheet over them. The dwarf Brazilian is already pushing a tiny bit of green growth in the leaves. And I did not protect the clump like I did with my citruses. So there is absolutely no need to dig them out. If the banana stems remained green or alive during winter, there is absolutely no need to dig them out.

Lakatan may be good for your area. My Lakatan died even when it went down just to around 35 deg F, pseudostem rotten to the ground level, and did not came back to life in the spring. You can try that one. If there is one banana that I would dig to preserve them, it would be Lakatan. But I've been too busy lately...

ThANKS Joe for all of your advice.
I started grafting all of my scion plums as per your method. It is getting to look like a Christmas tree with all of the "decorations" and tags.

Here' the plums that we brought home from the scion exchange(all sorts of European plums)I grafted to a Santa Rosa plum: