Scientific Name:
Musa sp.Product Details:
Ships late May 2010
Musa sp. 'Ice Cream' 'Blue Java'- A great banana for many reasons. Many consider this the best tasting of all bananas and compare its flavor to that vanilla custard or ice cream. The skins are an odd, silvery-blue sheen and ripen to a pale canary-yellow color. A bit tall, but otherwise well suited to the home garden and the greenhouse. May be a bit large for containers. A very popular banana variety.
Banana leaves, pseudostem (trunk) and fruiting stem (raceme) grow from the underground rhizome (or pseudobulb's) top surface and the roots grow from the lower surface of the rhizome. The fleshy stems sheathed with huge broad leaves can grow from 2 to 35 feet in as little as 1 year, depending on variety and growing environment. Each pseudostem produces one flower cluster, which develops fruit, then dies. In addition each parent banana plant during its life cycle, will produce as many as 10 suckers which grow into new plants. New pseudostems then grow from the rhizome.
Bananas grow best in a uniformly warm environment and need 9 to 15 months of frost-free conditions to produce a flower stalk. In the subtropics, fruit ripens in 2-3 months. In cooler climates it may take several weeks longer to ripen. Plant growth stops when temperatures drop to 57°F. Stokes Tropicals' Banana Blend (6-2-12) is the best fertilizer source for these fascinating tropical giants.