Hello Yendis, My local nursery has beautiful healthy super dwarf cavendish selling for $3.99 Canadian... At that price they could be treated as an annual. I am curious.. can the sdc be made to go dormant, so that during the winter I can store them in my cellar. Last week I bought 2 Sikkemensis for $30. can.,they are 1 metre tall and were in a 1lt. pot. I think the nursery woman was tired of trying to keep them watered. Robb

Hey Robb,

Where did you get the Sikkemensis from?
Thanks

I bought my DC "Tropicana" for 0,69 euro... (1Ft/30cm)
Normally they will charge 3,- euro for it.
Greetings
Simon.

Hey Winskirt, I got the skkemensis at Fiesta Farms on Christie st. Toronto. They were the last two... Summerhill nursery on davenport said that they will be getting some musa basjoos in., I see that you like palms and cycads.. I have a surplus of sprouted hardy palm (not hardy here)seed if you are close by and want some. I collected the seed in Montpellier, southern France this past Christmes. I plan on trying to over-winter some of the palms outside with a lot of protection. Robb

I got a 5 foot Musa Zebrina (blood banana) for 5 bucks (Cdn) from a nursery after the summertime. The plants were starting to get a bit weary looking so they were selling them off for 5 dollars. It came with a mother and a pup. The mother stopped growing after a day and she eventually died, and a new pup came out - which I seperated incorrectly and killed. The other pup kept growing and is now around 5 feet tall and looks great.. Best 5 dollars I've ever spent!

I traded some plants from my yard to a local nursery and got a 4 foot zebrina with a pup in a 2 gallon pot for free.
And he threw in a night blooming cereus cactus, too.

A third of my collections, I bought Tissue-Cultured (TC) bananas from eBay. I buy by the dozens, grow them bigger, and give them away to friends as gifts. I got them sometimes for as low as $1 per plant, and maybe as high as $4.50 per plant including shipping. Survival rate is quite high, around 95% from TC.

Surprisingly, my 2-year old Tissue Cultured plants are now starting to bloom, and they are planted outside in Zone 9, North California.

About a third of my banana collection come from trade exchanges with fellow hobbyists, and the pups are a lot more expensive to ship, costing at least $10.50 per trade for priority shipping. None of my bananas from pups have bloomed yet, but none are two years old.

Another third of my banana come from high quality stores, shipping me a well established well rooted plants, but nonetheless also originally came from tissue culture plantlets.

I now do mainly exchanges but have stopped collecting and settled for the fruiting survivors in our area. In case I want to give as gifts, I buy TC bananas from eBay, grow them into 3 ft tall and then give them away as presents.

I was in my local Sainsburys (a major UK supermarket) a couple of weeks ago and as usual stopped to look at the houseplant section for any bargains. They had a tiny banana plant that somebody had forgotten to water, reduced to 20p (around 35 cents). It's recovered now, but I have no idea what it is; it has to be an extremely dwarf, tender variety - all green, with small, wavy leaves unfurling close together on a disproportionately thick pseudostem.

I bought several M. basjoo in one gallon pots for $1 each at my local Lowes. :-)

Twenty pence --- Thats what I call A BARGAIN. That tops the lot.
I know Sainsburys , they would have NO IDEA what they were selling.!!!
Chances are its a Dwarf Cavendish.
B & Q are selling Basjoo at £49.98.My heart bleeds for the plants they are watered to death or dry as a bone.They all look terrible. I am waiting for them to be reduced,I always think that you dont buy plants from B & Q you RESCUE them...

WOW... great deal amazindirt. I think my best was a good sized Musa zebrina from Lowes for $4.99US/2.75 British Pound.

I love Lowes for the way they mark down their stressed plants. I even bought two huge Costus gingers in 3 gallon pots -- originally $19.95 each -- for $1 apiece, just because they needed some water! :-) Of course, I didn't even WANT the gingers -- but who could pass it up?? LOL.

Yendis, it's definitely not a dwarf cavendish (I have a few of those), although I know most bananas sold as houseplants are. And you're right about B&Q - it's shameful the way the staff allow so much of their stock to die through neglect (although it does mean you can occasionally pick up a great bargain). Mature banana plants are CRAZILY expensive - in one garden centre I saw a 4 foot Ensete maurellii (admittedly very pretty but not even hardy over here) selling for 70 quid! They're just relying on people's ignorance.

Ornata from your description I think I may know what that "Sainsburys" Musa is.
If it has leaves quite small emerging very close together and with a THICK stem then I seem to remember seeing one in my local Sainsburys .
It was neglected and I was tempted to buy it but I already have 25 and you can only rescue so many.!!!
Anyway I think this fella can turn out to be quite a find. Look up on google or on the net "Little Prince" or "Dwarf Novak". see what you think.....
OR post a picture and these fellas will I D it in NO TIME.
Best wishes, Sidney.

Wow-this thread makes me sad and jealous. Here in NH bananas are no bargin. I just bought a zebrina for $19-half price and I thought I was getting a bargin!

Joe-do you have a specific ebayer that you like for bananas? I'd love to get a maurelii, probably for next year. I need to gain a little more experience with bananas before I go crazy with them.