yes. I had imported a few, but only one survived. It looks good, and is now about 5 feet tall in the ground. Not too much to say about it yet, the stem color hasn't darkened much. look forward to seeing it progress.

Tim Chapman

Thanks, Tim. Are you willing to share where you got it? Had they arrived in good shape? Is it safe to assume there are no suppliers in the U.S.?

I got it from the ganesh's. They are probably where you heard of it. I import gingers and other stuff and had gotten about 10 of these to try. Had I been able to give them quicker attention more would have survived. I had given some away as well. There will be a supplier for these in the us soon, just not right now i think. Banana corms take a bit more of a beating in transit than say ginger rhizomes that are truly dormant at the time.

I'll try to get some pics of it soon.

Tim Chapman

I heard about Chini Champa in response to my post "What do you recommend?" I have a link to a ganesh site that shows photos of Chini Champa, but no ordering info. Would you mind supplying me the link to order? Would you recommend them? Do you overwinter your bananas in the ground? Any luck with getting fruit?

I don't know if they do individual orders. there isn't an online order form, as they are a wholesaler. You would need to wire the money and you need an import permit. Between the phytos, shipping, import fees (unless you can get them to use standard mail or a carrier like fedex or dhl) it is not worth it for one or two plants. They are 'good people' though.

I mainly grow species and ornamentals, with very few edible types so far. This year many of the varities grown around here by others did set fruit (which is a rarity) whether or not they ripen in time is a different story. Everything that I know or think is hardy goes in the ground.

As for fruiters in zone 8, I don't think there are any reliable ones yet. Some people get fruit set occasionally. I want one that is a perennial fruiter with no effort. The senorita discussed here earlier seems like a good candidate. I'm breeding some ornamentals to in hopes of getting an ornamental/edible cultivar, but thats a long term project. I'm pretty sure it can and will be done.

Tim Chapman

That sounds pretty discouraging. Isn't Senorita from the Phllipines & also not available from U.S. suppliers? Would Ice Cream be my best bet at possibly bearing fruit? Are there any others you could suggest (readily available) that might have a fighting chance?

I have seen a lot of senorita and saba fruits sold at SeaFood City in Sacramento, Ca. There must be some plantations of it in San Diego or near Mexico borders where there are no frosts So the senorita plants would be really here in California, its just that no one are selling them, with such short time to bloom, they could be productive too even with inland N. Ca, there should be enough time. Imagine, producing the small pups inside the heated garage during fall, bring them out in spring, they could bloom in mid-summer and ripen by Fall, really possible.

Where does one get the permit or application to import these?

keep in mind that 99.9% of banana breeding projects were done for banana producing regions of the tropics, developing a cold hardy variety has never been a cold. Faster production times are, but they aren't looking at our shorter seasons. This doesn't mean that there aren't some out there already that will work, or that they can't be developed. Hybrids that fit the bill will need to come from collectors though. But given what people have done "by themselves" in so many other plant families it certainly is possible.

JoeReal the permit info is linked below. You owe me a senorita for the link :-). The US now requires a phytosanitary certificate from the country of origin. If you are going anytime soon, it would be wise to get some contacts to find out where you need to go to get one and what there process is. Some countries are very easy, some are a pain... some are now impossible. Just don't try to get your phyto on the last day or something, as thats one of those "expect delays" type situations. With just a few corms (or TC as you mentioned before) you shouldn't have a problem. With plant material, cutting off all roots helps, and ABSOLUTELY no soil/dirt.

you'll get a massive package of import rules on a ton of plants you aren't interested in, as well as your permit. When applying, specify all plant material and all ports of entry to avoid future hassles if you want to import something else.

Tim Chapman

Here is a link that might be useful: permit info page

Thanks Tim! I will sure remember you in case I ran into one senorita or able to import one, but for now, that is still a remote possibility.

Does anyone know if Chini Champa has other names?

I grown Chini Champa in Italy, i have anyone photos in my blog:
http://caprettetibetane.splinder.com

I have also Helen's Hybrid and Dwarf Cavendish

Paolo

Joe,

If you have them shipped to San Ysidro port of entry (San Diego), I can pick them up for you. ;-))