FHIA-01 'Goldfinger'- A recent product of the banana breeding program in Honduras, this cultivar has commercial potential. It has high wind resistance, some cold tolerance, and excellent disease resistance with a strong pseudostem and base. 'Goldfinger' is a medium-sized plant with broad leaves and outstanding fruit production. The delicious tasting bananas are a reminiscent of one of its parents, Musa 'Dwarf Prata'. This could be the next grocery store variety.

Bananas are a versatile plant in any landscape. Bananas can add a lush, tropical look to any area. Although everyone knows the fruit, few people have experience growing the plant. Bananas are suitable for all climates given the appropriate care. They have large, exotic tropical leaves and can grow from a few feet tall to nearly 40 feet (12m), depending on the variety. The fruits are delicious ripe from the plant or can be shipped great distances; some varieties must be cooked before eaten. Other varieties are strictly ornamental. Banana plants are fast growing, generally putting out one new leaf once a week. Banana plants can either form clumps by suckering or they can remain solitary, like the popular Ensete maurelii. Banana leaves, pseudostem (trunk) and fruiting stem (raceme) grow from the underground rhizome (or pseudo bulb'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 degrees F. Stokes Tropicals Banana Blend (6-2-12) is the best fertilizer source for these fascinating tropical giants.