john gault
Green Thumb
Posts: 461
Joined: Sun Jul 10, 2011 4:53 pm
Location: Atlantic Beach, Fl. (USDA Hardiness Zone 9a)

History of the Banana

Since accidently growing bananas last year I've become very curious about the plant, especially since information seems difficult to come by, especially for the beginner with very little gardening experience in general. So, I happen to come across this book Titled:
Banana
The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
Author, Dan Koeppel.

It's not so much a technical book as a history book, which in my case I find important to learn the history of something before I get into the technical side. I just seems to put things in perspective for me. Link below.

https://www.bookbrowse.com/reviews/index.cfm/book_number/2082/banana

valley
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Posts: 1335
Joined: Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:25 am
Location: ranches in sierra nevada mountains California & Navada high desert

John, Bananas are a very interesting plant. I was given one while in Australia, it was small, the length of my arm, I gave it to mama, wifey's mama. Today it towers in her garden, at Jacob's Well, and has multiplied, producing great stalks of fruit.

Richard

BardSkye
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Posts: 14
Joined: Mon Sep 28, 2015 5:26 am
Location: Calgary, Alberta, indoor garden only

I bought this a couple of weeks ago, simply because it sounded interesting here. It's a fascinating book, and thanks for recommending it.

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applestar
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Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I downloaded a kindle sample. Wow I think I'm already hooked. :lol:

imafan26
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Posts: 13962
Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 8:32 am
Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

It was interesting that you said that information on bananas was hard to come by. It depends on where you live, bananas are so common here. Some people can tell the different bananas by the way they look. I can't tell until I see the banana and even then I can't tell all of them apart. There is saba which is a Filipino plantain, cuban (red banana), Williams, dwarf cavendish which used to be common but now is very rare because of bunchy top, lady finger, Apple or Brazilian, dwarf apple, and plantains (which are rare here, most Filipinos prefer saba) The dwarfs can be anywhere from 3 to 8 ft tall and the cooking bananas typically are the tallest at 30 ft. Some bananas like the plantains and saba should be cooked. They are starchy raw and don't taste very good. Apple bananas are dual purpose, they can be eaten out of hand or cooked. If you try to cook a dwarf cavendish or William's banana, its higher moisture content will make it explode when you try to fry it.

Bananas are vegetatively reproduced by keikis. If bunchy top or other problem attacks the entire clump must be removed and destroyed which can be a back breaking job.

Most of the farms that have bunchy top which is a virus transmitted by banana aphids remove the infected clump and the clumps nearest to it. Banana's are really the dinasaur version of grass. Aphids can only be washed off with water.
Bananas cannot be sprayed with most chemicals and you won't find a listing for them on the label. They are very sensitive to sprays and are easily damaged or killed by them.

Bananas under 3 ft tall are peepers, 3 to 5 ft tall are silver swords, anything that is full grown but has not produced a flower yet is a maidenhead. Once bananas become maidenheads they can be killed if too many leaves are removed since the plant will not generate new ones. The banana bunch on a cooking banana can weigh over 150 lbs.

Bananas are ri\pe when the fingers are filled and start to lose the corners and become more round and less triangular. If you wait until the banana starts to ripen, the birds will get them and they don't taste as good when they are over ripe.

When harvesting or cutting bananas, use only old clothes. Bananas will stain clothing permanently. The easiest way to harvest bananas from a 25 ft tree is to smash the trunk about 5 ft up and use the machette to cut the back side. Then stand back, the weight of the banana will slowly pull the tree down to a level that makes it easier to harvest. Banana will only fruit once so the mother plant must be dug out and extra keikis are taken off otherwise the clump will keep expanding.



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