Thread: brown stuff
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Old 01-06-2008, 11:16 PM   #9 (permalink)
chong
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Default Re: brown stuff

Quote:
Originally Posted by banana berserker View Post
i dont mean the plant i ment the actual bananas. it said when you go out to cut your bananas off your tree wear something brown or something thats already stained and doesnt look good and gloves because the bananas will stain your hands and cloths.
Cutting any part of a plant will result in "bleeding" thru the open wound. As in any wound, the exposure to the air of the cut will dry out a film (scab) over the cut and prevent further "bleeding". Rate of gelling and subsequent formation of the scab, depends on the viscosity(or thickness) of the fluid, the humidity, and temperature. This applies to the pseudo-stem and stem of the banana to which the flowers and fruits are attached.

The only time that there is risk of getting the sap on your clothing when harvesting the fruits is when you cut down the base of the stem. The sap will "squirt" a little due to the slight hydraulic pressure that delivers the nutrients throughout the plant. It is for this fact that the cut on the plant side will bleed longer than the severed side. Once pressure is relieved from the severed side, there will be nothing to push the fluids out, and the bleeding stops.

If you cut the hands of bananas for the stem after that, the only time you can get the sap on your clothing is if you accidentally brush your clothing against the open cut. The expulsion of fluids at this point is more like "sweating", rather than "bleeding". You can also get them on your clothes if you happen to get the sap on your hands and somehow wipe them on your clothes.

Getting them on your hands is no problem. If you wan to get rid of them right away, just place a few drops of cooking oil on your hands (or skin) and rub it in, then wash your hands with soap and water. That's what we used to do when we were kids.
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