drone

Hi,
i fertilize organically with the skin of the banana fruit. i usw other stuff but these skins are full of potassium which I need as an organic gardener. but it just occurred to me that these bananas are coming from plantations across the world with god knows how many pests and diseases. w
can Panama disease of Fusarium oxysporum spread via the skin of a banana fruit? as it's now all across the world.
if so I'm am screwed as I'm growing varieties such as gross Michel which are vulnerable to been basic strains of the Panama disease (tr1)
i know it can spread through soil and infected material but does the fruit skin of the banana have that?
i know that fruit doesn't normally develop however, what if a plant has fruited and is just about to be harvested and only then develops symptoms? surely its a risk using banans skins if it can transmit this banana 'cancer'. even other diseases also e.g black sigatoka. can they spread via the skin?

let me know what you think as I'm scared I've killed my banana collection
thanks

75north

This source, the Northern Territory (Australia) government, says that "infection has not been shown to progress into the fruit."

And this from the Peruvian Agricultural Service suggests that TR4 cannot be spread by fruit.

The most thorough source I've seen on the matter says that "as yet, no scientific evidence has been published of dispersal of Foc in banana fruits, but better understanding of this risk is required. A recent study related to the presence of Foc TR4 in the Middle East included the analysis of this possibility (Ploetz et al., 2015)."

At any rate, it is rare that a Fusarium wilt-infected plant produces any edible bananas, much less ones of export-quality. Because the disease can be harbored within the plant often for many months before symptoms appear, because symptoms tend to present at flowering, and because the onset of symptoms usually rapidly leads to plant death (often in around a month), it isn't common for a plant to "develop symptoms" when its fruit is nearly ripe. In the great majority of instances it seems it becomes obvious the plant has been infected before any fruit can get close to ripened. Because of this, if it is even possible for the fungus to be contained within the fruit (and this seems doubtful) it would be exceptionally unlikely for any exported banana to carry the disease around the world given how few of these fruits could possibly be exported.

All that to say...I don't think you should be worried, your bananas are overwhelmingly likely to be just fine!

Gabe15

Nothing to worry about. Your bananas are far more likely to die just by trying to grow them in the UK than they will ever be by the near-zero percent chance of introducing a pathogen via commercial fruit skins.

__________________
Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

OllieB497

I’m no expert, I don’t know what drone thinks but I swear I heard that diseases past via the fruit is possible, as infected material is one of the ways it’s spreads. I know it’s highly unlikely. But the chance of a late stage plant infection I mean very late stage. On YouTube there’s a vid of this lady walking around this banana plantation and you can see the infected cavendish. But if it’s late stage then surely there’s a risk give it low but a risk non the less. It’s hard giving high NPK when organic. The banana grows but not as fast as it could. But anwyas, my opinion is to risk it’s the risk is the same as winning the lottery. Very low