lorax

Here they are, folks! These plantains are from the transitional cloud-moist montain forests, and the growers tell me they are an ancestral variety developed from regular tall plantains by generations and generations of growing in full shade. This is one of the very rare occasions that I have been taller (at 6 feet even) than a full-grown banana plant.







In the second post, the wire mesh you see is a portable cage for a fighting rooster; in the third post, the vine wrapped around the bunch is a wild yam.

chong

Any chance I can buy 2 or 3 corms, or pups, of these? I have a valid import permit.

Thanks.

Chong

Worm_Farmer

WHoa! So if I put all my Dwarf Musa in shade will the turn out to be smaller in a few years? Will I make a Super Dwarf?

lorax

A few hundred years of careful cultivation.

Chong: I'll ask the farmers next time I'm through, but I don't see why not. They're from a region that has never had Sigatoka.

Chironex

Sounds like a sequel to Jane Goodall's movie. I can see it now, "Bananas in the mist."

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Scot

Mauro Gibo

Scot ! Look what I found in the net:
Other Field Trips...return to careusa.orgBoliviaEcuadorGhanaGuatemalaGuatemala 2002HaitiHondurasKosovoMadagascarMaliNepalPeruPeru 2001



Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7























Taking Care of the Earth
We headed out early again the next day, this time with CARE technical assistants Poly and Carlos. I settled into my seat, realizing that I was growing more accustomed to -- if not more comfortable with -- the road. The jarring holes and sheer drops still surprised me, but I could breathe a bit more easily with each turn. I was able to focus on other things, if only briefly, before turning my attention back to the road. I noticed similarities between life here and my life in the United States. Here too, were radiant flowers, no different from the ones growing in my yard. In the depths of remote, dense subtropical Bolivia, were children playing soccer on community fields. And on this impossibly narrow road, we passed person after person that offered a warm smile, perhaps even more freely than I might in a chance meeting on my street.

We stopped the jeep beside the stream to have lunch. The CARE office had made boiled chicken, green beans, carrots and bread. The sound of running water was soothing, relaxing, even hypnotic. Though deceivingly crystal clear, waterborne bacteria contaminate this, like most streams and rivers. But by necessity, people must use river water for drinking, bathing and washing clothes. The result is widespread chronic diarrhea and other illnesses.

As we ate, two young girls walked our way, bringing their sheep to the river to drink. Zulma and Juana Ticona, ages 8 and 11 respectively, both wore crocheted sweaters, worn trousers and matching straw hats. Just as in many families around the world, both of Zulma and Juana's parents must work, even on Sunday. Their mother works in the next town, making textiles and wool clothing. Mario, their father, is a banana farmer.

We finished lunch quickly and walked on to meet their father, who has increased his farm's production through CARE's MIRNA project. Harvesting his crop alone in a field of banana trees, we met Mario at work. "Before CARE came, we grew mostly rice here. My land is not good for coffee. There is too much sun.

"I knew that my land, my way of work, had problems. I was not getting enough back for all of my work.

"CARE showed us better farming techniques not only with words, but with examples. Jorge took us to Alto Beni, another village nearby. We saw how others made more for themselves and their families. It was not hard. And seeing is believing."

"An important lesson that we learned was about groundcover. In the altiplano, where I come from, the ground was always swept clean of weeds or any brush. We learned that if we kept the ground covered here, with other plants, it would be more fertile. The thin layer of soil on top stays, even during rain.

"We also learned how to identify disease or pests on our plants. We used natural ways to keep insects from destroying our crops. On my land, I introduced citrus plants that keep away the ants that were ruining my bananas.

"You see, I am a poor peasant. A tiny ant plagued me. I had tried using chemicals, but that hurt the soil.

"Through CARE, I saw the success of the other farmers and replicated it on my land. You see, with something like groundcover, I save some time. I no longer spend hours pulling out weeds or cutting back brush.

With more time, I can take care of the harvest. And I take care of the earth."

An Outdoor Classroom
We were hiking downhill this time, through dense vegetation deep in the jungle. As we walked through papaya and banana trees, we passed crude signs marked with names of plant varieties. This was Jorge's classroom, where he brought farmers in the community to show them examples of new techniques. "This is the web, you know, for the ground. Groundcover prevents erosion and loss of topsoil," he said, pointing. "Those are the grafted banana trees. It is a simple technique where soft stems are removed and replaced with mature ones with a simple grafting procedure. With this technique, trees are productive for 10, 15, sometimes even 20 years longer than without grafting."

Chironex

Amazing! I knew that you would find corroboration for your grafting experiment. Thanks for the link. It is so nice to see your words again my good friend.

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Scot

Tog Tan

Thanks lorax for the pix. This is the stuff I am trying to figure out here, old ancestral cultivars which the indigenous people keep. Many are lost due to the progress of agriculture as more 'better' plants are produced to cope with the needs of society.

Do you know that the original Pisang Tanduk is a very rare plant now? What that is offered is the 'improved' version called Pisang Lang(people still refer to it as Tanduk) which produces 3-4 hands of fruits. The old clone of Pisang Tanduk produce only 1 hand of much bigger fruits.

Lastly, I can't figure how the plants became dwarf growing under shade even after many generations. Plants grow taller under shade, rite?

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

chong

Wow - Lorax! Thank you so much! Now that I've started it, a couple of others have PM'd me to be added to the list of interested members. I don't know how many you can buy of them, but the request has just gone up from the 3 that I originally requested.

Again, thanks a million! ! ! !!

Warm regards,
Chong

Tog Tan

Oi Lorax! Whatever number you are gonna ship off to the guys in the .org, just the remember the last one is mine! Ok, Milady?
Mucho Gracias!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

lorax

Good lord! Some of y'all may have to wait.... I only found these in one little village. I may just have to learn how to TC for this! Either that, or you'll have to be patient until I have my own plants and they pup.

Tog - the way the process was explained to me, the absolute full shade that is found under primary forest canopy here had a stunting effect on the ancestor plants, and the families just kept selecting the shortest pups and allowing those to prosper. The one farmer I spoke to said that the plant had been in his family for 10 generations, and that the method of dwarfing the plantain was handed down as an oral tradition. I'm guessing that what they ended up with was probably a stable mutation, but whatever happened, the end result was plantains that don't get taller than about 6' maximum, and 4' on average, of pseudostem.