beam2050

do not know if this is an old wives tale, I do not know if I read it or was told it I can not remember. I do know I have heard of it several times, I believe I heard once from a dear friend/farmer from Ocala fl., now passed.

I do know from reading here that banana taste is generally different depending on your local.

what I have been told/read that when the orange trees here start to fruit that putting down lime will take the acidity out some [from the fruit] and make the fruit sweeter.

so...... outside of different soils could the difference in taste be attributed to soil acidity? I know my property has a low ph [high acidity]

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

Gabe15

There may be some indirect effect, but I can't imagine it would be the same mechanism as in citrus, as for those fruits, sugars are created in the plant and translocated to the fruit while still attached, whereas with bananas, the sugar is derived from the breakdown of starches within the fruit, and can happen while detached from the plant. In my experience, the factors which modify sweetness within a cultivar the greatest is in it's post harvest handling, particularly avoiding cooler temperatures especially during ripening. I'm sure there are ways to boost the maximum potential sweetness to some degree by cultivation modifications, but I can't imagine it could be greater than the boost you typically see by ideal storage and ripening temperatures.

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

beam2050

thank you gabe I was hoping you might respond to this.

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5