redtail_2006

Hi guys im after a book called bananas you can grow.Does anybody know if its a good book or not thank you..daz

asacomm

Hello redtail,

Although the data seems not to be the latest, the book is very handy and
referential to banana beginners.

redtail_2006

Hi mate thanks for the feed back.I am a banana beginer .Iv seen this book for sale and just thought id see what the views where on it before buying it.Iv looked on ebay but there arnt any and didnt really want to pay£15 for a new one...daz

Gabe15

Its great for a beginner, it has basic growing information and care tips and gives a little overview of common bananas grown in America. However, it is littered with errors, things that are just plain wrong and inconsistencies with itself (not to mention many stolen photos), so if you want any sort of technical information this book should not be your reference. But as mentioned earlier, a great book for beginners.

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

pitangadiego

I think it is available from Stokes Tropicals. Is is good, but will only last you about an hoiur or so - pretty small and basic.

__________________
Encanto Farms Nursery
http://encantofarms.com
We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com

redtail_2006

Than you guys.I may not bother buying a new one then ill keep a look out on ebay.Thanks again.....daz

kgbenson

Try: http://bookstore.ucdavis.edu/Display.cfm?itemId=2349

It isn't really cheap, but it has some good info.

The first book on bananas I got was Lessard, W.O.: The Complete Book of Bananas. It is older, and not a lengthy read, but I like having it.

Some other, depending on your needs:

Gowen, S. ed. (1996) Bananas and Plantains. Chapman & Hall, London ISBN 4-412-36870-6

Stover, R.H., Simmonds, N.W. (1987) Bananas 3rd ed. Longman Scientific & Technical, New York. ISBN 0-582-46357-2

Keith

__________________
Bee Sting Honey . . . So Good It Hurts
http://www.geocities.com/k2benson/TC...ban/TCban.html

pitangadiego

Lessard will probably cost $100 if you can find it - nice to have, in a way, but fairly brief, and not much depth.

__________________
Encanto Farms Nursery
http://encantofarms.com
We Be Bananas
http://webebananas.com

fish2026

I Went to amazon and plugged in bananas in their book section. Interesting results:

The Day the Teacher Went Bananas (Picture Puffin)

Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics Updated Edition with a New Preface (Paperback)
by Cynthia Enloe (Author) ( but it has pictures of bananas on the cover)

Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope Rhymes

But they did have Bananas- An American History 39 used ones from $3.23

Maybe I should have plugged in Growing Bananas

The Banana Men: American Mercenaries and Entrepreneurs in Central America, 1880-1930 (Paperback)

Hmm..

Gabe15

check out www.abebooks.com, they have many rare and hard to find books at reasonable prices. I have had very pleasant experiences with them.

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

mrbungalow

I believe Basjoofriend (Joachim from germany) is busy writing a book on bananas?

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Marc

Though dated, Lessard's book has been my #1 choice. In FLA you can find it much less than $100.00.

__________________
east of Naples, FL zone 10a warm humid sub tropical

kgbenson

A hundred bucks hunh? Wow. Glad I got mine when he still owned the banana farm.

Keith

__________________
Bee Sting Honey . . . So Good It Hurts
http://www.geocities.com/k2benson/TC...ban/TCban.html

Gabe15

Although I highly respect Lessard and his work with bananas, his book has many errors that should be noted to avoid confusion. There is still a lot of good information, however some of the information seems to be based off nothing but assumption or guesses. So although I still do like the book and enjoy looking through it, I would not recommend it as a completely reliable source of technical information.

If you really want to get in depth and learn about bananas, I highly recommend Simmonds 2 books, "Bananas" and "The Evolution of the Bananas". Both are excellent books that really cover almost all bases of banana biology (I got both from Abe Books for about $200 combined, ~70+130). Also if you want to know even more about things like cytology and genetics and how it relates to breeding and pollination and that kind of stuff, look up Ken Shepherd's "Cytogenetics of the Genus Musa", it is free for download from http://bananas.bioversityinternational.org.

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

kgbenson

No doubt, but it is a little piece of banana history.

Keith

__________________
Bee Sting Honey . . . So Good It Hurts
http://www.geocities.com/k2benson/TC...ban/TCban.html

jose luis

The best book I know is Bananas and plantains by J.C.Robinson published by CAB INTERNATIONAL 1996. Wishing you a good selection. Yours. Jose Luis.Vigo.Spain.

Epicatt2

It pays to check Amazon.com & ABEBooks.com from time to time. I just today found (and bought) a copy of Lessard's book 'like new', for $41.50 (shipping included).

There was another copy available today, showing as 'very good' on Amazon for $42.50 (or very closely thereabouts) that was sourced from Amazon w/ FREE SHIPPING.

Strike while the iron is hot.
(Or perhaps more appropriately, slip while the peel is wet!)

I haven't posted for awhile on here but hope this bit of info proves useful for one of our (quick) members here.

Cheers!

Paul M.
Tampa, FL / Alajuela, Costa Rica
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