Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack Daw
But another question: For which variety do you need at least 12 leaves to have a good, harvestable bunch? Is it some guideline: If it doesn't have at least 12 leaves, chop it down and burn? Does it always have to be some disease?
Also, what is the optimal number of leaves for extremely good quality of fruit? I guess the more the better, but at some point many of those leaves become redundant and take more energy than give back, don't they? I can't imagine a banana with say 20 green leaves.
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The more leaves the better. If they are on a growing plant, there is no point at which the energy required to sustain a leaf is more than the energy it is gaining from it. When this happens, the plant will shed the leaf. Plants have many built in mechanisms to be the most efficient in whatever condition they are in. In order to grow (almost by definition), plants must be collecting more energy than they are using.
Since banana bunches are initiated months before you see them, and the number and potential size of the fruits are determined based on the state of the plant during initiation, it is possible that the state and conditions of the plant will be significantly different than what they were during initiation. For
For example, the plant could have made a bunch expecting that it will have 12 functional leaves to support it throughout its development, but if something happens (such as disease or high winds), and it does not have those 12 leaves, then the development of the bunch may be affected. If this happens, a general guideline (which really would vary by variety and conditions) is that at least 8 good functional leaves must be present in order to have the bunch properly develop.