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gautam · 11-18-2010, 06:32 AM

Hi Ray & Darkman,

Thanks very much for your warm welcome. Please refer to my other post re:this. Re: your plant topics:

A. Bunchy Top Virus:

I have written without success to the following. Since I am an Indian, they will not bother replying!! You, on the other, may be assured of a reply, provided you use snail mail. The written word on paper, from a genuine "American" should get a response. Trust me on this.

[There must be a reason why the best scientists can only flourish in the USA, right?]

The gentleman below is SUPPOSED to run the Banana cv. Kanthali project. This is something very close to my heart, BUT.......

Prof. Md. Abu Hasan
Project Leader, Banana
B.C.K.V. ( abbreviation for below)
Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya ( means Agricultural University)
PO Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Mohanpur, District Nadia,
West Bengal 741252
INDIA

mdahasan_bckv@yahoo.com

also write to the:
Chair, Dept. Horticulure,

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya
PO Krishi Viswavidyalaya
Mohanpur, District Nadia,
West Bengal 741252
INDIA

Either of these entities should help. They know how to find the seeds easily. Import of seeds is easy. A buzzillion Indo-US programs going on all the time.

Herb Aldwinckle at USDA-ARS, Geneva, NY, has a good program with the Papaya Ringspot Virus. I have a brief acquaintance with the UHawaii Taro breeding people, re: virus curing.

B.
The Director,
National Research Centre for Banana,
Thogamalai Road,
Thayanur Post,
Trichy - 620 102.
Tamil Nadu.

These people are into south Indian varieties, some good ones. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research [IIHR], Bengaluru, has cv. Kanthali, but few outside Nadia, 24 Pargana districts in West Bengal mess around intensively with the BIJOO/Seedy landrace.

Phoenix sylvestris: Thanks for a fantastic picture. You don't know how much I appreciate this!!

I should be very interested in learning the provenance. CA Huntington Garden seed?

US stocks P.s. reputedly hybridized with P.canariensis? True? Urban legend?

If you ever taste the high quality first flush golden syrup [made about now] from this palm, you will throw aside Maple Syrup forever. Then, the Late Harvest jaggery called PATALI is the most intense Maple Sugar you may imagine.If you have Bangladeshi friends from districts MADARIPUR, JHENAIDAHA, JESSORE or FARIDPUR in that order, please request them to get you 1) pure unadulterated NOLEN & KHEJUR PATALI GOOR. They will consider it a huge honor, that someone knows such specific details of their country and has entrusted them with the privilege of introducing their nation. I meant to say, "order" them to get you stuff from the districts in the order I mentioned. They will LOVE being "ordered" this way. It will be a true honor. The poorer and more marginalized they are on the social scale both here & at "home", the more gratified they will feel by the chance to show off their motherland to a stranger, and the better their rural contacts!!

Likewise, if you know anyone from West Bengal, demand the PURE stuff from NADIA or North 24-Pargana district.

Your tree is doing so well in its confined space! In the wild, it would have been growing a massive root system. Just as a joke, I would say, that tree is nearing 7 years and is more than ready to tap. On deep alluvium, you would get 15 liters of sap with up to 14 % total saccharose, per tap, at least 3 taps/month. I have a 500 page monograph on the palm, and its utility in modern intensive agriculture!! It is TODAY in its unimproved state at minimum 3X, to 9X more productive AND efficient than sugarcane, especially subtropical cane.

In Australia, cane swallows up EACH YEAR more than 55K hectares of virgin tropical forest owing to SOIL SICKNESS in cane lands. Yet AU loses >> AU$200 million/yr to this syndrome, plus a HUGE environmental cost. The sugar date LOVES a touch of frost & hence could be grown much further south than tropical Queensland. Likewise, Argentina and Southern Brazil are LOW Sugar Recovery areas for cane, on account of short growing seasons & cold weather. Here too, as also in southern China & southern Africa, the palm could perform wonders.

Australia has Graham Farquhar & his spiritual descendants + the photosynthetic groups, plus Passioura and his root studies group. Brazil has EMBRAPA. I should urge these two get together and critically assess this species, a la the oil palm. Sugar will become a strategic resource 25-40 years hence, and we cannot have sugar crops that are destructively harvested e.g. cane, beet:that is not thermodynamically sustainable given our limited water & energy supplies.

Sugar(S) will be as strategic as petroleum because we shall have small vehicular fuel cells with on-board formation driven by extremozymes, cellulosome & fluid-bed technology etc. [see DUMESIC, U. Wisconsin]. The time for WESTERN nations to plan is NOW, because things take time. The history of the sugar beet is most enlightening in this respect. Between 1805 to 1869, a plant with <1% sugar, drove out the sugarcane in Indian and Javanese markets.

11-18-2010, 06:32 AM	#5 (permalink)
gautam Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 5 BananaBucks : 3,897 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 12 Times in 5 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: Hi from newb! Hi Ray & Darkman, Thanks very much for your warm welcome. Please refer to my other post re:this. Re: your plant topics: A. Bunchy Top Virus: I have written without success to the following. Since I am an Indian, they will not bother replying!! You, on the other, may be assured of a reply, provided you use snail mail. The written word on paper, from a genuine "American" should get a response. Trust me on this. [There must be a reason why the best scientists can only flourish in the USA, right?] The gentleman below is SUPPOSED to run the Banana cv. Kanthali project. This is something very close to my heart, BUT....... Prof. Md. Abu Hasan Project Leader, Banana B.C.K.V. ( abbreviation for below) Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya ( means Agricultural University) PO Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur, District Nadia, West Bengal 741252 INDIA mdahasan_bckv@yahoo.com also write to the: Chair, Dept. Horticulure, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya PO Krishi Viswavidyalaya Mohanpur, District Nadia, West Bengal 741252 INDIA Either of these entities should help. They know how to find the seeds easily. Import of seeds is easy. A buzzillion Indo-US programs going on all the time. Herb Aldwinckle at USDA-ARS, Geneva, NY, has a good program with the Papaya Ringspot Virus. I have a brief acquaintance with the UHawaii Taro breeding people, re: virus curing. B. The Director, National Research Centre for Banana, Thogamalai Road, Thayanur Post, Trichy - 620 102. Tamil Nadu. These people are into south Indian varieties, some good ones. Indian Institute of Horticultural Research [IIHR], Bengaluru, has cv. Kanthali, but few outside Nadia, 24 Pargana districts in West Bengal mess around intensively with the BIJOO/Seedy landrace. Phoenix sylvestris: Thanks for a fantastic picture. You don't know how much I appreciate this!! I should be very interested in learning the provenance. CA Huntington Garden seed? US stocks P.s. reputedly hybridized with P.canariensis? True? Urban legend? If you ever taste the high quality first flush golden syrup [made about now] from this palm, you will throw aside Maple Syrup forever. Then, the Late Harvest jaggery called PATALI is the most intense Maple Sugar you may imagine.If you have Bangladeshi friends from districts MADARIPUR, JHENAIDAHA, JESSORE or FARIDPUR in that order, please request them to get you 1) pure unadulterated NOLEN & KHEJUR PATALI GOOR. They will consider it a huge honor, that someone knows such specific details of their country and has entrusted them with the privilege of introducing their nation. I meant to say, "order" them to get you stuff from the districts in the order I mentioned. They will LOVE being "ordered" this way. It will be a true honor. The poorer and more marginalized they are on the social scale both here & at "home", the more gratified they will feel by the chance to show off their motherland to a stranger, and the better their rural contacts!! Likewise, if you know anyone from West Bengal, demand the PURE stuff from NADIA or North 24-Pargana district. Your tree is doing so well in its confined space! In the wild, it would have been growing a massive root system. Just as a joke, I would say, that tree is nearing 7 years and is more than ready to tap. On deep alluvium, you would get 15 liters of sap with up to 14 % total saccharose, per tap, at least 3 taps/month. I have a 500 page monograph on the palm, and its utility in modern intensive agriculture!! It is TODAY in its unimproved state at minimum 3X, to 9X more productive AND efficient than sugarcane, especially subtropical cane. In Australia, cane swallows up EACH YEAR more than 55K hectares of virgin tropical forest owing to SOIL SICKNESS in cane lands. Yet AU loses >> AU$200 million/yr to this syndrome, plus a HUGE environmental cost. The sugar date LOVES a touch of frost & hence could be grown much further south than tropical Queensland. Likewise, Argentina and Southern Brazil are LOW Sugar Recovery areas for cane, on account of short growing seasons & cold weather. Here too, as also in southern China & southern Africa, the palm could perform wonders. Australia has Graham Farquhar & his spiritual descendants + the photosynthetic groups, plus Passioura and his root studies group. Brazil has EMBRAPA. I should urge these two get together and critically assess this species, a la the oil palm. Sugar will become a strategic resource 25-40 years hence, and we cannot have sugar crops that are destructively harvested e.g. cane, beet:that is not thermodynamically sustainable given our limited water & energy supplies. Sugar(S) will be as strategic as petroleum because we shall have small vehicular fuel cells with on-board formation driven by extremozymes, cellulosome & fluid-bed technology etc. [see DUMESIC, U. Wisconsin]. The time for WESTERN nations to plan is NOW, because things take time. The history of the sugar beet is most enlightening in this respect. Between 1805 to 1869, a plant with <1% sugar, drove out the sugarcane in Indian and Javanese markets.