Originally Posted by Mauro Gibo

Today at 10:52 PM
Dear friends and fellow plant growers of the Banana Org. Forum. After weeks and months of meditation in my cave, here, in the Far East I have decided to come back to the forum and expose my mystical experiments, theories and my Taoist phisophy. My theme is yet the same: Grafting Banana Specimens.
First of all, Greetings to everyone !
"Man follows the ways of the Earth,
The Earth follows the ways of Heaven,
Heaven follows the ways of Tao,
Tao follows its own ways."
That means that I will always follow my own way of grafting banana specimens no matter the hardships or contradictory point of views of my fellow botanists through out the world. I would like to repeat the words of the 3 Japanese Nobel Prize winners Mr. Nambu Youichi, Mr. Kobayashi Makoto and Mr. Masukawa Toshihide: "The most important thing to achieve your goal and success is the spirit of never quitting, no matter how difficult your experiment may be!" I intend to follow their teachings and never quit my grafting experiment until I get a new banana cultivar through grafting which still is considered impossible by many botanists and experts in biotechnology. Especially those who dedicate themselves to the tissue culture of the banana plant. Up to now, through my way of grafting banana shoots of different variety I have succeeded only in getting variegated species. I have not yet achieved my goal of getting a new banana cultivar of unchangeable identity. In the former threads I have said that I would not stop bugging the Brazilian Government Controlled Research Centers about my question. Is there really a method of grafting banana plants by the native Brazilians which we yet do not know of? Do the Brazilian farmers have an ancient stone age, simple method of grafting bananas, or not? Here is the second reply of my questions:
" Não existe nada a respeito de enxerto nos manuais técnicos sobre
bananeira. A prática que está referindo, não é enxerto e sim desbaste. A
retirada de brotos evitando a formação de touceira é muito importante,
pois evita competição entre plantas e aumenta o tamanho do cacho da
planta que fica. Existem outras explicações para obtenção de cachos
grandes no Vale da Ribeira. A primeira é que lá se cultiva banana
Nanicão ou Grande Naine que produzem cachos grandes. A segunda é que, em
algumas propriedades faz-se uma boa adubação e menejo da cultura, o que
ajuda a produzir bons cachos." Sorry again, it is in Portuguese not English, but here is a simple translation of the original:
In the Technical Manuals of Propagation Bananas, there is no information about this practice. The practice you have inquired about is called rough-hew. We leave few suckers to avoid grouth competition among them, which is very important, so the banana plants can produce larger bunches of bananas. There are other methods to obtain larger bunches of bananas in the Ribeira Valley, Southern region of Brazil. One of them is that they grow the Nanicao or the Grand Naine cultivar. The other pratice is that they fertilize the soil properly and apply the adequate management for the banana plantation to obtain good and bigger bunches.
I am not yet satisfied with the answers I've got, but I think it is time to stop bugging the Rearch Centers of Brazil. I do not want to annoy them anymore. That, only, I shall quit! But I will still continue my naive experiments for my own satisfaction.
I have decided to return to the forum today and open my big mouth, because I am very happy. I am not afraid of the coming cold winter and my banana specimens aren't either. I checked my plants and saw new suckers coming out of the ground. They are healthy and beautiful. That means that I don't have to wait for the spring to come like a pregnant woman anymore. My beautiful pups were already born, what shall I call them Chironex? Pups, Mutts or Mongrels? Half-breed banana pups?...
I'd like to speak a little about my philosophy: My Tao Te Ching, "The Way of Life":
"Everyone says that my way of life is the way of a simpleton.
Being largely the way of a simpleton is what makes it worth while....
These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose
And cherish:
To care,
To be fair,
To be humble.
When a man cares he is unafraid,
When he is fair he leaves enough for others,
When he is humble he can grow.
...See how fine the palaces
And see how poor the farms,
How bare the pesants granaries
While gentry wear embroideries
Hiding sharpened arms.
And the more they have the more they seize,
How can there be such men as these
Who never hunger, never thirst,
Yet eat and drink until they burst!
By Lao-tzu, harmony with nature, posted by Mauro Gibo.
I'm sorry, but I have to leave now. My banana babies wait for me. Thank you for taking your precious time to read my thread. Here is an ancient saying from the fareast to my friends of the forum:
Above all, I hope I don't buy the hate of the American ladies, especially the ladies of the forum.
Best things in life: Live in an American house, eat Chinese food and have a Japanese lady as a wife.
Worst things in life: Live in a Japanese house, eat British food and have an American wife.
Please forgive this simpleton with a big big mouth.
Bye for now. Once again, forgive me.