Banana Primer with Pix
 

http://webebananas.com/culture.html

I finally have my banana seminar from last year roughed in with the pictures from the presentation. I hope to add quite a bit of material this fall, after fig season is over. This was a 50 minute presentation, so couldn't get to in depth - thus the need to add some additional material when I get time.

Enjoy.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Nice job Jon! Thanks for sharing that.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Thanks, Good Job, :bananas_b

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Great presentation...Thanks:goteam:

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Jon, it just keeps on improving!

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, Jon is an excellent conference speaker. His talk this year at the Festival of Fruit 2008 will be worth the price of admission.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Thanks for posting that. I like the "keep it simple" style. It's also nice to see some of the things I've learned myself confirmed by a very experienced grower...scissors for pruning, cutting pups with minimal digging around the parent.

I'm curious about propping. How often do you find plants fall over if they are not propped? I had a couple fall over before I figured out how to get the pups off without cutting the roots of the mother (narrow shovel, sever the attachment and pull it out). But since then none have actually fallen. Maybe because I don't get much wind? Is the prop just to prevent falling or does it improve the ripening time or something?

Matt

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

That was very interesting. Thank you for your contribution, I learned some things from it.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Excellent primer, many thanks for posting it.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Thank you so much!
Deb

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Great!

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Propping is from the realm of physics and structural engineering. Different plants have different thicknesses (some are very slender, some quite fat). Also depending on the style (mostly width) of the leaf stem (the part that forms the pseudostem) the truniks are stronger or weaker. When you take something long, and slender and subject it to wind, it can bend or break. The most extreme example is hurricane damage (even to thick and strong things). The other issue is hanging a large weight on the end of a long object (pole, etc.). Pickup a 10 lb sack of sugar with y9ur hands, and then pick it up on the end of a fishing pole. Big difference. So with bananas: when you hang a large weight on the end of a slender pole (trunk) you have tremendous leverage which will act to bend of break your pole (trunk). (Now put that weight on a long trunk and put it in the wind at the same time). The point of the prop is to carry the wieght of the bananas, rather than allowing the weak banana trunk to carry the weight. You are not propping the trunk, but the weight of the bananas. Sort of like you "helping" your small child to carry something. You are doing the work, and he is holding onto the handle, thinking that he is actually carrying the load.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

Awesome, Jon! Great photos and lots of good information. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

10' from the plant...geesh im glad i didnt plant my nanas where i was going to! right next to my water meter. lol. that was awesome!!!! thank you for posting that it was great and i learned a lot too! btw im still looking out my window and i dont see any plant sale anywhere! LOL!!!

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

I'm looking out my window and definitely seeing a plant sale. Feel free to visit on Saturday. ;-))))

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

How do we order from you? (Been wondering for quite a while...guess I just ask via email?)

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

E-mail from Encanto Farms Nursery

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

I suggest going in person. Jon's wife is also pleasant and a very supportive/understanding person of his passion for bananas (and figs, etc.). Jon has big pups!

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

you sell your nanas??????? ok i get it....or hopefully soon ill get it. lol! thank you for the question taylor! i was wondering back last winter and never stopped to ask. duh had a nana moment.:ha:would love to visit...i havent seen the big sd since 1985.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

It would be great to visit. The closest I've been is LA.

Re: Banana Primer with Pix
 

mskitty, you are way overdue a visit.

It is pretty tough, having to live in San Diego, and all. My friends in the colder climates only have to garden six months of the year. And then they have six months off in the winter. Nobody in Michigan has to worry about watering plants in January, or even mowing the lawn (I don't have any, unless you count the sugar cane as a grass (it is), and you have a very big lawn mower).

San Diego has so many wonderful things to see, do, enjoy; an extremely varied commercial fruit, plant, and nursery industry (Cactus to Macadamias, Dragon Fruit to Figs, almost anything grown anywhere in the world).

Fall is a fabulous time to visit, when the weather is cooler, the Santa Ana winds make the sky sparkle, and rain almost never, ever spoils you ability to go, see and do anything your heart desires.

Did I mention the World Famous Zoo, Sea World, surfing, breweries, Quail Gardens, Miramar Air show...

Visitors are always welcome.