I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Usually we do not see the cases our supermarket bananas are shipped in, but yesterday they have packed my groceries in an empty banana box which stated that the bananas were treated with Thiabendazole, Imazalil and Azoxystrobin. Yuck! Had to research those chemicals and it just makes me want to grow more banana plants in my yard.....

Thiabendazole:
It is used primarily to control mold, blight, and other fungal caused diseases in fruits (e.g. oranges) and vegetables

Toxic Effect on Brain or Spinal Cord Function
Serious and Sudden Stomach or Intestine Problem
Severe Delirium
Severe Hallucination
Numbness
Loss of Appetite
Severe Nausea

Severe Throwing Up
Severe Diarrhea
Dry Eye
Ringing in the Ears
Dry Mouth
Drowsiness
Dizziness
Head Pain

Infrequent side effects of thiabendazole oral:
Inflammation of Skin caused by an Allergy
Severe Itching
Severe Rash
.....

The following link shows you what chemicals to expect on your supermarket bananas:

What’s On My Food :: Pesticides on Bananas

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

You can also buy organic bananas. But to make another comment, the main disease they are fighting is crown rot which is only a problem with certain varieties. I don't treat my bananas with a fungicide and I don't have trouble with crown rot.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

There's a reason why someday I want to have a few acres. :)

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

I agree. Not saying that 100% organic is the only way to go. I try to use a lot of organic products but sometimes we just cannot avoid the chemicals. The banana case in question came from Ecuador...

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Certified organic does not mean "no pesticides", nor does it mean "only non-chemical" pesticides. I know if you read the opening paragraph of the USDA NOP requirements it all sounds warm and fuzzy. Now go scroll down and start reading the numerous exceptions: Organic Certification | USDA.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

I used to reuse the boxes when I did a lot more wholesale. Bananas from all over the world are treated with fungicides. The corporation doesnt matter. What you will notice with a lot of the organic fruit is a wax seal on the crown. But lets face it, you aren't eating the peel which is where the fungicides are.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Yes it stinks but look at everything we eat. We have no idea how healthy it is being processed. Just what we are told and assume. Of course fast food is bad for you no matter what :). I do know that from a Master Gardener stand point in classes we learned spraying the actual plant,buy the time the fruit or veggie was ready the sprays were pretty leaned out. Meaning the plant dissolved some.I guess better then nothing.. I dont quit believe the whole organic thing,unless I am there growing it myself or watching it we have no idea if its pesticide free. I wish I had tons of land too just to grow them for fun not just for fruit reasons. If we owned are house I would have a bunch more then the almost 3 dozen I have now.:08:

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

So my Q? is when I throw all them sprayed peels out in my compost pile how long before I should use them? and will it harm my banana's growing here?

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Don't eat the skins and don't use them for compost.

Problem solved.

I eat store bought naners almost every day between my backyard bunches.

So do the dogs. Everybody's happy.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Banana peel is semi-permeable, so there is a chance of intake with the fruit pulp.
And I am also aware that in "third world countries" people use banana peel ( and papaya) as enzymatic and mechanical wound dressing. It can also be used to remove necrotic tissue and enhance wound healing.
However, this is not why I originally had posted this. And after researching the mentioned fungicides I think there are probably other chemicals in our food chain which are a lot worse for us. I will continue to buy supermarket bananas until my own are ripe to eat, but hey: makes me want to grow more banana plants for sure :)

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

All this talk of toxic food makes me want a banana and a twinke.:woohoonaner::woohoonaner:

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

:ha:
Hahaha, you are funny. Yes, I will need to have a store bought banana for breakfast, too, but if my memory serves me right, banana cream filled twinkies are only banana flavored, so no real bananas were harmed in the production of those and that would probably be a totally different thread....��

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

true

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

I love growing my own food so that I know what I am eating. My only desire is for more land and more time to grow more. Ok actually I need more sun the acre I have would probably be enough to grow plenty if it wasn't so shaded.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

For someone to grow all of their food is a difficult task with no assistance. The statistics from Cornell are:

• Amateurs at agriculture - 5 acres per person, 7 people minimum; a total of 35 acres.
• Persons with at least 2 years of agriculture college - 3 acres per person, 5 people minimum; a total of 15 acres.
• Experienced, expert agriculturists - one and a third acres per person, 3 people; a total of 4 acres.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

Are those stats for vegetarians? Chickens don't take up much space but cows do. And I like beef. If you want to raise meat, you have to provide grain unless they're on pure grass; if so they need more space than 1 1/3 acres. And that leaves me no space to grow other food.

What about coffee? I suppose I could raise it here but not very successfully and I'd rather give it up (I don't drink much) than switch to chicory or some plant that tastes like mud. (Old joke my father told...) My grandparents had 250 acres in upstate NY; they milked 150 to 200 Holsteins. They also had 2000 or more Leghorns. They obviously grew more than just for themselves and they baled hay plus grew field corn for the animals. When my father was growing up during the Depression they had also lambs and pigs for market. My grandmother had a large garden. Guess what? If they wanted chocolate or flour or sugar, they went to the store.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

I want to be the amateur here. 1.33 acres would never be enough for me. Is this study referring to just fruits and veggies? I would need a lot of land for my animals, too. Would love to have more chickens and a couple milk goats to make my own cheese....
I will have to keep dreaming.....

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

URBAN HOMESTEAD RECORD HARVEST!!! | Little Homestead in the City - the Urban Homestead Journal

There is a family in california that grows 7000 lbs of food on 1/10 of an acre garden area they own 1/5 of an acre total. I think you'd find with new square foot gardening/ intercropping/ plants started indoors to save time. I can grow a crop of radish in the area I'm going to grow tomatoes if I start my tomatoes indoors instead of planting seed in place. I have about 20 chickens that make me about a dozen eggs a day in about 1000 sf. While I'm not saying you can live on 4 eggs a day (we have a family of 3) but it is 28 grams of protein per person with would go along way and that doesn't count that I hatch and eat some too. I do buy their organic food elsewhere which I don't mind. They also get garden scraps and forage in my yard. They love earthworms, keep the snakes down. I also know the farmer who sells me grass fed beef so I don't need to grow that to know what is in that food or to avoid unnecessary antibiotics, (I grow my own chicken so there is no antibiotics there).

I will probably always buy rice. I don't use flour much. I made enough sweet potatoes last year to last the whole year. We don't eat as many as some but we made about 100 lbs in a small 6x6 area. So if you didn't want rice or flour you could grow enough starch in a relatively small area.

I have 11 banana plants in small pots and a double mahoi in the process of plumping. As you know once they potted ones come to bear fruit that will be 25-40 pounds of banana at a time. I have some figs that first fruited this year so hopefully next year will be a good year for them. I have a peach tree, pindo palm, mulberry, muscadine grape, some citrus, pear, jujube, loquat, raspberry and blackberry. I raise bees. I have a pond with tilapia. I have a garden that does well when I can tend it. This is all in a very small portion of my yard. I am still waiting for some of the trees to get more mature. My neighborhood is very shady and has very tall trees so even if I cut down every tree in the yard there would be some shade in my yard. I also don't want to cut down all the trees as many of them keep my house shaded and keeps my electric bill down.

I don't grow my food to save money, though it does in most cases. I do it for knowing what is in the food. To provide my family with as healthy food as possible. I don't buy most my food organic at the store due to cost and the fact it can still have lots I don't want.

But it can be done and even if I can't grow all my own food, I can do my part to lower the intake of pesticide, fungicides, herbicides, antibiotics, spray on colorant, possible sickness like samonella and such of my family. It also helps the use an dependence on oil and the carbon foot print of shipping everything around the world. I don't see it as an all or nothing deal. I do what I can. I just wish I had more sun to do it with. Maybe another acre.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

When I was getting my bachelor's the figure we were told was 900 sqft. But that is in my part of the world where you can grow all year. We actually had to plan the garden out for a year. Its pretty intense to do as it requires a lot of relay cropping and intercropping. A bunch of bananas has 10000 calories, roughly. I think the 100 plants behind my house yield 2 million calories per year on 1/6 Acre. I could definitely grow greens and calabaza in the middles. If I had coconuts that would be a good protein source. I could live out of my backyard. I just wouldnt get much meat.

Re: I need to grow more banana plants....
 

kizanne, where are you located? At least zone would be nice.

I've gardened in a warm 7, a 6 and a very chilly 6 (felt like 4 to me!) and now am trying to grow in 9a in horrid dirt that isn't mine--right now I'm doing a 2 gallon pot experiment for a gleaning org that wants to help people learn how to grow vegetables for themselves. So far it's a huge failure (I can't even get fresh seeds to sprout reliably in the dirt I was given)--my next step is to put an inch of potting soil on top and plant in that--never had these issues but this determined old dog is learning new tricks so this will happen. This has to be totally turnkey--hand someone 5 pots preplanted that they water and harvest. Some will take them, ignore them and let them die, some will follow the instructions and hopefully a few will become so fascinated with the process that they'll be receptive to learning more then want to teach others.

We'll see....it's a start....