The Post Summer slash Fall Newsletter

 

See....they really do eat Bananas!***See below

While we were monkeying around...the summer passed us by!  Well, of course, that is perfectly normal. We head into shorter days and cooler temperatures.  We can still enjoy the bananas plants for perhaps a couple of months. 

Preparing for Winter--Around this time of year, I usually start getting email about banana protection during the cold.  My mantra...is "Mulch".  Sure, you can wrap the stem in burlap and c-7 Christmas lights, but I don't really think it is necessary. That certainly won't save the leaves from a frost and it won't prevent the trunk from freezing should we have severe cold temps.  The best thing that you can do is mulch around the base of your plants with free grass clippings or leaves.  Heavy mulching will provide protection that has been adequate here in the LowCountry. Cut brown/drooping leaves if they offend you or leave them attacthed for unsightly pseudo stem protection until Spring.  Remember...never run with a machete:

All you need to know in 45 seconds!

3+ inches or 8+centimeters of rain the last few days of September

Typically... and I say, typically--in the absence of tropical disturbances, September is one of the drier months. This September has been an exception. I have personally emptied over 4 inches of water from my rain gauge twice this September.  Even more remarkable than the rainfall is the lack of clear skies this month.  Never have I seen so few sunny days in a month's time.  What does this mean for bananas?  It means that entering the Winter the p-stems will be full of water.  Water and potentially ice can act as insulation for the core from freezing temperatures.  This, of course, is a key necessity in fruit production for our area.  Barring an extreme Winter, fruit production should rebound in the Summer of 2015.
 

Tropical Iguana visiting the Simply Bananas stand in Marion Square

Season 8 was really Great--Simply Bananas has now completed 8 seasons at the Charleston Farmer's Market, one of the top farmers markets in the country.  We always enjoy 'talking bananas' with everyone who stops by.  Thank you for making season 8 so fine, and we'll see you in April for season nine!




This Space Intentionally Left Blank






A dramatic pause...








.. for the incredibly anti-climactic How's It Hangin' Section!

'Wild' Orinocos from abandoned house on Edisto's Big Bay Creek

 

Ben's Bananas from Downtown Charleston

Ornamental Bordelon from here on James Island

Well, that will do it for this edition. Remember that if you have questions or concerns about bananas, I am easy to contact.
You can reach me on the Simply Bananas Facebook Page,
by the comment box below, or via email.

***This photo is from our Trail Camera Project in Costa Rica.  
See more pictures by clicking here:
Rainforest Animals on Trail Cams.

All About Pups...The Late-May-/Slash/-Early-June-Summer-Blog-posting!

Lou Ferrigno, as "The Incredible Hulk", Friday nights on CBS...circa 1978.

Oh...How times have changed!--Remember a few weeks ago when those gnarly green nubs that were poking out of last years smelly banana stumps?  Now what have we got?  Big Green Monsters!  The energy from the 2013's big plants is now funneled into explosive growth.  We'll continue to see this for another few months if we get decent rainfall.  Things will be looking up from the bananas point of view.

Pup-mania-- Calls, emails, random passers-by at the Charleston Farmers Market, etc., all with the same question, "Why are my banana plants pullulating* so much this Spring?"   Banana plants don't really 'know' the seasons.  All they know is that something, somehow, removed the growing portion of the plant.  In the tropics, it could be eaten by an animal or a fallen tree may have broken the banana plant in half.  The results are the same: Send out new growth.  This could be a replacement stem and/or new growth in the form of pups. 

Don't Forget--to Water.  May has been pretty dry.

Should the Zombie Apocalypse come to fruition, sooner rather than later, rest assured that your banana plants can be the key to your survival.  In addition to the great fruit that you may get, if conditions are right, there are many uses for the banana plant itself.  Many of these uses can be seen in this very interesting video:

Pup Chow--If you watched the video above, you may have seen the part about eating the inner core of the stem( at the 9:57 mark).  Here is a Thai recipe that looks like a delicious way to use some of those excess pups.  Eat those pups! Step by Step recipe.

When you get full of those delicious pups for dinner, consider transplanting some.  It is an easy project.  Place a shovel between the mother plant and the pup and dig straight down.  You should see the pup loosen.  Dig around the remaining sides and the pup should pop right up.  Trim the leaves in half and transplant in a desired location.
 
If you have ever wondered how they get those bananas from very tall plants, check out this video.  You can see it is a very smooth operation when done by skilled hands.

  

The How's it Hangin' section:  We got nothin'...yet.
When you get a flower or fruit, send some pictures our way and we'll post them up in our very next blog! 

*pullulating-definition

The 'Man-I'm-Glad-It's-Officially-Spring', Update:

                   

        So...What are you going to do... What can you do?

Don't just sit there and feed your bananas to the goat!

My Gosh, man, where have you been?--Well, when the LowCountry got cold, we went south.  We left Charleston on January 7 for a scheduled Winter excursion to Central America.  On the day we left, it was 21°f at our house and I knew the plants were in for a big hit.  It was not cold enough for a fatal blow, but deep damage was certain.  As Winter dragged on, I could only hand wring from afar as our 'tropical' plants were battered again and again by cold wet weather. 

I certainly believe--that this year mirrors the Winter of 2011.  My records indicate that we had cold weather well into April.  In fact, our Saba finally put out a tiny new sprig on APRIL 20, that Spring!  On our FaceBook page, I documented the phoenix-like return of the Saba Banana with "The Wednesday Afternoon Saba Report" photo album.  Here is another link: Click Me!
We just need a few 80° days to get things going.  If history repeats itself, I suspect we'll some green above ground in then next month.  Everybody relax.

So what can you do now--If you have not done so, cut away the dead parts of the plant.  I needed to cut most of mine away before I got any indication of life inside of the trunk(psuedostem).  After a normal Winter, I would not suggest such butchery.  A rotting core can spread downwards and kill what's is left of that stem.  Cut away the stink and the mush. 
Here is how I did it a few weeks ago:

 
What was I doing in Costa Rica?--Well, there was research to be done.  You may recall our camera-trap project that we initiated in the jungle last July.  We set out 12 motion activated cameras and let them snap away for 6 months.  We are in the process of cataloging our findings from the over 12,000 images.  Here is more of what we found: CLICK ME!

One night, the Kinkajou came for a banana snack.

How's it Hangin' Section
Obviously, there won't be much to see...but I ran outside and shot a few pictures. 

The Saba, working hard on a leaf.

 

Michael. my neighbor, has this new 'leaf' on his Ice Cream mat.

 

The Namwah shows a little green.

Remember, these early leaves will be shredded and ugly for the first month or so.  When you get 3 or more leaves, shredding should decline.

See you next time!

Comments are welcome.

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