These banana plants have provided me with so much excitement in the garden.
I was just thrilled when I first got them, seven in total, and in fact so thrilled was I that I had all seven planted in one afternoon.
I was then excited to see them grow, and when they did that, I was impatient to see them fruit. Seeing the first flower emerge and reveal the first hand was just marvelous, and watching them ripen was a daily ritual.
Cutting down and tasting the first bananas was a momentous occasion, and today, with the last of them down, there was just one thing left to do.
Today I got to chop a whole plant down.
Like most people I'm sure, once one goal has been met, you immediately set your sights on the next one. I have been excited about cutting this plant down ever since the fruit first appeared. There is something quite fascinating about destruction, and chopping down a huge banana plant was really something I was looking forward to.
Luckily I had been warned by Scarlett from BLF that banana bunches are heavy. Really heavy. Even with 80% of the fruit already taken from it, cutting down the rest of the bunch when it's just you and a saw on top of a ladder is quite the experience.
I was a little concerned about my ability to cut through the plant, but I needn't have worried, it was a lot like the proverbial hot knife through butter, really easy.
Of course what I really wanted to do was go for the base of the plant and fell the whole thing with a big "timber" shout, but unfortunately I had to be sensible and chop it off in segments. While not quite as exciting, I still got the chopping down a tree thrill.
These were the last ones left on the tree... spoils of war.
17 comments:
I'm a lumberjack and I'm OK
I play all night and work all day...
You are an Amazon of a woman, young Ali of the Banana Plantation.
Lucky the Cook wasn't there, she would have had the chainsaw out in a flash!!
Oh wow those trees are so gorgeous and so huge! Did you save any of the leaves to cook with? My grandma wraps fish in banana leaves and they are the best. I love the top pic of Little Lumberjack with the banana booty!
Looks like you weren't the only one eager to cut it down - fun for all the family!
Now for the worse part - the clearing away.
Ooo Hazel, a chainsaw would have been so much fun, but for my own safety, and that of my garden, I do not own one. Nrrrrwwwwwwwwwwwwh! (that's me having fun with a chainsaw)
Mrs Bok I tend to use the new leaves for cooking, I'm not sure if that's the right thing to do or not though... I have a friend who wants to cook rice in a banana leaf, and I can't wait to try it!
LBM the boys had the best time, we are obviously a family of cheerful destruction :) and yes, clearing away - BORING!
So, what happens now? Im not familiar with banana growing down here in SA, do you have to plant another one, or does this one shoot again....?
Your little banana boys look very cute there...
Looks like great fun was had by everyone. So how long does it take from when you plant them to chopping them down?
adorable children
Growing and harvesting Bananas is the best fun! And the fruit has to be tasted to be believed :-) Tree-ripened, there's nothing like it.
Ali, plant remains are the best fertiliser for that plant so chop all the pieces up as small as you can and put them around the plant. Although shallow-rooted, Banana roots extend well out from the plant so put the to-be-composted plant remains well away from the original stem. Enchanted and Judith - Bananas grow new plants up from the rhizome (the underground part of the stem), each shoot has the potential for one bunch only.
I've never cooked with Banana leaves, sounds fantastic. I've eaten sticky rice in Banana leaves which someone made whose tradition it is so she knew what she was doing. Like the Pandan, I've not used that yet, either.
Ali, you didn't say WHY you were chopping down the banana tree. Am I right in believing that this is something you routinely need to do when the fruit has matured? And presumably the thing then sprouts another trunk from the same root system?
That looks like so much fun! I've only just planted my banana and I'm already looking forward to cutting it down. :)
What a numbnut I am! The plants only produce the one bunch Mark, so after the fruit has been cut down you cut down the rest of the plant too. Then, as Elaine said, you can use them for fertilizer.
As the main plant is growing, tons of little banana suckers appear around the base; these grow from the big banana rhizome that's under the ground. The suckers grow to replace the mother plant, and from this plant I just chopped down I'd say easily 20 suckers popped up, probably because of all the rain we had. You don't let them all grow, because they suck the life out of the mother!
And I know I entitled this post "felling trees", but bananas aren't trees, they are a plant. As much as I want particular things to grow on trees, some things just don't :D
I have to agree with you Ali. There is something very satisying about chopping - I know 'cos I cut down a few in our chook yard the other day. Strangely enough - the chooks just loved jumping up and pecking the decapitated trunk. Nice and succulent I guess.
BTW - please enter my in your comp. Is this the right place?? I love the idea of the Heritage Seeds book. cheers Wendy
I can't wait to chop one down that isn't in such a squeezy area... I want a machete and one swipe!
For the competition would you leave a comment on the actual giveaway post for me... otherwise I will forget to include you, my brain only has so much storage space :p
Makes me just a little homesick
Ali; Thanks for the explanation. Genuinely very interesting. We folks from colder climes only see the bananas once they have made it to the shops. Sounds like you may have enough plants to go into large-scale production soon. A stall at the local Farmers' Market? A sideline for Geronimo Jerky?
Thank you for the information Ali I actually might think of planting one, they look like a lot of fun.
But do they need a lot of water?
My pleasure Mark. The next one I cut down I will take some photos of the sucker, and also the cut plant as the way it grows is really interesting. The boys and I had the best time today basically peeling the tree apart.
Unfortunately here in Queensland we are not allowed to give away our banana plants, and we are also limited to the number we can grow, although I can't remember what that number is right now. This is to prevent the spread of disease; bunchy top I think it is called.
Tanya, when I lived in Brazil the sight of a banana plant used to have me near tears... both of joy and homesickness!
Cathy yes, but having said that, I never water mine... we got a whole lot of rain here last year though, so I don't know how they will go when a drought strikes again.
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