What’s the deal with Bananas?

Bananas are one of the best sources of potassium we can get in a normal diet!

How do we care for these unique plants, and what are they susceptible to?

Bananas are a plant that grows near tropical rainforests and have been cultivated as a crop for thousands of years. There are several varieties of bananas, with different uses, but the amazing thing is that all parts of the plant - fruit, stem, leaves, and flowers are all useful as food or medicine!

Though science doesn’t actually know how or why, bananas can be used to help hypokalemia (low potassium levels), diarrhea, constipation, high cholesterol and diabetes. Some of the natural sugars in bananas act like fiber and help regulate the gastrointestinal tract.

Bunchy top bananas

One disease that affects bananas in nearly every geographic location is called Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV). It is a pathogen that is spread by direct transmission from the banana aphid (Pentalonia nigronervosa) from an infected plant to a healthy plant.

The initial symptom is the presence of dark-green spots on the petioles, midribs, and leaf veins of the newly emerging leaves. The infected leaves are erect, narrow, stunted, and often have yellow leaf margins. The leaves become smaller as the disease progresses. The infected plants does not produce any fruit.

Bananas with bunchy top do not produce fruit

Management involves removing any infected plant from the banana patch, including offspring, as any new plants from rhizomes of infected plants will also have the virus. Treatment to eliminate the aphid infestation is also recommended.

Healthy banana plant with a nice spray of fruit

Caring for bananas

…is easy. Each healthy stalk will produce one “spray” of fruit, which is comprised of several “hands” of bananas. The quantity of bananas depends on the individual species variety and the available nutrient resources.

As you can imagine, because banana fruit provides so much potassium, it needs more potassium than most crops. One of the best ways to give the plants bio-available potassium is to let the “spent” stalks give it back to the rest of the clump. Once the bananas area ready to harvest from the stalk, cut the leaves off (they make great plates for picnics, or bio-degradable food wrappers!), then slice the remaining stalk into rounds that are about 4-6” thick, then set them back into the clump to drain the moisture back into the surrounding soil.