bannana crops

[Beohthram]

roughly how many bannanas do you get in like, a bannana crop? not the whole field obviously, but from one tree. they come in huge bunches dont they?

[stoo_pid]

Bunches of bananas can weigh anything from about 20-50 kilos so the amount of bananas you get in each will obviously differ. On average though, a bunch would produce about 10-15 "hands" or rows. Each hand is likely to have between 10-20 bananas, giving you anything from 100-300 "fingers" (i.e. bananas) per bunch. A rough estimate therefore would be about 200 bananas per bunch.

[nickmo]

http://www.banana.com/ for a happy half hour

Bananas are herbs, not trees. 'Members of the Musaceae family, the banana plant belongs to the monocotyledons, a group that includes palms, grasses, and orchids. Bananas are mature about three months from the time of flowering, with each bunch producing about 15 "hands" or rows. Each hand has about 20 bananas while each bunch will yield about 200 "fingers" or bananas. An average bunch of bananas can weigh between 80 and 125 pounds (35 to 50 kilograms)'.

[Breezy23]

Just come back from the Caribbean (cruise) and we were told on St Lucia that each plant reaches maturity in 9 months and then produces only 1 bunch. Apparently the growers remove the flowers off the end of the fruit at a precise time and then they have to cover the bunch in a blue bag as the plant emits a smell which attracts insects. The immature fruit are very delicate and can mark very easily. Once the fruit is picked when still green the plant has no further use. Further shoots come out from the base and they cut the original plant down and use it as mulch for the replacement shoots. Bit of useless info for you.

[stoo_pid]

As well as protecting the bunches those blue bags provide convenient shelter for spiders & snakes - you have to be quite careful when you take them off again! The farmer also has to be careful how many leaves cover the bananas while still on the plant - too much shade & they don't grow so much, too little shade & they fry in the sun...

I spent a couple of (very interesting) months working on a plantation in Australia. It was flipping hard work lugging 40 kilo bunches about on your shoulder & getting covered in superglue-like banana sap, but here's a little story about how hard farmers in Far North Queensland are:

The bunches hang a little above head height, when they're ready you reach up & pull the bunch down towards you, bending the tree-trunk-like stem of the plant. As you do this, the farmer uses a machete to chop the stem almost completely through about half-way up, thus allowing you to support the full weight on your shoulder. He then chops right through the stem just above the bunch and you stagger off with it to the tractor.

On my first day, even though I thought I was a pretty strong bloke, it took me a little while to get the correct technique without falling over and/or breaking my back, so this farmer was also taking the full weight of the first few and showing me how to get them to the tractor safely. Now, remember, each one weighed about 40 kilos.... This farmer that had been reaching up & lugging great big bunches of bananas about all morning decided to go home a couple of hours early that day --- because he was still recovering from a vasectomy he'd had two days before!!! How hard is that?!