Going Bananas over... Bananas

Going Bananas over.... Bananas

While I was in the plantation industry some 4 years back, I had the privilege to work with a great variety of crop species. Aside from the usual oil palm common all over Malaysia, I also worked with coconuts, cacao, and... bananas.

Although I was not directly in charge of overseeing the banana experiments and trials, I worked closely with my then colleagues from the tissue culture lab, since most of their planting materials were tested as intercrops among coconuts and oil palm. The yield and growth of these experimental materials were quite astounding, and I am quite fond of bananas as a crop too. 

As mentioned before, plant breeders love diversity, and bananas come as diverse as plants can be. Sadly, I lost nearly all of the photographs taken for bananas. All I have left are just a smattering of unique varieties the tissue culture lab had produced at one time. If memory serves me well, the lab used to produce an average of 150,000 field-ready tissue cultured banana plants at week, or about 7 million banana plants in a year. And very often, the plants were sold out even before leaving the lab.

There are actually quite a large variety of bananas in this country, but not all of them are cultivated in large amounts. The most commonly cultivated bananas are the sweet dessert types, such as the Cavendish and Berangan. Other popular varieties include the Emas and Rastali. A few cooking types are also cultivated, and are primarily used for making pisang goreng a.k.a. fried bananas. These include the Raja, Awak, Abu, Nangka and Tanduk (the Tanduk is technically a plantain, though). 

Here is a table that shows some of the characteristics of banana varieties in Malaysia:

Source: Banana Planter

Bananas aren't the most difficult crop to grow in the tropics. Putting aside the huge rise in disease problems in banana growing countries, there are only a few requirements to grow a good crop of bananas:

1. Being a tropical crop, bananas obviously require a warm and humid condition to grow. Ideally this should be in the range of 26°C-30°C, and a relative humidity of 75%-85%. Sunlight hours should be between 10-12 daily.

2. Bananas prefer slightly acidic soil. Unlike most other crops that thrive on more alkaline soil types, planting bananas on alkaline soils will cause problems, in the form of diseases such as Fusarium wilt (Panama disease), Sigatoka Disease, or Moko Bacterial Wilt. Mulching helps improve the soil condition for bananas, as well as enhance water retention and prevent nutrient loss. Which brings to the third point...

3. Bananas are heavy drinkers. I mean water; not the Johnnie Walker type of drink. Bananas consume an average of 10 liters of water a day, depending on agroclimatic conditions. Going by natural rainfall, this is equivalent to 2000-2500mm of rain per year, or about 48 mm rainfall per week. And yes, it is important that this rainfall is spread-out evenly throughout the cultivation period; bananas are extremely sensitive to water shortages, and will not bear fruits if there is a lack of water. Most modern banana farmers no longer depend on natural rainfall, and instead manage banana watering using feritigation systems. However, take care not to over-water bananas.... their roots will rot if there is too much water to bear.

4. Bananas respond extremely well to fertilizers. A complete NPK fertilizer ratio of 3:1:6 is commonly used, normally on a weekly basis. The usual rate is 100g per plant starting roughly 2-3 weeks after field planting. To ensure no loss in fertilizer, only apply after rain.

Pest and diseases are a huge headache for banana growers, and it is necessary to be vigilant about this. The most problematic are those of viral or fungal origins, which are not only persistent and hard to remove, but usually lethal to the banana farming enterprise, i.e. once the disease has established itself, it is as good as saying goodbye to banana farming on that plot of land. Here are some common pest and diseases affecting banana farms:

 Source: Banana Planter

I guess that's all I have for now about bananas, so here are some photos of unique bananas experimented by my colleagues in the tissue culture lab:

  

Crocodile Claws "Jari Buaya"

I guess its because each banana finger is long and pointy...

 

Fat and Sweet "Lemak Manis"

This is a type of Pisang Mas, but it is a lot more sweeter and tastier

  

Pisang Nangka

I tend to confuse this with the Cavendish varieties... Pisang Nangka has a more tapered point

  

Pisang Raja

A cooking variety commonly used to make pisang goreng/fried banana

  

Pisang Tanduk

Not technically a banana, but a type of plantain. Used to make banana chips/chiffle in Malaysia