Pitfalls of Cloning (banana fungus)

Windmills

A few years ago I saw a program about the banana industry. What struck me was how they're propagated. A couple of the best banana trees are selected, then cloned a massive number of times, enough to supply all the banana plantations with new slips to replant. I was astounded that any agricultural industry would be so foolish as to devastate its own genetic diversity to that extent. It's just a disease epidemic waiting to happen.

Banana Fungus

Pops · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 8:05 pm Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

So this has to do with preparing for the future in what way?
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katkinkate · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Homesteader · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Ludi · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 9:15 pm Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Most fruit varieties are clones, some many centuries old. If you reject clones, you will not be able to have known quality of fruit, especially in such trees as Apples, which do not come true from seed.

This kind of cloning is very old, don't freak out about it.

I agree making entire orchards of one variety (clone) is a bad idea.
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jedinvest · Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 10:49 pm Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Actually, we may be better off without the bananas:

Calcium Carbide's use in Ripening Bananas

The store proprietor of a vitamin shop I frequent insists that bananas are bad for your health because of how they preserve and then ripen the bananas. Found this article.

Anyway, in Central America they sell at street markets all the bananas 'unfit' for export. Those are some sweet and tasteful bananas, if a little diminutive compare to the 'North American' variety.

somnus · Coal Joined: Sep 28, 2006 Posts: 2

The real issue is that plant varieties used in modern agriculture are those that give the most profit - ie. highest yield with fertiliser, resistant to pesticides, best looking. Varieties which are nutricious, hardy, beneficial to soil or other crops or even those that are tasty are ignored, and may well die out without smaller producers or seed banks.

Ludi · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 8:38 am Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Good source of banana varieties, some for cooler (subtropical) climates:

http://stokestropicals.com/
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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5103 Location: Oklahoma

Yeah Ludi, I bought my bananas from Stokes on your recommendation (6 different varieties) and am very pleased with them so far. Of course I've only had them a few months so they haven't borne fruit yet, but they are very robust. Currently they are in pots at my mother's house in TX, but I'll be moving them here to OK in the next week or two sometime. They will have to be kept in the greenhouse in winter, of course, though in TX they would be okay in the ground. I'm not sure all of them would have time to fruit in the TX ground each year, but the nursery in Palestine (TX) grows the Ice Cream variety outdoors in the ground and they produce lots of delicious fruit, so I think some of them will fruit.

I read that the majority of commercial bananas are Cavendish, hence the problems discussed in this thread. Better to have genetic diversity instead of rely on just one variety.
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Ludi · Posted: Sat May 31, 2008 10:35 am Post subject: Re: Pitfalls of Cloning

Some of mine didn't make it through the winter, and they aren't growing very fast. I don't think I water them enough. To get fruit, I think I'll need to put them on greywater or some other regular source of water instead of just infrequent irrigation. I probably also need to put a lot more manure on them. They seem healthy enough,mostly, just very small. No bananas for me, I'm afraid. Sad

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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5103 Location: Oklahoma

Yes, they definitely need a lot of water and food to thrive. I think they prefer acid soil, too, which might be an issue for you.

The Palestine nursery I mentioned is an organic place with a very well established system of using mushroom compost to keep things going, so they were able to feed the bananas properly, and they did water a lot. The guy who started the place is a PhD organic chemist! They had quite a setup there. Unfortunately they have now closed to the public and only do wholesale mail orders.

I think incorporating them into a graywater system, or a Watson wick (like a septic system for flush toilets only it feeds plants instead of sitting in a tank), would definitely be a good idea.

Edit: See, Pops? This thread is relevant. Razz

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Ludi

I hope I can keep them alive until I get something like that set up. They were kind of an expensive impulse buy!
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Shannymara · Master Joined: Oct 04, 2004 Posts: 5103 Location: Oklahoma

Mine stayed alive in the sand at our place in east TX with no care (very little watering and no extra fertilizer beyond the compost I put in the hole when I planted them) through a winter. They only died (this was the first batch which I got from a different place) when I let them freeze in pots the following winter. If you have them in pots they need to be moved inside in winter.

They may not fruit, but I think keeping them alive should be fairly easy.
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hope_full · Heavy Crude Joined: May 27, 2008 Posts: 173

Snopes reports this is an old myth (failing banana crop) and wholly false.