OT: Bananas may become extinct soon

[fiamme red]

It's no joke, unfortunately. :(

BBC: The imminent death of the Cavendish banana and why it affects us all (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35131751)


And it is vital we keep the banana, says Adam Hart, professor of science communications at the University of Gloucestershire, not only because it is crucial to numerous countries' economies but also because it is popular.

"Culturally the banana has become quite important, it is seen as a power fruit with plenty of sports people pictured eating them, it is nature's convenient snack.

"The world would carry on if we lost bananas but it would be devastating for those who rely on it economically and very sad for those of us who enjoy eating them."

[stien]

If the banana goes, I'm going to starve. I eat like 4 a day.

[MattTuck]

This makes Maarten Tjallingii sad.

[Tony T]

Yeah, I heard about this 5 years ago:
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2995/are-bananas-about-to-become-extinct

[dave thompson]

:banana:Our banana will never go!:banana:

[benb]

It's already happened once.. everyone in the US used to eat Gros Michele bananas... when that one basically went extinct (1950s?) the big agribusiness didn't learn their lesson and planted a massive mono-culture of Cavendish...

It's all a very interesting story. The Gros Michele is still grown they just can't plant enough of it to sell it without it getting wiped out by the blight we genetically engineered by planting so much of it.

There are apparently hundreds of varieties of banana so it's not like "bananas" are going to disappear, just the current variety of "desert" banana that is sold as the only variety in the US.

I eat a lot of Cavendish Bananas but I might like cooked plantains even more, I just don't have them as often. The way they serve plantains at Brazilian restaurants is pretty great.

[btanner]

The history of the modern banana's is quite interesting. Who knew?

I have faith the fruit will survive in some form but it appears not without lots of pain and suffering for those whose livelihoods depend on it.

[Tony T]

The history of the modern banana's is quite interesting. Who knew?.


Yeah, I learned about Samuel Zemurray (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Zemurray) ("Sam the Banana Man") on Comedy Central's "Drunk History"

[likebikes]

where can i buy a gros michele banana?

[vqdriver]

That was enlightening
There was a similarly interesting story about apples not too long ago. Red delicious were not delicious. So someone engineered the honey crisp and a new industry. Npr? Slate? Don't recall

[Louis]

where can i buy a gros michele banana?

You can buy an entire plant (a young one) here:

http://www.floridahillnursery.com/banana-tree-plants-c-3/musa-gros-michel-heirloom-banana-tree-live-tree-p-455

But first be sure you can provide the correct growing conditions:

Grow bananas in BRIGHT LIGHT. 12 hours of bright light are ideal for most varieties. bananas prefer Constant WARMTH this is very important - the ideal night temperature would be 67 F

Try these if you want to grow them inside or on your deck: http://www.floridahillnursery.com/banana-tree-plants-c-3/musa-truly-tiny-banana-tree-live-plant-p-254


http://www.floridahillnursery.com/images/Gros%20Michel%20banana%20tree.jpg

[txcid05]

Guess I'll have to start hoarding banana plants, I'd never even heard of the Gros Michele, interesting. Curious to give that variety a try. Thanks for the post.