lean on me

 Sort of propped up the leaning banana tree...

Not the best but it will do for now.

Banana tree leaning angle problem

Banana #6 fruit have appeared. The weight normally makes the tree lean to one side. So far the lean has mostly been away from the closest wall or fence, so we have tied it quite easily to the opposing structure. This arrests the increasing lean due to the increasing weight of the fruit. 

Btw those planks on the ground are just to prevent the dog digging up that area. 

With this tree's position its impossible to tie to the nearest structures coz the angle is not opposing the anchor posts.So we will have to go about the harder approach of wedging some strong wood. It will hurt the tree a bit but no choice.

banana#6 flowering

 Nice greeting this morning...

harvesting banana #5

 Some creature was getting to the fruit at night,

so before losing the lot, we had to harvest slightly earlier. Chopped all leaves first. Baby #6 just to the right of it....

This was what we got...

The trunk made a nice little picket fence. It will decompose there.

Some video of the day...

Resting after all the morning's excitement...

banana status

 Just a pic of the bananas

Fingers crossed they ripen and stay on the tree, especially with these little devils around...

Banana #6

This will be banana #6

9 Sep 2021 update: banana#5 is harvested. All that is left standing is #6

27 Sep 2021 update: Lots of other shoots trying to establish themselves, especially after cutting down banana #5. I cut back around 8 shoots every couple of days.

Straightening the banana tree

The fruit are getting bigger/heavier, tilting the tree more each day. Some rope with a thick sack to ease the pressure at the contact point...

This should prevent any further tilting. Good to keep a slight lean.

banana #5 about to fruit

The short and chunky leaf that hides the flower/fruit just sprouted.

19June...

20June...

23June...

26June...

Banana #5 all alone

Just chopped down #4. #5 is all alone now.

Looks healthy BUT it's base is precarious. Tomorrow I will clear more of #4 and the bigger shoots, one of which might end up turning into #6. I will decide on #6 when #5 sends out its flower. 

15June2021 update: It's about to fruit.

Summary of banana harvests

11Jan2020 - tree#1

30June-7July2020 - tree#2

20Oct2020 - tree#3

25 Feb2021 - tree#4

Harvesting banana tree #4

 Noticed a split on one of the lower fruits so decided its time to harvest.

I wish I thought about a weighing scale to measure the harvest.

8 combs.. not bad!!

Slice into the bent fruit stem to prevent pontianaks from materialising.

Chopped down the tree, sawing from the top in 6-12in segments, just the right size to make it easy to handle. Sorted into 3 piles to dry out a bit more before adding to the compost. Some of the leaves will go into the fish pond.

From left to right... leaves, trunk, dried/dead bits.

  

balancing act

Banana tree #5 doesnt have any earth supporting it on one side. It looks like it grew on top of an older plant. I hope it doesnt topple as it grows bigger and starts to lean.

The bare earth part is where the dog has in the past scratched around.

the flower bud

Each successive tree has yielded less bananas. It might come to a stage when I might stop bananas and give up that area to another plant. Anyway we will deal with that when it comes. For now, this tree (#4) has stopped putting out combs that are growing. So time (slightly overdue) to cut the bud. 

It went to one of our neighbours, the only one who here who knows how to cook it.

Height perspective

 Most of the photos of the banana tree have been by itself. Here is one with me next to it. I am 5ft11in.

Tilting tree from the weight of the fruit

 The banana tree will sure fall if we leave it as it is. Just the weight from the start of the fruiting has already caused it to lean quite a bit. 

We have had to secure most of our trees to the wall/fence.

Used a sack to distribute the force on the tree a bit more. Also 2 ropes instead of one. All to lessen the stress on the plant.

Tree looks better/straighter now. 

Banana tree number 5

 Number 4 is fruiting so time to choose the next gen. 

9Dec2020: So many shoots to choose from. But I have been leaving the one closest to tree#4, and cutting back the rest. That closest one, and the tallest now, will be #5. It may be affected by #4 being so near. Wait and see if that was a wise or not choice.

23Dec2020: Growing nicely right next to #4

15 Feb 2021 update: No ground supporting the base of the trunk on one side.

26Feb2021 update: The biggest one now.

9Sep2021 update: Harvesting

Banana tree #4 fruit

 I've been on the lookout for this. Missed it in the first 3 trees. The existing leaves block it's view really well. Had to maneuver a bit to get this side on shot... 

From below...

From afar...

30Nov update: nice to see it choosing to hang towards us. Will make it a lot easier to handle as it grows and increases in weight.

3Dec2020 update: the first comb is just visible.

made jemput for the 1st time

Mum gave me a huge ripe Pisang Tanduk from her garden. The banana, peeled, weighed in at 353g. Decided to try jemput. The first recipe I Googled (warning: the link contains lots of ads so just read here unless you really want to see for yourself) said I needed 300g of banana. Since it was so close to what I had, thought it was meant to be.

I chucked all in the food processor coz I just lazy and impatient.

The recipe...

300 g banana - I used 353g

50 g rice flour - I used 55g

50 g wheat flour - ditto

1⁄4 tsp salt - I used just under 0.5 tsp

1⁄4 tsp baking soda - ditto

1 tbsp sugar - I used exactly that

350 ml oil - I used just enough to cover half of the piece when frying. When brown, I just turned it upside down to fry the other side. I suppose if u used lots of oil it would be faster as the whole piece would be frying at the same time. 

Turned out great! The taste was just right. Could have used even less sugar coz the banana was sweet enough.

making way for banana tree #5

 Just finished chopping down and composting tree #3. Tree #4 is relatively straight.

I will choose which shoot to allow to grow into #5 once #4 puts out the final leaf with the fruit. 

Too many split bananas

Too many split bananas. I was hoping it would ripen from top to bottom but it's all happening at the same time. Time to harvest it all. As we removed each comb, starting the top-most, we found more and more damaged fruit hiding below. 

Most went into the compost, some went into a fertiliser tea.

The tree was smaller than the earlier ones and we didn't expect to get as many fruits this time. True we had less fruit but they were definitely fatter. Sweetness... I think the first tree was the best, but this one was still sweet. 

The harvest today. Total haul about 7 combs, no make that 8 coz we cut one a couple of days back thats not in this pic.