What do bananas grow on? Ask the baby and hear in response what is on the palm tree. But the kids will say it. And those wise with life experience, scratching their heads, will say: “A banana grows on a banana tree, but it’s not a tree at all, but a real grass, tropical and tall, like a tree.” And they're right, it's actually grass, even though it looks like a tree.
Firstly, a banana has no stem in the traditional sense, that is, it is a grass. And what looks like a trunk up to 6 m high (sometimes 9 - 10 m, why not a banana tree), these are powerful leaves rolled into a tube. They begin to grow almost from the ground, and stretch upward together. And when 30-40 leaves grow, a peduncle appears inside the bundle, which also wants to go to the sun. And so he is at a height of several meters.
Secondly, banana fruits are berries (according to botanical classification), but berries, after selection, are almost without seeds. There is one for every 250 bananas. Therefore, they are grown vegetatively. Even dried rhizomes do not lose their germination and grow after planting and watering. This was often used by settlers and they knew well what
bananas are growing. These fruitsare used both as a dessert, and in the form of flour, and dried, and pickled, and fried, and steamed, etc. After all, this is everyday food in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Even the Germans eat up to 20 kg of bananas per person per year. And America - only 18 kg. But in Germany, since 1933, the Nazis needed all the currency in the country, and since they did not grow bananas, they had to start anti-banana propaganda. “A small child died after eating bananas; man overeating bananas taken to hospital; "We are not monkeys, German strawberries are better than African bananas." The film Why the Banana Is Yellow was even banned, etc. But after the war, American bananas became a symbol of prosperity. And in 1995, the Europeans introduced an international standard for "eurobananas". And the Americans who brought bananas to Europe do not fall under this standard - the size is smaller. And although the Germans know what bananas grow on, competition is competition.
Thirdly, young banana plantations need to be weeded, and doing it under the scorching sun is hard. Whereas in ancient Rome, geese were called for help, which ate weeds and did not touch bananas - they did not like them.
Kiev Anatoly Patiy also knows what bananas grow on in his garden. He has been growing them in a greenhouse for more than one year, and manages to get a crop of "Kyiv Dwarf" up to 300 or even 400 fruits per plant, which is at least 50 kg. The height of the grass of the "Kyiv Dwarf" is no more than 1.7 m, and the "Super Dwarf" is even lower - up to 1 m. They grow and bloom in a greenhouse at + 15-16 degrees Celsius. The size of one banana is up to 15 cm. The dwarf isdwarf.
Bananas must be peeled before use. Banana peel was used only in comedies, so that the hero slipped on it and fell very funny. Now it is used in cosmetics, including wart removal.
Banana peel, carefully dried, contains a large amount of tannin - a coloring matter for black leather products.
But the Brazilians went further. G. Castro (not to be confused with F. Castro, R. Castro and V. Castro) with crushed peel cleans drinking water from copper and lead in 10 minutes and eleven times in a row. And Milena Boniolo from the state of São Paulo cleans industrial effluents with peel powder. And they have no measure of this goodness.
