Bannanas For Your Chickens or Even Your Family?

[Kikiriki]

I am raising worms.  Reportedly, worms love rotting bannanas, so my Mother saved some and froze them for me to feed to my worms.  A day after I put the bannanas in the bins, I opened the lid to check on them.  The inside of the lid and the sides of the bins were completely covered with worms.  I had never seen more than five or six of the African Nightcrawlers on the lid, and had never seen more than three of the Red Wigglers on the lid!  What the heck??

I dug around looking for any problems, scooped all the worms back into the bin and went about my business.  Next day was a repeat performance.  I removed all traces of the bannanas and scooped the worms back into the bins.

The next day?  Back to normal.  No mass escape attempts, not even one worm on the lids or sides. I checked that they had not all died, and they were fine, happily eating cantaloupe rind.

So why did they have such a rapid and negative response to banannas?? :/

Things that happen to bannanas before you buy them: 

The new plants buds (corms) are fumigated, and growing is supported with fertilizer, fungicide, pesticides, and herbicide for weed control.

The fruits grow for a year and are directly sprayed with pesticide each week.

Less than a month before natural ripening, the ripening can be delayed (in response to market demand) by applying or injecting into the stalk the substance gibberellin, a plant hormone that regulates growth used to delay natural ripening on the plant.

When banannas are harvested they are bathed in a solution containing pesticide.

After harvesting, to increase sweetness and flavor while saving money, the unripe banannas are artificially prevented from ripening for up to four weeks during shipping.  This includes treating with fungicide and packing them with a a block that will offgas potassium permanganate. (Potassium permanganate is an inorganic chemical oxidising agent with disinfectant, deodorising and astringent properties, used primarily to control taste and odors, remove color, control biological growth in treatment plants, and remove iron and manganese and is considered a poor disinfectant.)

Prior to local delivery to stores, bananas are artificially ripened using 2 to 3 exposures to ethylene gas at 1: 1000, or 6 hourly applications for 1 to 4 days, depending on the speed of ripening desired, while carefully controlling temperature and humidity.  Ethylene is a gaseous hormone that is naturally produced by plants in small amounts.  It is also artificially produced by imdustry.  It kills chlorophyll which allows fruits to appear ripe (not green colored anymore).  It is a hormone that in natural plant cycles promotes female flowering!

 

[redhen]

 

[b.hromada]

I so agree with you Redhen!! Disgusting!

 

[rrrmamma]

Several years ago I developed an allergy to bannanas.. I had eaten them all my life. I get blisters on the roof of my mouth if I eat anything with bannana in it. Maybe it isn't the fruit, but the chemnicals it is treated with that causes the problem. Guess I need to find someone with a bannana tree that doesn't go through all that and try another one, I love the flavor,but don't dare even trying a muffin. If we go out to a breakfast buffet I have my DH taste a muffin to make saure there is no bannana in it
\

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I am raising worms.  Reportedly, worms love rotting bannanas, so my Mother saved some and froze them for me to feed to my worms.  A day after I put the bannanas in the bins, I opened the lid to check on them.  The inside of the lid and the sides of the bins were completely covered with worms.  I had never seen more than five or six of the African Nightcrawlers on the lid, and had never seen more than three of the Red Wigglers on the lid!  What the heck??

I dug around looking for any problems, scooped all the worms back into the bin and went about my business.  Next day was a repeat performance.  I removed all traces of the bannanas and scooped the worms back into the bins.

The next day?  Back to normal.  No mass escape attempts, not even one worm on the lids or sides. I checked that they had not all died, and they were fine, happily eating cantaloupe rind.

So why did they have such a rapid and negative response to banannas?? :/

Things that happen to bannanas before you buy them: 

The new plants buds (corms) are fumigated, and growing is supported with fertilizer, fungicide, pesticides, and herbicide for weed control.

The fruits grow for a year and are directly sprayed with pesticide each week.

Less than a month before natural ripening, the ripening can be delayed (in response to market demand) by applying or injecting into the stalk the substance gibberellin, a plant hormone that regulates growth used to delay natural ripening on the plant.

When banannas are harvested they are bathed in a solution containing pesticide.

After harvesting, to increase sweetness and flavor while saving money, the unripe banannas are artificially prevented from ripening for up to four weeks during shipping.  This includes treating with fungicide and packing them with a a block that will offgas potassium permanganate. (Potassium permanganate is an inorganic chemical oxidising agent with disinfectant, deodorising and astringent properties, used primarily to control taste and odors, remove color, control biological growth in treatment plants, and remove iron and manganese and is considered a poor disinfectant.)

Prior to local delivery to stores, bananas are artificially ripened using 2 to 3 exposures to ethylene gas at 1: 1000, or 6 hourly applications for 1 to 4 days, depending on the speed of ripening desired, while carefully controlling temperature and humidity.  Ethylene is a gaseous hormone that is naturally produced by plants in small amounts.  It is also artificially produced by imdustry.  It kills chlorophyll which allows fruits to appear ripe (not green colored anymore).  It is a hormone that in natural plant cycles promotes female flowering!

Reckon you'd better give up eating pretty much all commercially produced fruit then.

 

[Kikiriki]

Reckon yur right...

I have a grapefruit tree, an orange tree, two varieties of lemon, a guava, a loquat, and a garden. want to do melons as I didnt start any this spring, and my cucs and pumpkin never fruited, despite prolific flowering. The next town over someone is selling bananna trees for $10, but my car broke last week...clutch...


For southern gardeners: my best performing tomato plants that kept flowering much longer than others is a variety called San Marzano, a paste tomato by Seeds of Change. It tastes great in salad as well as in sauces. Pick before it turns super red for salad, though, or it gets a little mealy. I accidently knocked off an almost green one, and it ripened off the vine on the kitchen counter.

Tomatoes will stop flowering in the heat, but these kept going weeks longer than other varieties!

 

[GardenerGal]

Y'all probably don't want to know what they do to tomatoes, then.

 

[7 Biddies]

Y'all probably don't want to know what they do to tomatoes, then.

... which is why I grow as much of my own food as I can, and buy locally grown, sustainably farmed, chemical free for the rest, including meat and dairy. Takes a little research, but once you find these farms, it's worth it. And, like backyard eggs, nuthin' tastes as good as a home grown tomato!!

 

[Kikiriki]

Y'all probably don't want to know what they do to tomatoes, then.

... which is why I grow as much of my own food as I can, and buy locally grown, sustainably farmed, chemical free for the rest, including meat and dairy. Takes a little research, but once you find these farms, it's worth it. And, like backyard eggs, nuthin' tastes as good as a home grown tomato!!

Right on! Such a difference in the flavor in a salad! Num num num!

 

[GardenerGal]

I have worked in the "green industry" (as a horticulturist and professional gardener) for some time now, and studied agriculture and natural resources as a university student. As an ag student back in the mid-late 70s, I was horrified at some of the practices back then, even after DDT and other related pesticides were banned in the U.S. (but not in many other countries that still sell us veggies and fruit!).

Not long ago, I got interested in the floral industry and took some courses in that area to beef up my knowledge. One of the first things my floral arrangement instructor told us, was NEVER eat any of the flowers you buy from commercial wholesalers/industry sources! You know, some people like to use rose petals, pansies and other edible flowers to garnish wedding cakes, float in punch bowls and other food uses. But commercial florals are bathed in pesticides/fungicides! You don't even wanna bury your nose into a bouquet to take a whiff (if the variety of flowers actually has a scent!). Nothing is sacred in the multi-billion-dollar plant industry, whether for food or aesthetics.

So, BUY LOCAL AND ORGANIC!