Temperatures of 20-30 degrees celsius. Single monsoon season lasting four months from June to September. Rainfall amount 700 mm/year. Basaltic soil (black cotton soil).
Banana trees propagate vegetatively at a high pace and are regularly culled. Request a farmer for some of these culled stalks (pups). Insert stalks in the mud. ‘Elaichi kela’ grows tall and falls with high winds so we preferred ‘Amrutpani kela’ instead. Banana trees need a lot of water. Water once a day.
Plant all year round (avoid peak summer). Stalk to flower 6 months. Flower to fruit 5 months. 10 x 7 feet area gives a dozen trees through self-propagation from one stalk. Each tree flowers and fruits only once. Gives 8 dozen bananas. Rs. 1250 harvest from each tree. These are fruit bananas and not used for cooking. The flower and stems are edible and can be used for cooking.
Jeevamrutha - 1 part cow dung + 1 part cow urine + 0.2 parts jaggery + 0.2 parts pulse flour and some soil. Cover, keep in shade, mix thrice a day. Incubate and use. Apply once a month.
Banana trees provide shade and hold soil.
High in fibre, potassium, vitamins B6 and C, antioxidants.
No need for stalk storage. Trees propagate easily and in fact need to be culled periodically. Share the fruit with neighbours, monkeys and elephants! We have not found a good way to store the fruit. You can cook the flower instead of letting it fruit, if seems likely that many trees will fruit at once.
Banana flower fry
Remove florets from banana flower. Remove bitter stigma from the florets. This can take a few hours! Finely chop florets + add salt + turmeric powder, cover with water and boil for 30 minutes. Temper cumin + mustard seeds, + red chillies + curry leaves in a tablespoon of oil. Add the cooked banana florets + coriander powder and fry. Just before taking off the heat, add grated coconut + finely chopped green chillies.
Banana stem and curd chutney
Cut half-foot long banana stem in half centimeter rings. Remove fibre, cut into small pieces and soak in salt water. Lightly fry the banana stem pieces with green chillies + salt till cooked. Coarsely grind garlic + cumin seeds. Add two cups of curd and adjust salt. Temper with mustard seeds + curry leaves + dry red chillies. Add this to the banana stem and curd chutney.