Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Banana hands?
Old 10-16-2015, 02:43 AM   #1
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Tailgate's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Texas
Posts: 1,065
Banana hands?

It's amazing what you can learn at 3am when you can't sleep. I'm going to lay back down and dream of banana hands.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/_l7sak6Vlq8?rel=0
Tailgate is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 10-16-2015, 06:27 AM   #2
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Redbugdave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 1,131
That's really neat. A lot of manual labor. We had a banana patch in our yard when we lived in Hawaii. If you get the latex on your clothes and it dries, it leaves a stain. There are a bunches of different varieties of bananas, too.
__________________
"I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it." Ashleigh Brilliant
Redbugdave is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 06:27 AM   #3
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
pb4uski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,264
And all for less than $1/pound!

You're scraping the bottom of the 3am viewing barrel there Tailgate.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.

Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
pb4uski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 06:31 AM   #4
Full time employment: Posting here.
Whisper66's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Houston
Posts: 957
That was interesting. Learned quite a "bunch". Thx.


Sent from my iPhone using Early Retirement Forum
__________________
"Learn everyday, but especially from the experiences of others. It's cheaper! " - John Bogle
Whisper66 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 07:43 AM   #5
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
travelover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
The adhesive on the Dole stickers is amazing - it even sticks to wet bananas.
travelover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 07:49 AM   #6
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
pb4uski's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Sarasota, FL & Vermont
Posts: 36,264
I was surprised by that too... and they peel off easily at home.
__________________
If something cannot endure laughter.... it cannot endure.
Patience is the art of concealing your impatience.
Slow and steady wins the race.

Retired Jan 2012 at age 56
pb4uski is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 07:57 AM   #7
Full time employment: Posting here.
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: San Diego
Posts: 712
People grow them here, but they don't always make it through the "winter".
AllDone is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 08:30 AM   #8
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Redbugdave's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Columbia, SC
Posts: 1,131
You need to stay up late more often, Tailgate.
__________________
"I either want less corruption, or more chance to participate in it." Ashleigh Brilliant
Redbugdave is offline   Reply With Quote
bananas
Old 10-16-2015, 08:30 AM   #9
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,473
bananas

Banana trees are the worst kind of weed here because of the 60+" annual rainfall, humidity, unusually fertile soil, and hot temperatures. I don't recall them being such a weed when I lived in Hawaii, although I didn't own a home there. But here, conditions are such that banana plants just go nuts and grow like crazy. I had a banana jungle in the back yard of my old house, that took most of every Saturday for me to keep cut back with saws and machetes. I tried roundup, salt, all the conventional treatments trying to kill these plants but they were determined to take over the universe. Banana trees are extremely hardy and they are all connected with underground roots, so they are really hard to eradicate completely. You have to dig up all the roots to even get to what you need to kill, and it is hard not to miss some so they spring back from those I guess and can take over the whole yard again faster than the speed of light. I hired professionals to kill them for me but to no avail. I still have old "yardwork clothes" with banana juice stains on them, although I got rid of dozens of such t-shirts before my move. The juice is very sticky and awful and hard to scrub off your hands and arms or to get off of any tools used, too.

Did I mention that I hated having banana trees in my yard? OK, maybe this post is a little extreme and a bit of a vent, but I did not like having them.

After about 10 years of struggling with them my wonderful, devout Christian fireman neighbor offered to kill them for me. What a good man. He hated them hanging over the fence into his yard, not to mention the critters that live in a banana jungle and that were causing his dog to bark a lot. He said he had some chemicals that were no longer legal but that would do the trick, so I said sure, have at it. He probably turned my backyard into a future Superfund site, but at that point I didn't care and he got rid of the banana trees somehow! And I got my Saturdays back. What a wonderful neighbor.

I pity ANYBODY in New Orleans trying to cope with banana trees. Oh, and before you ask, most banana trees do not bear the beautiful Dole bananas that you see in the store. Besides, I would never eat a city grown banana here, because I suspect there isn't one that hasn't been exposed to copious quantities of Roundup at sometime or other via the root connections.

When I was growing up in Hawaii, we had a lot of different types of bananas that I loved eating like Apple bananas (that look like bananas but taste like apples), and so on. Right now my favorite type of backyard bananas is "no bananas".
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 09:45 AM   #10
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,431
I have traveled in the tropics and always wondered why 1) they put plastic "bags" on the banana bunches as they are growing and 2) why those bags are blue.

Does anyone know?

omni
omni550 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 09:56 AM   #11
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Lawn chair in Texas
Posts: 14,183
__________________
Have Funds, Will Retire

...not doing anything of true substance...
HFWR is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 10:11 AM   #12
Moderator
rodi's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 14,169
Banana hands vs Jazz hands. LOL.

Off to go make some banana bread since I let our bananas get overripe.
__________________
Retired June 2014. No longer an enginerd - now I'm just a nerd.
micro pensions 6%, rental income 20%
rodi is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 10:22 AM   #13
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
travelover's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Posts: 14,328
Quote:
Originally Posted by omni550 View Post
I have traveled in the tropics and always wondered why 1) they put plastic "bags" on the banana bunches as they are growing and 2) why those bags are blue.

Does anyone know?

omni
They also put condoms on bananas in sex education classes.

Probably not related.
travelover is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 10:47 AM   #14
Moderator Emeritus
W2R's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 47,473
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelover View Post
They also put condoms on bananas in sex education classes.

Probably not related.
That sounds like lots more fun than seeing diagrams of eggs moving down the Fallopian tubes (which is what we got instead).
__________________
Already we are boldly launched upon the deep; but soon we shall be lost in its unshored, harbourless immensities. - - H. Melville, 1851.

Happily retired since 2009, at age 61. Best years of my life by far!
W2R is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 10:53 AM   #15
Moderator
braumeister's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Flyover country
Posts: 25,199
Quote:
An' it's six hand, seven hand, eight hand bunch
Daylight come and me wan' go home
Six hand, seven hand, eight hand bunch
Daylight come and me wan' go home
braumeister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 11:20 AM   #16
Moderator Emeritus
M Paquette's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Portland
Posts: 4,946
A bad case of banana-hands, eh?

"Out through the night and the whispering breezes to the place where they keep the imaginary diseases..."

Frank Zappa, "Stink-Foot"

M Paquette is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 11:41 AM   #17
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 4,172
Quote:
Originally Posted by omni550 View Post
I have traveled in the tropics and always wondered why 1) they put plastic "bags" on the banana bunches as they are growing and 2) why those bags are blue.

Does anyone know?

omni
no explanation about the blue though......a wild guess.....to block some of the light w/o excessive heating as a black bag would do so a compromise.
https://rccostarica.wordpress.com/20...going-bananas/

Another link says this: "Tip: commercial banana growers use bunch covers (plastic bags open at both ends that they slip over the bunch and tie at the top) to protect bananas from diseases, insects, sunburn and marauders. You can try to buy those bags at a rural supplies store, or beg some of a grower"..........didn't think about them being open at the bottom..................http://www.tropicalpermaculture.com/...g-bananas.html

...and another......"Bagging your bunches serves a number of purposes. It holds in the available heat which is important during cold or cool weather. Bananas also give off ethylene oxide as they ripen. Bagging keeps that gas close to the fruit, which in turn accelerates ripening. It prevents fruits from developing blemishes. The plastic also serves as a barrier to keep out tree rats and other pest species that like to feed on bananas."

and still another...........http://homeguides.sfgate.com/protect...uit-66782.html

"It takes an additional four to eight months for the fruits to ripen. Flowering and fruiting times depend upon variety. This is a long time to wait for delicious banana fruits, and it would be a shame to lose them to birds, insects or elemental damage. Even the plant’s own leaves can blemish or damage the peels, reducing the fruit’s resistance to rot. Commercial producers use expensive plastic banana bunch bags that often are impregnated with insecticides to protect banana bunches. You can protect your bananas with cheap plastic garbage bags.
"Cut the bottom seam off a large plastic garbage bag with scissors. Choose a clear bag if the bananas are protected from sunlight by the plant’s leaves. If the fruits are exposed to strong direct sunlight, use an opaque white garbage bag.
4
Slide the plastic garbage bag up over all the banana bunches. Gather the end of the bag around the stalk just above the top bunch of fruit. Secure it to the stalk with a piece of string. Leave the bottom of the bag open to allow for air circulation. This also keeps the fruits from overheating inside the plastic covering."
************************************************** **************

banana boxes.......my favorite travel companion. You can tie/tape 2 boxes together so they only count as one for the airlines. If the load gets slightly bigger on the return trip,the boxes are expandable (top slides over bottom piece) but don't violate the 62" combined L/W/H rule. You also need a piece
of cardboard to cover up the extra large holes on top/bottom.
kaneohe is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 12:58 PM   #18
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 3,431
Quote:
Originally Posted by kaneohe View Post
no explanation about the blue though......a wild guess.....to block some of the light w/o excessive heating as a black bag would do so a compromise.
https://rccostarica.wordpress.com/20...going-bananas/

Another link says this: "Tip: commercial banana growers use bunch covers (plastic bags open at both ends that they slip over the bunch and tie at the top) to protect bananas from diseases, insects, sunburn and marauders. You can try to buy those bags at a rural supplies store, or beg some of a grower"..........didn't think about them being open at the bottom..................Growing Bananas - How To Grow Banana Plants And Keep Them Happy

...and another......"Bagging your bunches serves a number of purposes. It holds in the available heat which is important during cold or cool weather. Bananas also give off ethylene oxide as they ripen. Bagging keeps that gas close to the fruit, which in turn accelerates ripening. It prevents fruits from developing blemishes. The plastic also serves as a barrier to keep out tree rats and other pest species that like to feed on bananas."

and still another...........How to Protect Bunches of Banana Fruit | Home Guides | SF Gate

"It takes an additional four to eight months for the fruits to ripen. Flowering and fruiting times depend upon variety. This is a long time to wait for delicious banana fruits, and it would be a shame to lose them to birds, insects or elemental damage. Even the plant’s own leaves can blemish or damage the peels, reducing the fruit’s resistance to rot. Commercial producers use expensive plastic banana bunch bags that often are impregnated with insecticides to protect banana bunches. You can protect your bananas with cheap plastic garbage bags.
"Cut the bottom seam off a large plastic garbage bag with scissors. Choose a clear bag if the bananas are protected from sunlight by the plant’s leaves. If the fruits are exposed to strong direct sunlight, use an opaque white garbage bag.
4
Slide the plastic garbage bag up over all the banana bunches. Gather the end of the bag around the stalk just above the top bunch of fruit. Secure it to the stalk with a piece of string. Leave the bottom of the bag open to allow for air circulation. This also keeps the fruits from overheating inside the plastic covering."
Hey, thanks, kaneohe!

The things I learn on this forum simply amaze me.

omni
omni550 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 01:42 PM   #19
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Bay Area
Posts: 2,745
Wow, I never knew it is such a manual intensive labor.
robnplunder is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-16-2015, 02:43 PM   #20
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 5,176
With this title, I was expecting see a freakish photo of a hand that looked like bananas...
tmm99 is online now   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
How to open a banana? Orchidflower Other topics 34 08-07-2009 08:56 PM
Shook Hands with John Edwards This noon............... Cut-Throat Life after FIRE 114 08-19-2006 03:19 PM
Picture of Me Holding My 9' Banana TromboneAl Life after FIRE 18 08-05-2006 06:03 PM
Poll: weak hands? wabmester FIRE and Money 51 03-19-2006 03:44 AM
Somebody's had extra time on their hands... cute fuzzy bunny Forum Admin 11 06-02-2005 02:59 PM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:35 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.