tropicalfruit

Bananas are Australia’s largest horticultural industry and its bestselling supermarket item. Over ninety percent of Australia’s banana crop is produced in North Queensland. Banana plants were introduced to Australia in the early to mid-nineteenth century, with the first recorded cultivation taking place in Western Australia. At this point, Australia did not produce a commercial crop, with bananas intended for sale being imported from Fiji. Banana plants were probably first introduced to North Queensland in the 1870s by Chinese immigrants and Polynesians employed in the sugar industry. During the 1880s, Chinese immigrants began to cultivate fruit crops (including bananas) in the areas around Port Douglas, Cooktown, Cairns, and Innisfail. They became not only a regional success but a national one, with the Chinese community remaining the dominant force in Australia’s banana trade (both cultivation and importation) until the 1930s. The reasons for the Chinese community’s decline in influence after this point were multi-faceted, although discriminatory policies played a significant role. Shortly after federation, the Commonwealth Government passed the Immigration Restriction Act (1901), limiting ‘non-white’ immigration. Serving as the basis for the White Australia Policy, it particularly targeted Asian (especially Chinese) immigrants. Allowing immigration officers to administer a dictation test to prospective migrants in any European language (or, after 1905, any prescribed language), it facilitated indirect exclusion on racial grounds. The Queensland government also introduced legislation restricting the participation of non-European individuals in banana and sugarcane cultivation. In the tradition of the Immigration Restriction Act (1901), Queensland’s Banana Industry Preservation Act (1921) required ‘coloured’ labourers to pass a dictation test. North Queensland’s banana industry was also impacted by the return of older banana growers to China, a shift towards sugarcane cultivation among younger growers, and the difficulties posed by a combination of fruit fly contamination, cyclones, competition from Fijian imports, and transportation difficulties. The First World War had an especially devastating impact, with wartime shipping restrictions coinciding with disease outbreaks. The twentieth century was also defined by constant efforts to control the spread of bunchy top disease, an incurable viral infection, which prevents banana plants from producing fruit. (Thankfully, bunchy top has been prevented from gaining a foothold in North Queensland.) Nevertheless, banana growing only came back into its own in North Queensland following the Second World War. Source: queenslandhistory.org/2019/10/from-the-archives-early-ban...

Banana Tree Flowers The female banana flower emerges out of the top of a stalk. These produce the ovaries that develop into the "hands" that are part of every stalk of banana fruits. Needing no pollination, they develop into the iconic seedless fruit found in every supermarket in the United States. Once the fruits have all appeared, the flower elongates, producing a long tail with a large, red bud hanging upside-down at the end. This bud contains the male organs. All these parts have their own botanical names: The thick stalk that attaches to the pseudostem and supports the female flower is the "peduncle," while the rough, elongated tail emerging from the bottom of the bananas is the "rachis." The fruit itself is simply the "bunch." From Banana Flowers to Fruit You may be dreaming of harvesting your own bananas, but unless you have at least 18 months of continuous warm weather in your location with no frosts or freezes, you merely have an ornamental banana in your landscape. Banana flowers and their accompanying fruit usually appear in late summer and then winter over, ripening in mid-spring, according to California Rare Fruit Growers, but an unexpected freeze will abort the process. Sometimes, banana stalks appear in summer instead and ripen before winter. Harvest the entire banana fruit stalk at one time when the bananas are still green, but plump; then hang it in a cool, dry location and cut off the "hands" as needed. Alternatively, harvest individual hands for tree-ripened fruit. Be careful, however, because ripe bananas are perfect bait for rodents, who are adept at eating the insides and making it appear as if the fruit is untouched. To encourage faster ripening, cover the stalk with a plastic bag. Source: homeguides.sfgate.com/banana-tree-bloom-stages-57944.html

Bunchy top of bananas in Australia Bunchy top disease threatened the banana industry in Australia in the l92Os. The virus that causes bunchy top is thought to have been introduced from Fiji in infected suckers in 1913. In Lg22 banana production in New South Wales was 433,OOO cases from about 2,226 hectares. In 1925 production had fallen to 60,000 cases and the area planted to bananas had fallen to 607 hectares due to the effects of bunchy top. It was not until the means of spread of the virus was established that the banana industry recovered. The virus was shown to be transmitted in infected planting material and by the banana aphid. In 1927, government legislation was passed that quarantined certain areas where the disease occurred and restricted movement of banana plants from these areas. This prevented the spread of the disease to new areas. This, combined with the destruction of diseased plants, enabled the banana industry to recover from the effects of the bunchy top epidemic. Source: PLANT PATHOLOGY: AN OVERVIEW John Brown www.appsnet.org/Publications/Brown_Ogle/01%20Plant%20Path...(JFB).pdf