Page 15 - Vol. 39-No.4 issue

CROP PROTECTION

trees but are not true botanical trees like are warmed over a fire to prevent the leaf
cashew and citrus. On nutritional grounds tissue from splitting. Banana leaves are well
alone bananas and coconuts are two plants known for adding flavour to baked foods
that should always be part of the backyard like flat bread and cakes. The bakes are
garden. placed in a pot over a fire, covered with
Whichever way you look at banana semi-mature banana leaves and then hot
there is confusion. In western countries coals to complete cooking.
the word banana conjures up a picture of Like banana coconut is another ‘Tree of
the long, fat and curved desert fruit like Life’ though not really a tree at all, just a
‘Gros Michel’, whereas the genus Musa is giant ‘tree fern’. Young fresh nuts are full of
actually a ‘Pandora’s Box’ of highly nutri- turbid (cloudy) but refreshing water which
tious and attractive fruits including vege- is as near as possible to ‘complete food’
Citrus is always a good bet for the table (staple) and desert type bananas. In in all of nature. Older nuts progressively
backyard some tropical countries vegetable bananas provide nutritious jelly and flesh and the

that you may want shade the house but (plantain and ‘Moko’) are the main staple copra is pressed for coconut oil. The leaves
not surrounding plants like corn, legumes, foods and grown alongside a wide range are used for thatch and making brooms
tomato and other light demanding crops. of desert bananas much smaller but much to sweep the yard. The husk offers ex-
But some vine crops such as vanilla, bitter sweeter and tastier than the bland fruit cellent fibre for mattresses and mats and
gourd and yam may welcome some shade peeled every day in their millions across the remnants can be recycled in the garden
from leafy branches and relish the support Europe. And you don’t have to wait until to make humus for the soil. The beauty of
of tree trunks for climbing. the banana is full and ripe before harvest- coconuts palms in a small backyard is that
Another factor dictating choice of tree ing and eating. Young green bananas are a they grow straight up to thirty feet or more
size is ease of picking fruit like mangoes, rich source of potassium and iron as well to producing an attractive crown of fern-
avocadoes and oranges. Older standard as starch when used in soups and stews like leaves and big bunches of nuts without
varieties tend to be tall with citrus and together with root vegetables like yam, taking up valuable space and casting undue
avocado regularly attaining 25-30 feet and cocoyam and cooked with fish and chicken. shade as do ‘proper’ trees.
mango a massive 50 feet or more. The Papaya (paw-paw) is another ‘pseu-
house-holder traditionally overcomes this do-tree’ tailor-made for the backyard.
harvesting hurdle with all sorts of ingenious Reaching the same height as small trees
picking devices, like the long pole with a this essentially herbaceous plant does so
nail at the end to break the fruit stalk and without laying down any real wood for
a small bag also attached at the end to support in its sheer vertical stems. Papa-
catch the fruit. ya produces fruit in steady sequence up
Other communities simply wait until fruit the stem but some trees produce flowers
falls but with mango in particular the fruit and never a fruit. There is nothing wrong
is soft when ripe and will bruise or burst with these plants which are neither dis-
on impact with the ground. And the longer eased nor cursed. Papaya produces male
mature fruit are on the tree the more bird and female flowers on different plants and
damage is incurred, while fruit that falls the one which never produces papaya is
during the night may be gone or eaten by Flowering leguminous trees provide called the ‘man-plant’ and only produces
rats and other rodents by morning. And why colour as well as nitrogen fixation for male flowers.
go to all this trouble when there is innu- improved soil fertility Papaya is not only one of the most
merable grafted fruit trees now available Banana is one of the fastest growing, delicious fruits when eaten ripe but the
growing into small or dwarf trees. Fruit are highest yielding and undemanding staple flesh is also used to make sweetmeats and
easily picked from such trees which have food crops of the tropics. You just plant condiments, and especially as a base for
been designed to produce bumper crops them and the stems shoot up in succession hot pepper sauce. Flesh from the green
of superior fruit like string-less mangoes, and bear tiered hands of fruit in big bunches fruit contains powerful enzymes and can
and ‘Pollock’ avocadoes weighing in at an providing you cut down the biggest and be used for a variety of purposes includ-
incredible 1.5 kg per fruit. oldest one after you have harvested the ing meat tenderizing and cleaning body
Trees should also be planted for aesthetic fruit bunch. But what you see are not wounds.
beauty and pleasure offering an attractive stems at all, the true stem stays under-
background for leisure and reflection. The ground and the tall lush shoots with huge
tropics is well blessed with flowering trees unfurling leaves are called ‘Pseudostems’
and what better to use than leguminous (false stems). Up they come, always three
trees such Gliricidia, pink and yellow Cas- ‘Pseuodstems’ appearing together but at
sias and the bright red Poncianas providing different stages of growth, the ‘peeper’,
beauty, soil fertility and perhaps animal the ‘grower’ and the ‘bearer’.
fodder at the same time. The large, strong and broad banana leaves
Pseudo trees with a robustness of plastic, smoothness
‘Trees’ are not always what they seem. and cleanness of porcelain and the water-
proofing quality of rubber are used as roof
Banana, coconut and papaya are all regard- thatch, mats for the table and to cover
ed as trees but are not really true trees pots of cooked food to protect against
at all. They have the size and structure of flies. Before use as plates banana leaves Coconut has so many benefits that it has
been called ‘The Tree of Life’
Circle 15 on enquiry card Vol. 39 No. 4 13