Well it turns out our second bunch of bananas is on the way. This time it’s from the Pisang Awak patch, with plants originally sourced from Auckland Botanic Gardens. The names attached to various banana varieties within New Zealand is layers upon layers of mixups. Just when you think you have a good grasp, another layer peels off and you see something different. So whether this plant is actually Pisang Awak or not, I am no longer sure, but at least I am sure of where I got it and that I didn’t change the name 🙂
This banana patch has been completely neglected the past year, receiving only 1x feed and nothing else, not even chop and drop. Unlike last time, this time I will try to protect the bunch with a banana bag or similar to see what kind of effect it has and whether it keeps more of the fruit in good condition compared to last time. Of course, it may still fail to ripen next Spring.
Huacatay
This banana patch is growing with huacatay (Tagetes minuta) for company (a few stems are visible behind the flower bell), a perennial herb of the marigold genus, native to the Southern half of South America. Huacatay is a fantastic herb and due to vigorous growth can be used for chop and drop. It also has strong effects on the soil microbiome. I would describe huacatay as ‘passionfruit mint’. Others describe the taste as a mixture of sweet basil, tarragon, mint and citrus.
Huacatay exudes powerful anti-fungal and anti-nematode compounds from its roots. I’m pretty sure the amount of these compounds released by huacatay are orders of magnitude more than those released by annual marigolds which many gardeners will plant as a companion crop for tomatoes, due to its deeper root system and much more vigorous growth habit (I haven’t researched this yet though so could be wrong). We’re trialing huacatay as a companion plant for mountain papaya (Vasoncellea sp.) due to their relatively poor tolerance of damp soils – with the idea that the huacatay will ward off fungal & oomycete problems while also drying the soil through active growth in Winter. It’s likely that huacatay could be allelopathic to some plants (or at least the effect on beneficial mychorrhiza may be negative), so we haven’t used it everywhere.