banana berserker

ive heard some bananas emmit some brown stuff that can stain your clothes and that you have to put them in a tub of water to make them stop "bleeding" the brown stuff, but i only heard that on 1 site so i dont know if thats true or not.

D_&_T

when you cut p-stem or leaf the sap can stain, it bleeds like a maple tree would in summer if you cut a branch off

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mskitty38583

is that what is called banana latex?

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chong

More like sap. Latex would suggest a gummy white substance. The oozing liquid from a banana wound is almost clear and lightly syrupy. When it gets on cloth, it dries out brown and the stain is very difficult to get rid of. If it gets on colored cloth, you're almost out of luck because to get rid of the stain will almost certainly get rid of the color of the cloth.

Ironically (no pun intended), the laundry women in the Philippines use banana leaves for lubricating the iron for pressing clothes. When I was in high school, electricity was expensive where I was, so the women used a cast-iron iron that used glowing charcoal for heat. Before actually pressing the iron on the clothes, they would briefly press the iron over a stack of banana leaves until the steam diminished. I always wondered why in this manner, the clothes never got stained. Even my white uniform shirts.

I was told that they did this so the clothes wouldn't stick to the iron, particularly with those that were starched. Believe me, if the clothes were overly moist, they stuck to the iron! It took quite some practice to eyeball the moisture of the clothing to apply the iron without the banana leaves. I know, I had to do it. And we actually soaked our clothes in cooked starch. None of this spray-on stuff. Didn't know they even had them until I came to this country in 1966.

bencelest

I noticed that the sap or liquid stays on the leaf stain or the p-stem and non can be found on the green leaves.

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Banana Nut

banana berserker

i heard you had to soak the bananas in water to make them stop oozing the liquid. is that true?

D_&_T

not sure on that as corms ordered from Jarred (Mediahound), the corms he sent were cut off and package and shipped as is

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banana berserker

i dont mean the plant i ment the actual bananas. it said when you go out to cut your bananas off your tree wear something brown or something thats already stained and doesnt look good and gloves because the bananas will stain your hands and cloths.

chong

Cutting any part of a plant will result in "bleeding" thru the open wound. As in any wound, the exposure to the air of the cut will dry out a film (scab) over the cut and prevent further "bleeding". Rate of gelling and subsequent formation of the scab, depends on the viscosity(or thickness) of the fluid, the humidity, and temperature. This applies to the pseudo-stem and stem of the banana to which the flowers and fruits are attached.

The only time that there is risk of getting the sap on your clothing when harvesting the fruits is when you cut down the base of the stem. The sap will "squirt" a little due to the slight hydraulic pressure that delivers the nutrients throughout the plant. It is for this fact that the cut on the plant side will bleed longer than the severed side. Once pressure is relieved from the severed side, there will be nothing to push the fluids out, and the bleeding stops.

If you cut the hands of bananas for the stem after that, the only time you can get the sap on your clothing is if you accidentally brush your clothing against the open cut. The expulsion of fluids at this point is more like "sweating", rather than "bleeding". You can also get them on your clothes if you happen to get the sap on your hands and somehow wipe them on your clothes.

Getting them on your hands is no problem. If you wan to get rid of them right away, just place a few drops of cooking oil on your hands (or skin) and rub it in, then wash your hands with soap and water. That's what we used to do when we were kids.

Bananaman88

I have ruined several tee-shirts and a pair of shorts due to getting banana sap on them. I have even had it stain a spot on my patio where I momentarily laid a stalk of bananas I had just cut. It doesn't come off either; I've seen it stain rocks that it drips on as well. Never had any problem with it staining my skin though. I would think that immersing the cut in water would help slow or stop the bleeding. I know you can do this with memebers of the Euphorbiaceae family, such as poinsettia, african milk tree, pencil cactus, etc.

magicgreen

Wow Chong, thats very very interesting! Thank-you
Magicgreen

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
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banana berserker

thanks everyone for the info

MediaHound

I find the irony very ironic regarding the actual cast-iron iron.
(had to say it)

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

chong

Y'all need to remember, I prefaced that there was no pun intended. But here's my copout - - - - - English is not my native language!

bencelest

From my observation and my own use of cast iron iron when I was a teenager, the purpose of banana leaves is to make the iron slippery so when you iron your clothes it is much smoother and easy to iron your clothes so you can finish faster.
You can experiment even now even with your electric iron, try ironing your T-shirt first without pressing the iron to a stack of banana leaves, then do the same, iron your T-shirt after pressing your iron to a stack of banana leaves. You will feel the difference how so easy it is to push the iron to the cloth.
I tell you it beats the spray that you use today.

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Banana Nut