Lost!!

Christian · 05-20-2009, 06:27 AM

As banana growers we do know this thing called winter-blues, don’t we? We quake for months in our boots because we are worried that the plants that looked so good during summer don’t get through the tough cold months of the year. Or is it only me that quakes – the result of a constantly worrying mind? Well, whether I worry or not, occasionally some plants don’t make it, and strangely enough it always seems to be the hard-to-get ones that are soft and mushy at the beginning of the season.

So I dream of paradise…

And my paradise is very conducive to growing bananas, in fact it is quite tropical. So I live and dream and dream and live, until I realise: “It was just all a dream”. And the bananas are still here struggling through the cold.

Happiness is all in the mind, and I am happy when my bananas are happy, so I thought “Why not send the plants on holidays?”. Somewhere warm… But where??

And along comes Tog and he talks to me about putting together a home for bananas. Many different types, and all in a nice warm place. A place that people can visit, where bananas can be observed and studied, and above all being kept from getting lost.

I can tell you that when I get some seeds of a hard to get species I do worry a lot. First about getting them to germinate, then about not loosing the plant. I always wished for a place where one of them could live and be looked after, so if ever something would happen to my one here in England, then the other one is save and is not lost to cultivation.

So Tog’s idea about starting what he calls “ Ladang Musaceae ” – a garden for bananas (Tog: What does Ladang actually mean???) – seemed ideal. The plan now is the following: We will be sharing plant material for conservation, display, and for fun (a lot of that!!). Even so as a whole I am not too bothered about this detail, he promised me that actual ownership of the plants in question would actually remain with me, which is great, but obviously he will have access to off-shoots and seeds. Together we can monitor the plant, take pictures and answer questions easier and faster then we could ever do in a cool country like England . (Honestly, what are the chances of seeing a large growing banana flower here, ever??!?)

So basically we are trying to share plant material as we are already sharing the mutual interest in those plants. Isn’t that a good thing?

Christian

alpha010 · 05-20-2009, 06:52 AM

That's an awesome idea! I think Tog should setup a Ladang Musaceae (from context, I believe Ladang means garden)! Maybe we all could chip in and pay for his import/export license and we all can send him our off-shoots for storage and propagation. Pay monthly dues to be used for fert, dirt, and payment for his space, time and hardship.

Although this is only a dream since he has his business and his own journeys and the things he does right now give us wonderful stories of new species, adventures and cultural insights. So, in short, I doubt he would want to pull this off and I wouldn't want to even ask him to do such. BUT, if someone else were willing to do this, I might be greatly interested in this type of "business for the love of the art" as it may open up species to the parts of the world that have not even heard of these types. It would also give many of us a piece of mind knowing that if something happens to our "kids" we have one somewhere that is a direct clone or clone of a clone that upon request we could have our dead one replaced in 2 weeks or less. Or we can just visit and contribute to this place just to admire the beauty and our own sense of grandeur!

I'm all with you, Christian, it would be a good thing. Albeit hard to pull off and maintain, but good.

Shaggy

Dalmatiansoap · 05-20-2009, 07:00 AM

Looks like a good idea. Worth to support!

Tog Tan · 05-20-2009, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christian

And along comes Tog and he talks to me about putting together a home for bananas. Many different types, and all in a nice warm place. A place that people can visit, where bananas can be observed and studied, and above all being kept from getting lost.
So Tog’s idea about starting what he calls “ Ladang Musaceae ” – a garden for bananas (Tog: What does Ladang actually mean???) – seemed ideal. The plan now is the following: We will be sharing plant material for conservation, display, and for fun (a lot of that!!).
So basically we are trying to share plant material as we are already sharing the mutual interest in those plants. Isn’t that a good thing
Christian

Christian and me have been chatting quite a while about 'naner issues and we enjoy our arguments tremendously which otherwise would irk the hell out of the experts out there. We share the same interest in the species and the preservation of them. This led to our idea of sharing our resources of the rare or hard to obtain species.

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha010

That's an awesome idea! I think Tog should setup a Ladang Musaceae (from context, I believe Ladang means garden)! Maybe we all could chip in and pay for his import/export license and we all can send him our off-shoots for storage and propagation. Pay monthly dues to be used for fert, dirt, and payment for his space, time and hardship.

Although this is only a dream since he has his business and his own journeys and the things he does right now give us wonderful stories of new species, adventures and cultural insights. So, in short, I doubt he would want to pull this off and I wouldn't want to even ask him to do such. BUT, if someone else were willing to do this, I might be greatly interested in this type of "business for the love of the art" as it may open up species to the parts of the world that have not even heard of these types. It would also give many of us a piece of mind knowing that if something happens to our "kids" we have one somewhere that is a direct clone or clone of a clone that upon request we could have our dead one replaced in 2 weeks or less. Or we can just visit and contribute to this place just to admire the beauty and our own sense of grandeur!

I'm all with you, Christian, it would be a good thing. Albeit hard to pull off and maintain, but good.

Shaggy

Shaggy, Ladang Musaceae came about after me and my business partner, Francis Khor got into 'naners. It is not a dream and it has become a serious commitment for the two for us with the soft launch in 2010. Priority of this project is the acquisition of all the Callimusa species of this region and all the heirloom cultivars of Malaysia.

If we limit this project to the conservation of 'naners, we believe the 3 acres we have is sufficient if we keep the number of off shoots to a limit.

I will be starting a thread on Ladang Musaceae soon.

Ladang = Field, garden or plantation in Malay. Basically it means a plot of land.

Jack Daw · 05-20-2009, 08:56 AM

If only I had something worth donating...

lorax · 05-20-2009, 10:16 AM

I'll be donating plants as soon as I can!

alpha010 · 05-20-2009, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tog Tan

If we limit this project to the conservation of 'naners, we believe the 3 acres we have is sufficient if we keep the number of off shoots to a limit.

I will be starting a thread on Ladang Musaceae soon.

Ladang = Field, garden or plantation in Malay. Basically it means a plot of land.

I'm learning more Malay each day!

And, maybe during the off-shoot removal and maintenance, possibly offering these pups that have been removed for sale?

Also, I have been pondering a business venture in my neck of the woods/ side of pond. With the economy here the way it is, my city has lost alot of manufacturing companies resulting in large areas of land with large warehouse sized buildings for sale, cheaply I might add. I wanted to buy some of these buildings and go indoors with growing tropical plants, fruit and extremely rare exotics on large scale and sell the fruit to local grociery and gourmet stores and tropical plants to nurseries and department stores, and the extremely rare exotics to local collectors (regardless of economy, we have an enourmous amount of people near here with alot of exhaustible resources). My wife has mixed feelings about doing that but never told me no. I just might have to get some prices and do some calculating on an economical level to see what I will need for startup, how much time I'm going to need to spend daily, end user pricing, and profitability and draw up a plan and see what family members I can enlist short-term to aid me in this venture.

Anyways, something on the level of what you are attempting is awesome, just awesome. I would love keep up with the happenings of your project Tog, sounds very, very interesting!

Shaggy

Bananaman88 · 05-20-2009, 12:06 PM

Interesting idea, guys. It's good to see that we have some big-picture thinkers here.

Tog Tan · 05-20-2009, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alpha010

I'm learning more Malay each day!

And, maybe during the off-shoot removal and maintenance, possibly offering these pups that have been removed for sale?

Also, I have been pondering a business venture in my neck of the woods/ side of pond. With the economy here the way it is, my city has lost alot of manufacturing companies resulting in large areas of land with large warehouse sized buildings for sale, cheaply I might add. I wanted to buy some of these buildings and go indoors with growing tropical plants, fruit and extremely rare exotics on large scale and sell the fruit to local grociery and gourmet stores and tropical plants to nurseries and department stores, and the extremely rare exotics to local collectors (regardless of economy, we have an enourmous amount of people near here with alot of exhaustible resources). My wife has mixed feelings about doing that but never told me no. I just might have to get some prices and do some calculating on an economical level to see what I will need for startup, how much time I'm going to need to spend daily, end user pricing, and profitability and draw up a plan and see what family members I can enlist short-term to aid me in this venture.

Anyways, something on the level of what you are attempting is awesome, just awesome. I would love keep up with the happenings of your project Tog, sounds very, very interesting!

Shaggy

Shaggy, I have spoken to one of the members here who does serious farming and asking him maybe he should have a hand in exotic ornamentals. In this field, you will have to do a lot of research on the varieties available and no matter how the economy is, there's always customers; if the economy is down, they need to amuse themselves with something different/interesting and they don't mind spending the $ on this. When the economy is good, of course they have the spending power to get what they want. Looking at the plant industry here, the sales have picked up even in the economy downtime as people are turning to gardening rather than spend the $ on frivolous shopping. My logic is, the soil, labor, potting utensil and the watering bill is the same for an ordinary plant as for an exotic one. Why do the ordinary when the profit is so much higher from the exotic? This is a niche market and if you do it well, the business will always be there. This is the choice I have made when I went into the business.

I should launch the Ladang Musaceae website by the end of the year. Besides, 'naners, it will be full of rare stuff like variegated plants from as many genus as I can find, interesting cycads, rare palms and plants which are indigenous to here like the gingers and the dracaenas.

Dalmatiansoap · 05-20-2009, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tog Tan

Shaggy, I have spoken to one of the members here who does serious farming and asking him maybe he should have a hand in exotic ornamentals. In this field, you will have to do a lot of research on the varieties available and no matter how the economy is, there's always customers; if the economy is down, they need to amuse themselves with something different/interesting and they don't mind spending the $ on this. When the economy is good, of course they have the spending power to get what they want. Looking at the plant industry here, the sales have picked up even in the economy downtime as people are turning to gardening rather than spend the $ on frivolous shopping. My logic is, the soil, labor, potting utensil and the watering bill is the same for an ordinary plant as for an exotic one. Why do the ordinary when the profit is so much higher from the exotic? This is a niche market and if you do it well, the business will always be there. This is the choice I have made when I went into the business.

Thats the spirit Tog!
Totally agree with You

alpha010 · 05-21-2009, 05:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tog Tan

Shaggy, I have spoken to one of the members here who does serious farming and asking him maybe he should have a hand in exotic ornamentals. In this field, you will have to do a lot of research on the varieties available and no matter how the economy is, there's always customers; if the economy is down, they need to amuse themselves with something different/interesting and they don't mind spending the $ on this. When the economy is good, of course they have the spending power to get what they want. Looking at the plant industry here, the sales have picked up even in the economy downtime as people are turning to gardening rather than spend the $ on frivolous shopping. My logic is, the soil, labor, potting utensil and the watering bill is the same for an ordinary plant as for an exotic one. Why do the ordinary when the profit is so much higher from the exotic? This is a niche market and if you do it well, the business will always be there. This is the choice I have made when I went into the business.

I should launch the Ladang Musaceae website by the end of the year. Besides, 'naners, it will be full of rare stuff like variegated plants from as many genus as I can find, interesting cycads, rare palms and plants which are indigenous to here like the gingers and the dracaenas.

While you are lauching and ramping up over the next 5 years, I'll be hunting a good chunk of property amidst all the small pockets of populous here. Then, you can come and get your 1st American arm of Ladang setup and I'll be acting caretaker/manager! Haha, I'll see what I can do in the future to accomplish what I want to accomplish, and Bravo to you Tog. Can't wait to see what I can get my greazy paws on come next year........

05-20-2009, 06:27 AM	#1 (permalink)
Christian Bananaswap Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 22 BananaBucks : 8,070 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 51 Times in 12 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Lost!! As banana growers we do know this thing called winter-blues, don’t we? We quake for months in our boots because we are worried that the plants that looked so good during summer don’t get through the tough cold months of the year. Or is it only me that quakes – the result of a constantly worrying mind? Well, whether I worry or not, occasionally some plants don’t make it, and strangely enough it always seems to be the hard-to-get ones that are soft and mushy at the beginning of the season. So I dream of paradise… And my paradise is very conducive to growing bananas, in fact it is quite tropical. So I live and dream and dream and live, until I realise: “It was just all a dream”. And the bananas are still here struggling through the cold. Happiness is all in the mind, and I am happy when my bananas are happy, so I thought “Why not send the plants on holidays?”. Somewhere warm… But where?? And along comes Tog and he talks to me about putting together a home for bananas. Many different types, and all in a nice warm place. A place that people can visit, where bananas can be observed and studied, and above all being kept from getting lost. I can tell you that when I get some seeds of a hard to get species I do worry a lot. First about getting them to germinate, then about not loosing the plant. I always wished for a place where one of them could live and be looked after, so if ever something would happen to my one here in England, then the other one is save and is not lost to cultivation. So Tog’s idea about starting what he calls “ Ladang Musaceae ” – a garden for bananas (Tog: What does Ladang actually mean???) – seemed ideal. The plan now is the following: We will be sharing plant material for conservation, display, and for fun (a lot of that!!). Even so as a whole I am not too bothered about this detail, he promised me that actual ownership of the plants in question would actually remain with me, which is great, but obviously he will have access to off-shoots and seeds. Together we can monitor the plant, take pictures and answer questions easier and faster then we could ever do in a cool country like England . (Honestly, what are the chances of seeing a large growing banana flower here, ever??!?) So basically we are trying to share plant material as we are already sharing the mutual interest in those plants. Isn’t that a good thing? Christian

05-20-2009, 06:52 AM	#2 (permalink)
alpha010 Metal Nanners!! alpha010 's Photo Gallery Location: Mineral Ridge, Ohio Find me on the map! Zone: 6 on arborday 5b on USDA Name: Bob aka Shaggy Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 470 BananaBucks : 139,322 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 121 Times Was Thanked 238 Times in 148 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times	Re: Lost!! That's an awesome idea! I think Tog should setup a Ladang Musaceae (from context, I believe Ladang means garden)! Maybe we all could chip in and pay for his import/export license and we all can send him our off-shoots for storage and propagation. Pay monthly dues to be used for fert, dirt, and payment for his space, time and hardship. Although this is only a dream since he has his business and his own journeys and the things he does right now give us wonderful stories of new species, adventures and cultural insights. So, in short, I doubt he would want to pull this off and I wouldn't want to even ask him to do such. BUT, if someone else were willing to do this, I might be greatly interested in this type of "business for the love of the art" as it may open up species to the parts of the world that have not even heard of these types. It would also give many of us a piece of mind knowing that if something happens to our "kids" we have one somewhere that is a direct clone or clone of a clone that upon request we could have our dead one replaced in 2 weeks or less. Or we can just visit and contribute to this place just to admire the beauty and our own sense of grandeur! I'm all with you, Christian, it would be a good thing. Albeit hard to pull off and maintain, but good. Shaggy __________________ LOL! My house doesnt exist on the member map! Get a little Love in your life. Jump in a Mosh Pit! The only place where every emotion one person can feel will join together and express all at once.

05-20-2009, 07:00 AM	#3 (permalink)
Dalmatiansoap Let there be light Dalmatiansoap's Photo Gallery Location: Makarska, Croatia Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Ante Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 9,160 BananaBucks : 616,513 Feedback: 10 / 100% Said "Thanks" 6,508 Times Was Thanked 8,382 Times in 3,031 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 720 Times	Re: Lost!! Looks like a good idea. Worth to support! __________________ https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

05-20-2009, 08:56 AM	#5 (permalink)
Jack Daw I think with my banana ;) Jack Daw's Photo Gallery Location: BA, SK, CEU Find me on the map! Zone: Dfa (Köppen-geiger) <-> 7b/8a? (USDA) Name: Jack Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 3,525 BananaBucks : 212,763 Feedback: 2 / 100% Said "Thanks" 2,771 Times Was Thanked 2,461 Times in 1,355 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 383 Times	Re: Lost!! If only I had something worth donating... __________________ Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and *Francesco* for the plants I've received. Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs) Zeitgeist - Moving Forward (~2.5hrs)

05-20-2009, 10:16 AM	#6 (permalink)
lorax Banned lorax's Photo Gallery Location: Ecuador, South America Find me on the map! Zone: USDA 13 / Köppen-Geiger BSh Name: Lorax Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 2,532 BananaBucks : 308,727 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 742 Times Was Thanked 3,040 Times in 1,188 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 464 Times	Re: Lost!! I'll be donating plants as soon as I can!

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05-20-2009, 12:06 PM	#8 (permalink)
Bananaman88 Bananaculturist Bananaman88's Photo Gallery Location: Houston, TX area Find me on the map! Zone: 9 Name: Brent Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 3,019 BananaBucks : 221,537 Feedback: 22 / 100% Said "Thanks" 1,339 Times Was Thanked 2,263 Times in 1,178 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 191 Times	Re: Lost!! Interesting idea, guys. It's good to see that we have some big-picture thinkers here.

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