g'day cestrum

lso seen growers using cane knives, but any sort of machete type blade will do the job, even a large meat cleaver might do?

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

Hi Len, cane knives you say? Would they be better (than a hacksaw) for cutting down the stump after it's flowered? If so, where could a home gardener buy one of these?

The curved blade is usually only used to cut of leaves , this is compulsory to control fungus and leaf spot virus from spreading . Cane knives are often sold in hardware stores .. saw a great trick to harvest a bunch ... just cut a cross hatch of shaloow cuts up the trunk until you see it bending a bit , its best to be holding the bell at the time to keep the bunch from crashing to the ground .. maybe my very long arms make this possible ;-)
once the lot are down , you can chop of the bunch , hang it up under the house , and hack into the trunk .. makes great mulch .

I'll have to ask about cane knives at the local hardware store (haven't seen any--they don't have a great range here): the leaves are surprisingly tricky to cut off. (They tend to peel to the base of the trunk.) I will try that trick of making cuts up the trunk. (It's the ladyfinger that's hardest to manage because it's the tallest.) Agree about the mulch: I believe all parts of the plant are quite high in potassium (like the fruit,)and I add the leaves/trunk to the compost bin or place them at the bottom of new garden beds, roughly hacked up.

My Hubby made this one from a beer barrel band (not a wine barrel) and shaped the handle out of a piece of hardwood its about 45cms long its not curved but works well for the banana trunks and lots of other things..

{{gwi:2112888}}

Have you tried the Sunday Markets.. Cheers Mary-Anne

Not being at all handy, I guess a market would be my best bet. Just have to find one ...

A cane knife, or any machete that is weighted so that the centrifugal force of the swing adds to the impact, should work. I usually give the trunk one whack about halfway through, so the trunk bends and whack off the bunch with one whack clean through. After the bunch is removed, usually a single solid whack is enough to cut all the way through. Then I cut the trunk into one to two foot sections and mulch the stand with the pieces. Do this while the tree is still alive, or you will be greeted by a frementing water balloon full of rotten banana sap. If you leave the rhizome(sp?) in the ground, young starts will come up off if it.

Having the right type of knife would make a big difference, because it's a real pain trying to saw thru the trunk and then hack it into small enough pieces to feed thru the mulcher. It doesn't help that the bananas are right up against a flimsy boundary fence which cannot take the weight of the cut banana trunk leaning against it, and which impedes my ability to saw the trunk.

I know what you mean about the fermenting balloon full of rotten banana sap: what a stench!

So, gotta find that knife/machete ...

Get hold of a machete from Mexico that has the curved blade. It's made from fairly heavy metal, and really works super. I've seen Mexicans cut down a 3" tree with one swoop.