Devon banana plants going strong

Our stock of Musa Dwarf Cavendish is doing well.  Two are at West Town Farm in a polytunnel under the care of Andrew Sanders, the Community Garden Co-ordinator; five are at the University of Exeter in Penryn under the care of Dr Jonathan Bennie; and three are with Gabrielle Hoad in Exeter, living indoors (although they will go outside when the Devon weather improves).

This is one of the latter which, after a slow start, are now growing fast and have reached a height of approximately 22cm (42cm including pot). They have also started to show distinctive maroon markings on their leaves. Although these probably won't reach full height (2.4 metres) this summer, they should provide us with a supply of pups (suckers) for future planting.

Baby bananas

Ten Musa 'Dwarf Cavendish' (dessert bananas) arrived today for planting in Penryn and Exeter. Once they've grown a bit, they should be fairly happy outdoors, though they will need some protection in winter. The real challenge will be getting them to fruit.

The Great British Banana

The Great British Banana is a limited-edition 16-page booklet, designed by Gabrielle Hoad, which draws on initial research material for 'Foreign Soil'. Distributed free at outlets across Wales and Southwest England, it was commissioned and printed by Nick Davies as part of his Loophole Supplements series.

Survival of the fittest

We're currently compiling and analysing data collected by the eight prototype ecoids that were installed at West Town Farm for a month this spring. Ecoid H was hyperactive for 48 hours then flatlined, and Ecoid D proved to be permanently out of range, but the other six gave us good data, transmitting every 40 minutes night and day over the course of April (with only one or two small hiccups).  Ecoid B continued transmitting for over five weeks, well into May.

As a result of this pilot project, we know that the ecoids give us useful information, that they're compatible with a working farm, and that they can survive wet, cold and windy weather. We also know that there are a number of improvements we'd like to make.

Standard batteries will be replaced with batteries charged by solar or wind power, so that ecoids can stay in place for longer. This means we can also leave some of them permanently switched on to use as routers, so that we can transmit data over longer distances. Once our range increases, we can start to understand more about some of the different microclimates around the farm and their suitability for tender plants such as banana.

Longer term (and subject to funding), more sophisticated sensors will be incorporated in the ecoids to ensure they operate consistently with one another and can be properly calibrated with standard measurements.

Ecoids may make a return visit to West Town Farm later this year for a test-run of some of their new features and to give local schools an opportunity to work with them.

Ecoids in action

This is an ecoid, a tool that's being used to help identify potential microclimates where tender plants such as banana might thrive on West Town Farm. Developed by i-DAT at Plymouth University, ecoids are devices that allow remote sensing of environmental factors such as light levels, temperature, humidity and wind strength. Each ecoid monitors its local environment and regularly sends data, using wireless signals, to a central computer.

Chris Hunt, an MRes Digital Art and Technology student came to West Town Farm yesterday to help set up. We're running a month-long pilot project, to see how the technology gets on with the farm and the farm gets on with the technology. If things go well, we'll install them across a wider area for a longer period of time.

(No) go bananas

Eating seasonal, locally produced food is an ideal for some but may become a necessity for everyone as future energy (and therefore transportation) costs rise.

Many food items that the UK currently imports might not be missed, but what about bananas? The UK consumes more than five billion bananas each year, all of which are shipped from places such as South America and the Windward Islands – about 4000 miles away.

Bananas are a tropical plant – they needs lots of sun, lots of humidity and sustained heat. Although members of the banana family can be grown to fruit in the UK, no traditional edible varieties currently thrive, except in heated greenhouses. Given that dessert bananas are such an integral part of British food culture, could they ever be grown locally as an outdoor crop?