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particularly fond of bananas and he used to cultivate them in his hothouse,
which is where you have to grow them in England, of course, because of the
cool climate and they became quite popular in the UK. So he was the one
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responsible for cultivating the Cavendish banana which was then introduced
into Australia.
F:
I see. And we’ve been growing them ever since?
M:
Yes.
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F:
Are they hard to grow?
M:
Well, yes and no. To grow them in your garden, no, not really. But to grow
them commercially you need to know what you’re doing. You see you only
get one bunch of bananas per tree and it can take up to three years for a tree
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to bear fruit if you don’t do anything special to it. But this period is greatly
reduced with modern growing methods, particularly in plantations where you
have perfect tropical conditions.
F:
Right! So what are you looking at? One year? Two years?
M:
No, no, around 15 months in good conditions for a tree to produce a bunch of
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bananas. And once you’ve got your bunch you cut the bunch and the plant down.
F:
So how do the trees reproduce then?
M:
Well, bananas are normally grown from suckers which spring up around the
parent plant, usually just above the plant. They tend to like to grow uphill —
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or at least that’s the common wisdom.

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116
Practice Test 2
F:
So that’s why banana plantations are usually on hillsides, is it?
M:
Yes. They grow best like that.
F:
That’s interesting!
M:
If you plant them in rich soil and give them plenty of water at the beginning
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of summer, then they should be well advanced by the beginning of winter
when growth virtually stops. But in a country like England, they’re hard to
grow, although you 
can
grow them in a hothouse.
F:
But in Australia, it’s not difficult?
M:
No, though even here, the growers put plastic bags around the bunches to
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protect them and keep them warm. If you go up to the banana growing
districts, you’ll see all these banana trees with plastic bags on them.
F:
But how do they stop the bananas going bad before they reach the shops?
M:
Well, the banana bunches are picked well before the fruit is ripe. Once you
cut the bunch, the bananas stop growing but they do continue to ripen. The
interesting thing is that once one banana ripens, it gives off a gas which then
helps all the others to ripen so they pretty much all ripen within a few hours
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of each other.
F:
Amazing! So do we export lots of bananas overseas, to Europe and Asia for
instance?
M:
Well, oddly enough, no. I believe New Zealand takes a small proportion of
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the crop but otherwise they’re mostly grown for the domestic market, which
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is surprising when you think about it because we grow an enormous number
of bananas each year.
F:
Yes, well thank you for all that information. I’m sure the tutorial paper will
go really well you certainly seem to have done your research on the subject.
M:
Let’s hope so.