Summer growth

Some fun facts:

1. Mucuna pruriens, other wise known as velvet bean is an (mostly) inedible legume that is extremely fast growing.  Due to its nitrogen fixing nature, it can add the equivalent of 200 lb/acre of nitrogen to the soil.  It produces an amazing amount of biomass and can climb trellises and structures 55 feet tall.  I am going to test this theory by erecting a bamboo pole 55 feet high and seeing if the plant will grow all the way up.

If Arnold Schwarzenegger were a plant, he'd be mucuna

2. ECHO obtained banana plants from the Honduran Agricultural Research Center in 1995 that are considered by many to be the savior of the commercial banana industry.  Known as FHIA-01 or 'Goldfinger,' this banana variety is resistant to the two major diseases threatening banana plantations worldwide.  Black sigatoga and Fusarium wilt Race 4 are major crop killers in Asia and are of grave concern in Latin America as well (where the vast majority of bananas are grown for the US market).  The grocery store banana most Americans are familiar with, the Cavendish, is susceptible to both diseases.  Strict import controls and regular fungicide sprays have allowed the Cavendish plantations to stay afloat in central america, but it won't last forever.  Goldfinger was 17 years in the making, as obtaining seed from bananas is tedious in the extreme.  IF they're pollinated correctly, you'll get an average of one seed per 300 bananas.  IF you can germinate that seed (5% normal germ rate), you have to wait a full 18 months to harvest the bananas to determine whether the cross made anything good.  Compare that to rice which you can cross, grow, harvest and select three times in one year.

Banana seeds.  You will never see this in real life.  I guarantee it.

July and August have been great months to be an ECHO intern.  The amount of growth is completely validating.  If you can keep your weeds under control, you see everything else exploding.  Quite a change from April/May.  Fall growout was released two weeks ago.  This is a list each area is provided with that has specific plants and planting dates that coincide with activities that ECHO conducts.  Conference in Nov/Dec dictates much of the planting, as demonstrations are needed for the hundreds of visitors that ECHO hosts.  Vegetables for sale at the bookstore dictates much of what remains, since returning snowbirds buy lots of things from ECHO in the fall and winter, including produce.

The last three weeks have been full.  From Oklahoma themed parties to beach trips to Army training in middle-of-nowhere, FL, there's been ample time but not much motivation to blog.  See Flickr for the latest photos.

New experiences in the last three weeks:
1. Ate an avocado grown at ECHO (Brogdon)
2. Ate a banana grown at ECHO (FHIA-03)
3. Ate a starfruit grown at ECHO
4. Seeded rhubarb, smooth luffa, St Nick tomatoes and onions for planting in the rainforest in a few weeks
5. Discovered the pleasure of wiping out a yellowjacket nest with wasp killer when that nest was responsible for stinging you multiple times.
6. Saw someone pull out an iPad to look at Bible verses at church
7. Saw a sign for bear crossing.  In Florida.