Interesting differences between Panama and Java, eh? The crutches are standard for this part of Panama until the banana plants are very tall. Ours are just at the edge of not needing crutches. What I don’t know is whether the commercial producers in this area also use crutches. I’ll try to find out.

Of further interest are the bags – Panamanians use them for bananas but not for mangoes, and I haven’t heard of bats eating mangoes around here. Again, I’ll see if I can find out.

Thanks very much for commenting. I enjoy learning about these differences.

Mary

What interests me the most is the banana. Do we generally need to put crutches on bananas there or is it just specific for those in the pictures?

Because here (middle Java, Indonesia), on my garden and around the neighborhood, they ripen and do fine by their own… (seeing your picture, I have a hunch that the “trunk” on bananas here is much thicker)

Another point is the bag on the bananas. I’ve never seen it used around here, but people do put bags on mangoes to keep bats from eating it.

Did you have much wind damage at Cerro Azul?

Thanks for sharing!