Today Dustin and I worked at a client’s house in El Granada. I landscaped the house years ago for a different owner, and am called back every so often to spruce things up for this new family. They have a big, beautiful banana tree in the back yard, planted in a retaining wall. It has been leaning more and more each month – so they needed something to be done. Pushing on the tree I knew it was deceivingly heavy, and anchoring it to the fence would only bring the fence down with it.
Soooo. I figured I could remove some of the half cut leaves to reduce the weight, and maybe it would straighten a bit over time.

Here is my baby!
A huge, unnecessary winchester knife! It was an impulse purchase at a gun show I was dragged to… and we’ve been soul mates ever since. Other than using it to open mail – this is the first time I have ever really used it. Ain’t she a beauty?
Ok, back to what I licked….

So, I started with the first lower layers and worked my way up. This knife is so sharp and the leaves are full of nothing but water and thin fiberous cells. It’s not like removing fronds from a palm or anything. They cut through clean and took no time to get them all off the plant.
Once the leaves were cut, Dustin and I examined how heavy they were, and how much water they really had in them Each 3-4′ section I cut off was probably about 15-20 lbs. heavy and I removed about 5 leaves total. We smushed them, stepped on them and mashed them with our hands… water gushing out each time. It was crazy to see how clear the water was, stored in each cell casing. So I decided to lick it to see what the water tasted like…. Dustin thought it to be a bad idea but was too late to warn me. And he was right, it tasted like drinking water that had been soaked in a bowl of dirty nickels. I thought it would be like if you’re stuck in the desert and you drink water from a cactus… no? Or if you open up a coconut and drink the milk.
My Bad. Whatever. You win this round nana tree!