Flowers on the tip of each banana finger that can come off easily are also removed. Various insects that cause cosmetic damage to the fruit are attracted to the flowers as a food source and as a place to lay eggs. By removing the flowers we eliminate the food source and the damage associated with those pests. Because there is less trash and rotting material we end up with a cleaner bunch arriving at the packing house. It has numerous tiny ventilation holes and is not impregnated with chemicals.
Plastic bags protect the bananas from weathering.
The skin looks smoother and the color is a lighter green. There is a slight but definite improvement in appearance and on sales as a result of bagging the bananas. We did both bagging and not bagging over the years and bagging is important when trying to present the best looking banana possible. The weekly count of bunches bagged by field and ribbon color gives us a weekly inventory. We harvest with 4 wheeled All Terrain Vehicles pulling a small trailer.