You know, Claude, I can see how you could leave a stalk of bananas on
the tree if you can control moisture. During the rainy season in Saipan
we received tropical deluges of three inches or more after a few dry,
very sunny days. This is probably what caused my bananas to split.
That would not happen in San Diego. After I lost a few beautiful stalks
to the splits, I became gun-shy, and started taking them down earlier.
You are certainly right that you have to eat bananas pretty fast to get
through a whole stalk. The ones that split the worst were Williams.
The little fingerlings and a red banana that I grew didn't seem to
suffer from it. The worst threat to bananas out there in the Pacific is
typhoon season.