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| How to grow Bananas |
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How do you plan?
Use a calendar or a year planner to organise your actions.
What actions to plan
• Decide on a cultivar.
• Identify where your bananas can be marketed.
• Decide on size of land and spacing between plants.
• Obtain finance and buy inputs such as fertilisers and tissue culture plants.
• Buy land preparation equipment: tractors for ploughing, discing, etc.
• Plan labour.
• Buy and fetch planting material from a nursery.
• How to get rid of weeds.
• Maintain and upgrade irrigation equipment and plan irrigation scheduling.
• Desuckering of the banana plants and selection of ratoon suckers.
• Covering the bunches and propping the plants.
• Harvesting your bananas.
• How to utilise the income.
July:
Do a soil analysis before planting—take soil samples to see if nematodes are present and which nutrients are lacking
September:
Irrigate, plough and rip the field. Apply lime, potash and phosphate with ploughing
November:
Measure and start digging holes for planting
December:
Plant, fertilise, irrigate the plants and hoe the weeds
Preparing the land
Soil analysis for lime and phosphate is essential before planting.
• Add kraal manure or compost if available.
• Fertilise the soil using 4 bags of Supers fertiliser per hectare.
• Add 2 bags of lime if the pH is low on soil analysis.
• Plough.
• Rip the field after fertilising to loosen the soil deep.
• Spray herbicide or hoe if there are many weeds in the field.
• Measure the planting distance and dig holes for planting.
Planting
Bananas can be planted using 3 methods:
• Tissue culture plants
• Bits
• Suckers.
Planting method for tissue culture plants Tissue culture plants are small plants which are grown from the tissue of the banana plant, in bags, and are ready for planting. For hygiene reasons, this is the preferred method for planting bananas.
• Prepare for planting by digging holes. Add old kraal manure and put some loose soil back into the holes. Do not add more than 10 g of Supers into each planting hole.
• Remove the plastic bag before planting and place the plant in the hole. The soil in the bag must not break up.
• Fill the hole with soil round the plant and compact it.
• Check correct planting depth when planting.
Planting method for bits and suckers
Bits are small portions of the banana plant cut from the rhizome (corm) of the plant and a bud is attached. Suckers are shoots growing from the rhizome of banana plants and they grow into new plants.
Planting a bit
• When planting bits, the planting depth
must be 10 cm and the bit also about
10 cm. Buds point the same direction
on each plant.
• The planting method for suckers is the
same as for planting tissue culture
plants.
Spacing
Space the rows 3 m apart and the plants
1,6 m in the row. The size of the hole
must be 30 x 30 cm and the depth
about 60 cm.
Fertilising
Make the soil fertile for the banana plants after planting by applying topdressing.
• First topdressing
Apply first topdressing a month after planting (January).
Use 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare (50 g per plant).
• Second topdressing
Apply second topdressing 3 months after planting (March).
Use 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare (50 g per plant) and 4 bags of KCl fertiliser per
hectare (100 g per plant).
Loose soil
10 cm
Pseudostem
Rhizome
Planting a sucker
Dos and don’ts when planting
• Do not damage the plant or dislodge the soil when removing the bag—use a knife
instead of a hoe.
• Do not plant too shallow or too deep and allow a space of 10 cm between the plant and the soill surface.
• Irrigate the banana plants after planting.
Leave suckers on the uphill side
• Third topdressing Apply third topdressing 5 months after planting (May). Use 4 bags of KCl and 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare.
• Do not apply topdressing in June, July and in August.
• Nine months after planting Topdress again 9 months after planting in September. Use 4 bags of KCl and 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare.
• Eleven months after planting Topdress again 11 months after planting (November). Use 4 bags of KCl and 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare.
• Last topdressing Apply the last topdressing in January . Use 4 bags of KCl and 2 bags of LAN fertiliser per hectare. Make compost heaps from old vegetable leaves, chicken and kraal manure, which can supplement the fertiliser programme.
Desuckering
Desuckering means cutting off unwanted shoots from the stems of the mother banana plant.
• Use a knife to cut off the stems of the suckers which have grown to about 30cm.
• When planting on a slope, always leave the suckers which are on the uphill side.
• Cut off all suckers which are on the northwestern side of the banana plant. This is the side where the bunch hangs.
• After 5 months from planting, select only 1 vigorous sucker to carry the next bunch.
Cut the remaining suckers.
• Continue removing unwanted suckers as they appear.
• Do not pour diesel over the stems of the suckers, water them instead.
NB: It is important to keep not more than 2 080 plants per hectare. Therefore,
after harvesting only 1 sucker should be allowed to grow.
Cut off all suckers which are on the northwestern side of the banana plant
Irrigating
• Water the banana plants after planting.
• Irrigate newly-planted tissue culture banana plants every day for 2 weeks (15 minutes per irrigation) to protect leaves from heat stress.
• In the absence of rain, irrigation water should be applied on a “little and often” basis to banana plants.
• For heavy loamy soil apply 20 mm of water every 3 days in summer and every 8 days in winter. Find out the delivery rate of sprinkler nozzles.
Example:
Nozzle delivery = 3 mm per hour For every irrigation, run the system for 20 hours divided by 3 hours = 6 hours and 40 minutes (20/3 = 6 hours, 40 min)
• For light sandy soil apply 12 mm water every 2 days in summer and every 5 days in winter. Find out the delivery rate of sprinkler nozzles.
Example:
Nozzle delivery = 3 mm per hour For every irrigation, run the system for 12 hours divided by 3 hours = 4 hours (12/3 = 4 hours)
Bagging and removing leaves
• Cover the banana bunches with bags for protection against insects and wind. Remove lower hanging, yellow leaves from the plant.
• Covering the bananas will result in better quality bananas.
• Remove lower leaves from the banana plant as they get old because they can spread diseases and scratch the bunch.
• Use a knife to cut off old leaves from the banana plant— do not pull them.
• Old leaves can scratch and damage the fruit on the bunch. Cut off the old leaves and place them on the ground—they mulch the surface and increase nutrient content in the soil.
• Remember to give your banana plants support by propping the bunches with a rope and sticks.
Controlling weeds
Control weeds by using:
• chemical method
• hand method
• both methods.
Chemical sprays are used to kill the weeds—use only recommended chemicals and apply these strictly according to the instructions on the label.
Do not spray:
• too much
• the banana plants
• when it is windy.
When using chemical control, such as glyphosphate, protect all parts of the banana plant from spray drift. Weeds are also killed by using a hoe or by hand, especially in the area near the plant to avoid chemical spray contact with the plants. Both methods can be used at the same time to kill weeds.
Pest and disease control
Control pests and diseases. Different pests and diseases require different treatments.
Thrips
Use chlorpyrifos pesticide once a month to kill thrips if they are present.
Nematodes
If they are present, kill them with Nemacur using 45 kg per hectare (20 g per plant). Compost, kraal manure and chicken manure applied in ample quantities will also suppress nematodes. Tissue culture plants are free of nematodes.
Sigatoka
Spray with Dithane plus mineral oil.
Post-harvest decay
Dip the banana hands into Benlate solution (5 g Benlate per 10 l water) to prevent post-harvest decay.
Harvesting
Harvest bananas when they are swollen and green but before they become ripe (plump and yellow).
Do not harvest:
• too early (when the bananas are thin and dark green)
• too late (when they are thick and turning yellow).
Hang bunches in packhouse at a cool location
How to harvest
• Get at least 2 people to help you cut the banana pseudostem halfway across and halfway down.
• Let the plant fall down slowly and then remove the bunch from it by cutting the bunch stalk.
• Chop up the leaves and top part of the pseudostem and lay on the soil as a mulch.
• Carry the bunches to the trailer and put them next to each other (not on top of each other).
Dos and don’ts when harvesting
• Do not work alone, always work in pairs.
• Do not let the bunches fall to the ground.
• Do not pack the bunches on top of each other.
• Harvest early in the morning when the sun is not too hot.
• Do not leave cut bunches in the sun.
• Do not cut in the hot afternoon unless overcast.
• Build a packhouse in a cool location to hang bunches, remove hands, cut into clusters, pack into cartons and store (on southern side).
Marketing
Now your bananas are ready to be taken to different markets where they can be sold.
Local markets
You can sell your bananas on the streets or at a roadside stall.
Municipal markets
You can arrange with the nearest local market to sell your bananas.
Contracts
You can have contracts with supermarkets and chain stores which can buy and sell your bananas on a regular basis.
Home use
You can use some bananas for food security at home. Selling bananas can generate income for a family |
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