Plantain
Musa balbisiana Colla
Temperature
23°C to 28°C
Rainfall
1300mm to 3000mm per season
Conditions
What it needs
Soil
Deep, rich, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter. Shallow-rooted, so it will not stand drought or wind.
Water
High and steady rainfall. A plantain stand is a standing investment rather than a season: it fruits, is cut, and the sucker follows it.
What you will need
Tick what you already have; Grow carries the rest into the cost working.
Grow holds no supplier listings and no local prices, so it cannot tell you where to buy these or what they cost near you. Ask at your nearest agrodealer or extension office, then put those figures into the planner.
Through the season
Stages
- 01
Field preparation
21 days- Clear and mark out
- Dig planting holes
- 02
Planting
7 days- Plant pared suckers
- Mulch heavily
- 03
Establishment
90 days- Weed
- Keep mulch topped up
- 04
Vegetative growth
150 days- Desucker to the right number
- Feed with manure or potassium
- 05
Flowering and bunch fill
90 days- Prop heavy bunches
- Remove diseased leaves
- 06
Harvest and ratoon
14 days- Harvest at the right fullness
- Cut back and let the follower take over
Watch for
Common problems
Black sigatoka
- What you will see
- Black streaks that merge until the leaves die early and the bunch fills poorly.
- What to do
- Cut and remove affected leaves, space plants so air moves, and drain the field. Resistant varieties where they are available.
Banana weevil
- What you will see
- Plants that topple, with tunnels through the corm.
- What to do
- Plant clean, pared suckers, remove old corms, and trap weevils with split pseudostems.
Nematodes
- What you will see
- Roots dark and rotten, plants toppling in wind.
- What to do
- Use clean planting material, mulch heavily, and do not replant straight into an old infested stand.
Follow the label for doses, and ask an extension officer or vet before using a chemical you have not used before.