Banana- Planting activities

Banana is propagated through suckers. 3-4 month old disease free sword suckers are used for planting. The suckers should be taken from healthy clumps. About 1000 suckers will be needed for an acre.

The best planting time is April-May and August-September. While selecting planting time periods of heavy monsoon and severe summer months should be avoided.

The planting time should also be adjusted to avoid high temperature and drought at the time of bunch emergence (7-8 months after planting).

The psudostem of Nendran suckers are cut back to a length of 15-20 cm from corm and old roots are removed. The rhizomes are then smeared with cow dung solution and ash and dried in the sun for about 3-4 days and stored in shade upto 15 days before planting.

Prepare the field by ploughing or digging. Pits of size of 50 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm are made for planting. The pits are filled with top soil and organic manure @ 10 kg/pit.

In low-lying areas, the planting is done on mounds. The spacing is around 2m X 2m for single sucker planting and 3mX 2m for double sucker planting on one pit.

The suckers are planted upright in the centre of pits with 5 cm pseudostem remaining above soil level. The soil around the suckers is pressed to avoid hollow air spaces.