My dwarf cavendish banana plant develops very large bunches of bananas. Just before the are due to start ripening they fall over. I water them every second day and they are fed cow manure. Any Ideas???
I used to cut the bunch off but I found that the bananas all ripened at once.
We tried leaving the bunch to ripen on the plant and found that the bananas ripened 2-4 per day, which was really convenient. This worked for about half a dozen bunches the the problem with the plant falling started. The plant is not being uprooted, but folding in half.
I’ve tried propping the plant but just had one collapse right above the prop. I’m not too sure if there is a deficiency, or if I just have a commercial variety that was never meant to support the bunch so long.
The bananas haven’t quite lost their sharp ridge, so I do’t think they would be ready to pick even for a commercial basis. I would estimate the bunches to be around 50-60 Kg
Personal observation in the tropics. Clutches of bananas are cutoff for the market way before they ripen; these hard and green bananas are allowed to ripen naturally until they’re soft enough to consume. The relatively short roots of the plant, over-watering (loosened soil), weight of large bunches would be the likely cause.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Personal observation in the tropics.
Clutches of bananas are cutoff for the market way before they ripen; these hard and green bananas are allowed to ripen naturally until they’re soft enough to consume.
The relatively short roots of the plant, over-watering (loosened soil), weight of large bunches would be the likely cause.
References :
July 14th, 2009 at 8:24 am
Because of the weight of the bunch is what makes the tree fall over, so if you get a wide plank of wood and put one end up against the trunk on an angle and the other end into the ground, it won’t fall over. Do this on the side the bunch is growing on and once you see one banana ripening its time to cut the bunch down as the others will ripen anyway. Cheers and good luck.
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