Quote:
Originally Posted by millermackenzie
Has anyone here managed a stagger plan for fruit before? I'm trying to reap a continuous harvest for our market for the majority of the year. Any thoughts, tips or ideas are certainly welcome.
TIA,
John
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The first strong pups from a new planting, I let grow( usually 2 but sometimes 3 ). When the mother starts to bloom, these will be about 3/4 grown. Then I let one strong pup grow on each of those two pups, and so on... Once the mat is established, you will have 2 bunches ripen every 3 to 4 mos. Everything slows down in winter, you can't control that, but the rest of the year can yield 6 bunches per mat. I only grow bananas for fruit production, and this has worked well for me. I don't remove any pups completely, ( unless I'm giving some away), I cut them off at ground level so that the roots are not disturbed. Varieties that pup a lot can be challenging to manage, so I get rid of them! Here's a picture of a mat of Musa Belle : One mature plant, and two pups almost ready to bloom.
