BullShark

About an acre of my property gets standing water during the wet season. I keep reading about how much water bananas need and I was wondering if they could be used to dry that land? I don't know how much water they absorb and evaporate off but I would imagine it's a lot. I was thinking that planting out this area to bananas might be a good way to address land drainage and raise some good fruit at the same time.

kaczercat

well thats a good question , i sorry i dont have an answer but how long does this water sit for? and how deep is it?

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Matt

ewitte

Bananas do not like standing water on the roots. If there are enough to suck up the water enough to keep away standing water possibly it wouldn't be an issue.

BullShark

The water can be there for up to a few months but it's only a couple inches in the deepest spots. This happens at the very hottest time of the year so presumably this is when the bananas would be the most thirsty. My thought is to set this up when the land is dry and hopefully get enough bananas going that they'd keep it dry. Basically packing the area with 10ft wide banana mats with enough room between them to run my mower through. I know they tried melaleuca to do something similar in my state but those trees proved to be too invasive and too good at what they do so now they're a real problem. If bananas can do the trick they seem like they'd be a better solution.

conejov

If the water is stading for a few months I dont think it would a good place for Bananas. You might just need to set a french Drain to to draw some of the water from the area.

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harveyc

If you made deep furrows and planted the bananas on mounds, that might keep the soil the bananas were growing in dry enough and water, over time, could sub to the soil dried out by the bananas.

We have wet areas around here, including a couple of fields that I rent. Plants still grow there and the wet areas do dry out in summer and I imagine the plants help in the ground drying out. However, in spring, I believe the plants make the areas even more wet as they collect condensation from th air. Large fields in our area that are proned to being wet will often be sprayed with glyphosate to kill all of the vegetation. These fields drier than those that were not sprayed when it comes time to working ground for crop planting in March and April.

You didn't indicate the source of water creating the wet area. If it's from water draining from higher areas, you could try diverting it elsewhere, if there are lower areas to drain to (without making neighbors made, etc.). You could also drain water from furrows or ditches created in your wet area, if that's feasible.

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TommyMacLuckie

No. Not bamboo either.

But - live oak, bald cypress, pond cypress, swamp maple, willow and oddly enough butterfly ginger and various lilies are all OK with being water logged for various lengths of time. Plus various other trees, of course, but those are big at drawing the water.

Although you don't specify where you are that I can see so that depends just as well.

Rmplmnz

Seems like you could improve the grade. There is so much organic matter available from tree services and stables, if you worked a few sections at a time you could easily raise the grade a foot or more and have some very rich soil. We purchased a vacant lot next to our house (long way from an acre) and have raised the grade significantly (and added a plant or two)...

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Simply Bananas

and I thought that I was the only nut to grab bags of leaves and grass off the streets.
Thats a great idea by the banana patch attendant.
Many of the visitors to my booth at the farmers market talk bananas. Some complain that they do 'suck' up water, not only from shallow puddles, but from all the other plants as well.

I'd plant a few 'up hill' from the puddle. Let the roots grow to the water.

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Lagniappe

Sounds like a great place to grow taro!

BullShark

I see you live in my area. I'm all about biomass, are they pretty much giving this stuff away or what? And what kind of quantities are available? I could use a few dump truck loads for sure! I'm probably more interested in stuff from tree services than stuff from stables though.

As a matter of fact I do grow a ton of taro! The only trick is it doesn't seem to like full sun which is what I have in the seasonally flooded area. Perhaps some combination of bananas for shade and taro for additional water take up might be a good way to go.

Rmplmnz

[quote=BullShark;88070]I see you live in my area.

Where are you located?

I'm all about biomass, are they pretty much giving this stuff away or what?

Yes.

And what kind of quantities are available?

Tons....we have added about 40 tons over the last three years.

I could use a few dump truck loads for sure!

We have gotten dozens of dump truck loads.

I'm probably more interested in stuff from tree services than stuff from stables though.

All carbon..you need Nitrogen also.

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BullShark

I'm out near Plant City.

You're certainly getting some good results. The only reason I'm skeptical of the stable products is just because I know people who keep horses are liable to give them all manner of different medicines and such. I'm a fairly strict organic grower so I view that kind of thing with mistrust. I get my nitrogen from other sources like my chickies and legumes.

Rmplmnz

We get our's from Tampa Yacht Club...these horses are feed a very strict clean diet...they probably have the cleanest equine diet in Tampa Bay.

Being from Florida I have had a run in or two with Bull Sharks while lobster diving.....

As I said in my earlier post....if you work a few areas at a time....everything will compost clean within six months to a year.

How much land do you have?

BullShark

I'll take that under advisement.

I live on a little over three acres. I don't have much of that dedicated to bananas yet but that is likely to change. I'd like to turn one acre into a jungle type garden with twisting paths and a picnic area, bananas will be a prominent feature.

Overgrown

I'd say no. I removed a 7'x4' banana mat earlier this year in an area that was consistently wet. The soil never dried up and stayed consistently moist.

I suppose if you had several large banana mats during a period of intense sun then maybe, but there are a lot of factors to consider.

Rmplmnz

Sweet...I can throw some starter plants your way when you are ready...

Do you know Robert Chumley?

Bananas.org - View Profile: chumleyrobert

Chumley Cycads Specializing In Artificially Propagated Cycads

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Steven Valys

I agree! Can't beat a monster Colocasia Gigantea.

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Steven Valys

BullShark

Awesome! thanks for the offer! It'll probably be a year or two till I'm ready to tackle that project though.

No, but thanks for the heads up. I'll be interested in some coontie palms.

Speaking of taro I was going to try to impress somebody with a pic of some of my 5 to 6 foot tall elephant ears, until I did an image search on colocasia gigantea... those are HUGE! I'll definitely need some in my jungle garden.