greenbanana

"During warm weather, apply a balanced fertilizer once a month--a 88 NPK fertilizer appears to be adequate. A mature plant may require as much as 1-1/2 to 2 pounds of the above fertilizer each month."

I read this in a site. It is really?

Lodewijkp

no, i do it weekly, dont give it too much at once just spread it over the month by giving weekly.

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inkcube

those numbers sound like plantation numbers in a very rainy climate. at home we apply nitrogen 4 times a year at about 300kg (660lbs)/ha with a density of about 1700 plants that is .39 lb/plant for N every 3 months. potassium is applied at 550 kg (1200 lb) or about .71 lb per plant. if it is a very rainy year we may as much as double those rates.

these numbers are based on soil type, rainfall and the need to produce large bunches. the important thing to keep in mind about my numbers above is rainfall, we get 2500-4500 mm (100-170 inches) of rain per year, that leaches nutrients out of soil.

for plants in my landscape or pots i apply a time release pelleted fert at the recommendation of the brand and fertigate weekly with a water soluble fert.

greenbanana

ok, thanks for everybody..!!
Can you help me? I live in Hungary and our climate is not tropical.....
I don' find any information (hungarian) about bananas fertilization.

May, June, July, August are hot but the other months are not for bananas (outside) and I don't ensure enough sun shine in the house.
How many fertilizer do I use for four months and what content?

I hope that you understand me (my Engilsh knowledge is not good....

Richard

Inkcube, that's very interesting. Your rainfall on an 8 ft x 8 ft area works out to be 75 to 150 gallons per week. You are using a little over 1.5 lb N (nitrogen) and 2 lb K (potassium) per plant per year -- unless as you say, it is a very wet year.

You did not mention phosphorus. Is it to be avoided on bananas?

In semi-arid San Diego, it rains about 6-8 inches per year. I water the myriad fruits in my home orchard about 30 gallons per week, including rainfall if any. Each tree receives up to 1 lb of N and K per year. Given there is adequate drainage, will this be sufficient for bananas?

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inkcube

phosphorus requirements for banana are not large (compared to N & K), most soils in Costa Rica and the rest of Central America have adequate levels, not sure the last time we added P to the rows. P is not lost by bananas; very little is used in fruit production, very little goes into the fruit, and it is passed on readily to the ratoon sucker (daughter). most P uptake is in the first 3-9 months after planting and then once flowering/fruiting begins it drops off by 80%. PO4 is a fairly large anion that moves very slowly through soil layers and therefore does not leach easily.

as far as your levels go they seem adequate to me, if you are going for fruit you may want to increase your K maybe by .5 lb, unless you are getting good bunches - inadequate K levels in the plant are the main cause of small bunches. i also assume your musa gets more water than say your citrus? most recommendations are 25-30 mm of water/wk minimum for musa.

to give an idea about the typical mineral loses suffered by a farm: an average yield of 46 ton/ha removes 102 kg of N, 11 kg of P, and 330 kg of P from the soil.

inkcube

if you can find a good pelleted time release fertilizer like Osmacote or Schultz, not sure if they are available in Hungary, look for an N-P-K of 12-12-12 or 20-20-20. usually a pelleted variety will last about 3 months. another formula that is good is 9-3-27 or a 6-2-12, again may be hard to find but any fertilizer with a K value higher than N should work. you can always use soluble fertilizer instead of pellet.

you can never go wrong with a 20-20-20. follow the instructions on the package, they will generally have a recommended outdoor and indoor amounts to use.

once you bring plant inside cut back on the fertilizer by at least 50%.

Richard

Wow, inkcube - thank you for the technical detail.

Yes, my citrus and other non-musa fruits do well on 30 gallons / week because they are trained semi-dwarfs and also because of a low evapotranspiration rate. The minimum of 25-30 mm/week for bananas you mentioned works out to about 40-50 gallons/week. I will try that range on bananas here.

As for nutrients, your numbers indicate that an (N, P, K) of (1.0, 0.05, 1.5) pounds per year per plant would be sufficient, and any additional P would be largely ignored. I can easily mix a few granulars to produce an 8-0.5-12 % by weight fertilizer. One cup per month per musa of this would then produce the desired total.

Thanks again, this is just the kind of cultivation data I've been hunting for!

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inkcube

you're more than welcome!

bencelest

I figured it out differently:
N=10 cups
P= 1 cup
K= 13 cups
Thanks Inkcube for a very important lesson.

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Banana Nut

CookieCows

Benny ... are your figures for the one year batch with applications of one cup per month?

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bencelest

Cookie:
I am not sure but that is the mixture I will fertilize my bananas. I will mix a bunch and fertilize my bananas weekly.
As one suggested here but in tablespoons.
I'll sort of experiment as to what is best for my nanas.
But nothing is cast in stones. I may forget it a week depending how busy I am. But I believe fertilizing bananas in small dose but frequently is the best method . That's what I did with my citrus a while back and they looked wonderful.
Lately I was forgetting them.

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Richard

One way to overcome neglect is to use an inline fertigation system. For example, I bought a 1.5 gallon unit from Hydro-Scape Products. There is a bleeder pipe part in 1" or 3/4" used to attach it to your irrigation water supply. Be sure to put 2 back-flow preventers behind it so that it can't bleed into the drinking water supply and also, its illegal otherwise.

There are quite a few liquid fertilizer products sold by the gallon for the nursery industry that have N-P-K ratios in the range we are looking at; e.g., 10-2-13.

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jellyfish_sky

Anyone fertilized bananas with rabbit poop?
I have two lovely rabbits who provide me with tons of this everyday.

I read somewhere that I don't need to compost it before using it.
Another website on rabbit manure:
http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

How should I apply it to a potted naner?

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Bananaddiction~!

chong

For vegetables, they are great. Unless you heap piles of them on the plants, they do not burn. So, I don't see why they won't work for naners.

Richard

Rabbit poop is high in Nitrogen and low in Potassium. Composted rabbit manure has an N-P-K of about 2.4 - 1.4 - 0.6. To meet the nitrogen requirements of the plant, you'll need to use about 1.75 cubic feet per plant per year.

You'll also need a potassium source. Wood ash (real wood, not duraflame) is one possibility. Try about 1 gallon per plant per year.

In your locale, I'd apply these over a nine-month period when rain is least likely to carry off or wash out the nutrients.

I would compost the rabbit manure simply to reduce the acidity before applying to the plant. (However, it is mildly acidic compared to chicken manure.) The rabbit poop and wood ash could all be composted together with a mixture of leaf drop or wood shavings.

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Richard

Last Fall I purchased a dozen bags of Whitney Farms Alfalfa Meal on sale for $3 per 20 lb bag (thanks Ken A.!). Each bag contains about 30 pints of material. Today I used it for my February feeding.

Cost comparison, per pound of Nitrogen.
Whitney Farms Alfalfa Meal: $3 / (20 lbs x 2%) = $7.50 per lb of Nitrogen.
Spectrum 16-16-16: $8 / (20 lbs x 16%) = $2.50 / lb N.
GroPower Premium Citrus & Avocado Food: $45 / (40 lbs x 8%) ~= $14 / lb N.

Application rate comparison, at 1 lb Nitrogen per year:
Whitney Farms Alfalfa Meal: 30 pints / (20 lbs x 2%) = 75 pints per year (wow).
Spectrum 16-16-16: 1 pint / (1 lb x 16%) = 6.25 pints / yr.
GroPower Premium Citrus & Avocado Food: 1 pint / (1 lb x 8%) = 12.5 pints / yr.

75 pints is 1.25 cubic feet or 2.5 20-lb bags, per tree per year. Essentially it would become a significant fraction of your mulch!

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natedogg1026

I take the easy route with a lot of Osmocote. I mix it in the soil for pots and around the edges of my ones in the ground. I add 2x the recommended in spring and It works fine with no burn. The Nanas seem to like it and respond great but I use mainly an organic soil.

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Banana's are a safe addiction. Right?Maybe I need classes.

NANAMAN

I also had rabbits in the past and have used their manure on everything that I've grown. Mostly I used it in composting, but you can't go wrong using it as a top dressing in moderate amounts. I add as many organic ferts to my beds as I can afford, and try to only supplement with chem ferts when I have to. When the soil is healthy, the plants will thrive.

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Richard

A 10-lb bag of Osmocote 14-14-14 is about $20.
$20 / (10 lbs x 14%) ~= $14.30 per lb of Nitrogen.
Apply per fruit tree in the ground or large tub:
1 pint / (2/3 lb x 14%) ~= 11 pints tree per year.
Osmocote is a very good fertilizer, but you can do better for less money.

Rabbit poop is a great supplement. If it is your only source of Nitrogen fertilizer, you will need about 1.75 cubic feet (13 gallons) of composted rabbit manure per tree per year. As inkcube has pointed out, bananas need extra potash and so I would supplement with a source of K as well.

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