jeffaroo

I recently moved and wiped out my whole backyard with weed killer. Im starting to plant my bananas and design my layout. As ive been caring for my bananas ive had a problem with weeds invading the areas that I water heavy.
My question for you is what do you use for weed control ? give me some ideas, and any pre emergents that work well with bananas ?
Any help is greatly appreciated

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Keep shoveling on the potash till the ground bleeds

crazy banana

Heavy layer of mulch works for various reasons here in So Cal. Prevents weeds, helps maintain moisture in the soil and it is free from the landfill.

cincinnana

Ditto on the heavy mulch ( for me it is wood chips from a tree company) for weed control and soil conditioning.
And maybe an occasional pass with a string trimmer.

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from the sea

i put a thick layer of news paper under the mulch to keep the weeds from growing back through

Abnshrek

Cardboard under mulch works too.. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

merce3

+1 on local mulch. i always forget the newspaper/cardboard part. hence the reason for all the grass and weeds i have growing through.

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aupoet

When I started with bananas I had to deal with bermuda grass in our yard and if you have ever had to deal with a monster weed it is bermuda grass. The roots run deep and break off easily. It grows several inches every day and will come back from even the smallest piece of stem or root.
I dug out as much as I could and covered the whole area in plastic to cook the soil the first summer while I kept my young naner trees in pots. Over the winter I piled lots of hay (live on a farm) and dry chicken manure, and kept the trees in the greenhouse. I set them out in the spring and covered the mulched beds with layers of newspaper and more hay.

Each year now I add a new thick layer of hay each fall, piling it up around the stem I try to save through the winter by wrapping it up. In the spring I clean out my hen house and dump several wheelbarrow loads of the manure around each tree, covering it with the hay pulled off each plant. I still have to fight any encroaching grass but I don't have any major weed problems using this schedule and the trees love it. I have had fruits from 3 out of 4 of my plants over the last three years and have two flowering stems this year already with a third going to show soon. As far as using pre emergents around your bananas, as long as they are safe to use around vegetables, they should be safe around bananas as they only work to prevent seeds from sprouting. A good organic pre emergent would be corn gluten which is often recommended for controlling crabgrass. It will also breakdown and nourish the soil.

I planted my tomatoes in the mulch beds near my bananas this year and boy are they producing.