HERE ARE SOME FAIRLY COMPREHENSIVE GUIDELINES FOR GROWING BANANAS IN NEW ZEALAND. Fro more information follow BANANAS AT 39 DEGREES SOUTH on facebook
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Online information is mostly tropical/ commercial/ cavendish oriented and only applies broadly to banana growth in NZ
WE HAVE 30-40 cultivars in NZ, temperature range and shelter available restricts what varieties are suitable for growing successfully in New Zealand. At Magnolia Grove we are trialing about 20-25, some will be double ups, the taste test will be the decider.
SO FAR WE HAVE LEARNED:
Misi Luki is most widely grown but is very susceptible to wind damage.
Pacha Nadan is similar but a milder flavour
Goldfinger is a lush grower, shorter than Misi Luki but has a longer growing cycle and needs a warm position to grow well. Fruit a smaller but really sweet.
Dwarf Orinoco is quite hardy and a good grower as an ornamental for smaller gardens, occasionally it will fruit with bunches of a dozen or more fruit
CULTIVATING BANANAS
Shelter is the first consideration. Several metres of vegetation at least 4 or 5 m tall on South and west sides is a good basic start. This depth of shelter holds warmer air that releases slowly on cold nights to buffer the effects of cold or frost.
BANANA CIRCLES AS GROWN OVERSEAS DO NOT FIT THE NZ CONTEXT
At Magnolia Grove we have designed a variation of banana circle that allows each plant to get maximum sunlight through the year, especially in winter. Sunlight on the stems is important for every style of growing bananas.
PLANTING TIME
Planting / propagation time varies a little around the country and a safe generalisation is November to January. Waikato north could extend to October to February.
BANANAS DON’T LIKE ROOT COMPETITION
Plant corms 40-50 cm deep as the clump will build up on itself over time.
Feeding Yaramilla complex is an excellent mineral fertiliser to help build up nutrient levels, accompanied by as much compost and organic mulch as you can add.
Trimming should be kept to a minimum, removing only dead or dying foliage. Every leaf is important and 4-6 healthy leaves are required for good bunch development. There are YouTube videos advocating removing most of the leaves but they come from a different climate and temperature range.
GROWING STYLES
Plant and pick is the simplest way. Bunch size and quality improves with each successive cycle but even a minimum maintenance clump benefits from added mulch and compost.
The usual mother, daughter, granddaughter model is based on commercial systems.
Clumps of 3-5 pseudo stems is the model we are developing, but need a little work on the development of follower stems. This model helps resist wind and after year 2 is more frost tolerant.
FLOWERING occurs at 25-52 leaves from planting or sucker development.
The red bracts overlap individual hands and each bunch can form 6-10 or more hands consisting of 10 to 18 fingers which develop into bananas. These are female flowers. Sooner or later the fingers change to male flowers.
As bunches develop the clock starts counting from the emergence of the first hand and bunch develops downward. From this point maturity is approximately 6 months over summer and 8-9 months over winter. In our climate Goldfinger takes a bit longer.
Bunch/ bud pruning occurs once the flowering sequence changes from female to male. At this point the male bud is removed and is a delicacy in some Asian communities. Bunch pruning (the removal of several hands) is done at this point too. Any bunch has a certain weight potential, removing a few hands means the bunch still reaches that potential and remaining fingers develop bigger and better fruit.
Bagging the bunch at this point or earlier at emergence of the first hand protects the bunch from leaf damage and also buffers the temperature of the bunch. Traditional banana bags are blue plastic but we have had condensation and rotting issues at times. We have had better results using frost cloth bags and they buffer the temperatures around the bunch and allow the bunch to photosynthesise and generally stay drier.
Bananas can be harvested hand by hand or by the whole bunch. The time frame mentioned above is a guide to keep checking for splitting fruit or yellowing fingers. Commercial fruit are harvested at 70% mature so home grown fruit are much better eating as they are much better developed.
Once the bunch is harvested the stem should be left intact so the plant can reabsorb the nutrients which happens over 2-3 months.
for more information please contact Vance at [email protected]