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Panaroma
06-15-2007, 11:55 AM
Hi u all,

I was wondering; is it true that lack of calcium results in dwarfing the bananatree? I'm kind of confused now. I assumed Musa needs an acid soil?

Is liming recommended for optimal growth?

Thanks,
Gunther

funsocaltiger
06-15-2007, 01:44 PM
According to the Soil wiki, bananas generally prefer a pH of 5.5 - 7.5 (mildly acidic to neutral).

http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Info:Soil

I don't see anything mentioned about calcium on that page of the Fertilizer page, though. Hopefully someone can shed light about the calcium needs for bananas?

http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Info:Fertilizer

Laurence

bigdog
06-15-2007, 06:17 PM
I think calcium would help if you had an acid soil. My soil has a pH of 5.1, with lots of reserve acidity (aluminum in the soil but not on the exchange complex), and my bananas suffer as a result. I have to heavily lime each and every planting hole, or else I get some weird leaf growth going on. When I lived in Nashville, I never had a problem with soil. Middle Tennessee has much more alkaline soils than East TN (and I miss that!). However, we sure can grow the heck out of some azaleas and rhododendrons out here!