Growing in Costa Rica
 

I am in the process of planting fruit trees on about 1/3 of an acre on our place. Much will be bananas ans platanos (plantains). I'm looking for various varieties available in country.
We can only identify the platanos as maduro and cuadrado specifically but the bananas still need identification.
The names I provided are the common names used in Costa Rica.
:0519:

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Hello, Welcome & Happy Growing. Post pic's once you get a flower and there are many willing to help. :^)

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

spent couple of years in Guanacaste,and did travel all over CR about 15,000 k total..so what region are you in??patacones in portagolpe are to die for

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

We are just on the west side of Ciudad Colon in Barrio San Bosco.

The biggest problem that I am facing is that the plants will produce a few hand and quit producing fruit. Much like this...



We experience this with every variety of Musa on the place, mostly guineo cuadrado but also the two varieties (unknown) of banana.
Anybody have any idea what I can do to improve production?

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Picture posted above is 100% normal. Bananas first put out female flowers that form fruit then switch to male flowers that do not become fruit. They typically fall off and leave the exposed rachis like in the pic above.

This is just banana genetics and such. If you want bigger bunches, certain varieties produce larger bunches. Also, proper fertilization and mat management (removing all but a few pups from each plant) can produce more and larger fruit.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Welcome ! Pura Vida Costa Rica :nanadrink:

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Welcome! That looks like great production to me. It is normal to see fruit, then a bunch of dead flowers that fall off.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

We are in the process of removing all of the pups and transplanting them into a "banana garden".
I guess I am going to have to look for varieties that normally produce more fruit before becoming "sterile".

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

I'm a complete newbie: everything I know about bananas is from reading on here in the past couple weeks. But here's my take on plants "becoming sterile". The above-ground "banana tree" (pseudo-stem, or p-stem for short) is just one cluster of leaves from the corm (roots and underground stem). Each p-stem produces only one bloom, which only produces a limited number of hands. The same plant does produce more fruit, just not from the same pseudo-stem.

The pups you want to keep are the ones that grow directly from the corms, called "sword suckers"; they grow quite tall before starting to spread out their leaves. The ones to get rid of may grow a little farther from the previous p-stem, or may grow from cut bits of corm; they're called "water suckers" and they start looking like little banana plants right from the time they come out of the ground.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Thanks for the information that it is a genetic issue. I will purchase plants of a better genetic strain. We have plenty of room for more.

We are fertilizing once a month with 15-15-15 NPK and removing the scions once they reach 18" and planting them to enlarge our "banana plantation".

One problem that we have is poor soil. It is a volcanic clay and impervious necessitating digging out a half meter (50cm x 50cm x 25cm deep) of soil and replacing it with "tierra negro" for each plant.

The fruit trees require digging down a full meter for avocado, mango, etc.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

One of the more experienced people here can tell you the specific numbers, but I'm pretty sure 15-15-15 isn't what you want.

Also, I recall someone with poorly-drained soil getting told it can be better to make a mound of good soil on top of the impervious soil, instead of digging out a hole. A hole in poorly-drained soil is like a pot with no hole in the bottom: it fills with water, which has nowhere to go.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

The top 15cm is good soil. That was the only thing the previous owners did right for what they were doing - creating a lawn.

the tierra negro has a high content of sand and the preferred fertilizer would be 20-5-30. I also have a source of chicken manure by the cubic meter, do you recommend that as an amendment?.

Have I erred in placing the plants only 1 meter apart? Should that be two meters apart?

I think the fruit trees are going to be my biggest problem since the area I am planting them is 6 meters deep in volcanic clay.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Your point regarding the hole being similar to a pot is well taken.

It rains here from mid-April to mid-November Mounding might be a better idea. I'll have to experiment with that and see what happens.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

2-3 meters apart is probably a much better plan. 1 meter is definitely too close.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Ain't nothing wrong w/ a lil chicken poo for some nanners now. :^)

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

That's only the beginning but I am planting primarily for family consumption. If there is enough excess we might consider the local feria. There are six boys in the Tico family living with us and they know what I intend and are willing hands.

The avocados will be Hass because of their longer fruiting season.

I have a lot of slope that is primarily forest right now. I am planning to plant Papaya on the norther edge of the forest and Pejibaye at the crown of the slope.

We started everything out all wrong but the information that I am gathering here will help to correct that. I am importing a cubic meter of black soil from a reliable source and the chicken manure by the cubic meter as needed.

I also have a Kemp chipper/shredder that we brought down with us to provide compostable material and sand is ailable in what they use here to make concrete, it's heavy in what I call dirt.

If everyone contributes their ideas I will decide what is possible for our property.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

Yes, but there has to be a law of diminishing returns.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

I know that praying hands and Saba variety grow there as well. Try to get a red banana from some where. They are great.

Re: Growing in Costa Rica
 

LOL PR....you always amaze me with the technicality of your growing/production.