Johnsk9

HMelendez

John,




Thanks for sharing, posting the video!....

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pjkfarm

Why does one remove the healthy leaves? And how many to leave? I always thought that the more leaves the more photosynthesis, so the more "food" for the plant - pups, fruit, etc. I have seen this done with Basjoo on this site as well.
Many thanks,
Peter

Nicolas Naranja

For absolutely healthy leaves, I don't know. I may cut a healthy leaf if the leaf is going to rub against the bunch. Perhaps, it is to permit better air flow in the plantation.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

beam2050

yeah, when I first saw it I thought he looked like the.... grim....banana......reaper...…......….: ha:...….3/4 inch conduit. think I might make one of those

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npk of wood ash 0/1/3 to 0/3/7

npk of banana leaf ash 1.75/0.75/0.5

Akula

Its primarily to increase air circulation in order to prevent disease in the big plantations where leaf density can cause hot, humid, stagnant air within the patch and disease. I don't think its that much of a big deal in most backyard patch environments although I trim old droopy or brown leaves off for patch aesthetics since my patch is around my pool and is visible from my back patio. I don't trim anything off once I get a flower though to maximize photosynthesis and bunch development. I did trim off leaves from non-fruiting banana plants that shaded my flowering plants to get more light to the flowering plants.

There is one guy on here (Louis) who has a plantation in Thailand and he aggressively trims off the leaves at all stages of plant development in order to stimulate vertical growth, faster flower development, and minimize disease due to very dense planting. It was an experiment last year and he appeared to have success however I don't think the results were conclusive. It may work for him in his environment.

pjkfarm

Our grower with a plantation in Mexico (5 acres commercial) says he has never seen this before in Mexico - but it is also very dry where he grows - in fact on some of his land he plants corms 18" to 2 feet deep to get access to water - as stem grows, he fills in the hole until ground level - but the corm is way! down (and still pups happily I would assume as he talks a lot about pups and which ones to leave).