miaella

This is my second year trying to grow bananas. The first year was a good learning lesson in over watering...it equaled dead bananas (although, I think a couple corms were doomed from the start).

This year I moved to cold hardy plants in hopes of having an easier time. I bought five basjoos on ebay in early March and everything was looking great up until last week. Out of nowhere spider mites began to infest the bananas. I read a number of posts here where members had good luck with fish emulsion...

We'll, here's the lesson I learned. In many ways its a no brainier, at least in hindsight. I fertilized/sprayed the basjoos with the fish emulsion. The problem is, we have a bit of a raccoon problem. By the next day raccoons had dug up and destroyed the basjoos. I've replanted what I could but given their corm sizes size I doubt if any will survive the thrashing...

Look out for raccoons!!

natedogg1026

Oh man, that sucks. OOPS.

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Banana's are a safe addiction. Right?Maybe I need classes.

edd82

Oh no that's awful!

Thankfully we don't get them around here. For future reference I've found that a bit of diluted washing up liquid works wonders on lots of my plants as it creates a film over the mites. A couple of applications should clear things up but remember to apply again about a week or two later as the eggs left will start to hatch. It's more of a preventative than anything. I havn't tried this with my banana plants yet so probably best wait to see if any of the experts can advise but it sure works for my peppers and chilllis. I prefer to use this method as I don't want nasty chemicals on my fruit.

Good luck with your next try

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cherokee_greg

is fish emulsion good to use on the bananas any one know another organic fertilizer to use

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Greg zone 9 Fresno,CA
http://gardenjot.com/garden/view/1980/Gregs-Banana-Farm

Richard

As for "natural, non-mineral" sources of nitrogen, Fish emulsion and Blood Meal are good sources. The Blood Meal is usually more cost effective.

Fruting bananas grown in non-tropical environments need about 1.5 times as much potash as nitrogen. For ornamental bananas, they need about 2/3 as much potash as nitrogen.

There are "natural, non-mineral" sources of potash from plants but the concentration is low and thus you need enormous amounts to have a significant impact. Two mineral sources that are rated "certified organic" are: Sul-Po-Mag, also sold as K-Mag; and Potassium Citrate -- which is potash disolved in distilled citrus juice. The Sul-Po-Mag can be found at most nurseries (not big box stores), but for the Potassium Citrate you will likely need to go to an agriculture supply warehouse.

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