edwmax

Do you use Foliar Spray for your Bananas, if so please give you mix formulation. ... If you are using a base fertilizer products, please give links to those so the label can be viewed.


Next question, have you experienced leaf burn while using your spray? If so what concentration was the spray?



I've been using Miracle Grow (24,8,16) mixed per directions for my bananas without any problems. I know there has been comments that Miracle grow killed other user's Bananas, but I haven't seen that if the directions were followed.



For large plants (> 3ft & more than 5 leaves):


Miracle Grow @ 1 Tablespoon/gal => 14.3 grams / gal. which gives in solution, 3.77 g/L (.377% solution). This is NPK of .09-.03-.06 mixed solution. (I'll have to weight a tablespoon of Miracle Grow, but for here I just used the 14.3 g standard weight of a Ts).


This is a very low concentration of NPK. Some foliar spray studies appear to have used N & K from 1% to 3% concentration and did not report any leaf burn. ... Looking at some manufacture products for foliar spray on Bananas their N & K varies from .75% to 1.25% when mixer per their directions.


So my problem/question is what concentration of N will produce leaf burn on Bananas?


My next foliar mix for the Bananas will be increased to a 4.5% concentration (170.55g/gal) of Miracle Grow. This will provide NPK of 1.09-.36-.72. ... The potassium (K) can easily be increased by adding MOP or SOP to the mix.

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Botanical_Bryce

Been using Root Magic from naturallandscapesolutions.com for years and love it. The product is great and does wonders but the company is hard to deal with so I am searching other options.

edwmax

Just looking at other products specially formulated for spraying Bananas, I realized Miracle Grow could easily be mixed to a concentration needed for mature Banana plants. Nitrogen & potassium can easily added to straighten the spray mix with urea or nitrate fertilizers and SOP or MOP. And, it is commonly available at Garden Centers.



In many locations, ground conditions are such that as much as 65% soil applied fertilizer is lost to leching. Thus, fertilizer must be applied at 155% to compensate for the lost. Foliar spray can reduce this excess need for fertilizer and the over all amount used.


When a Banana plant shoots, the nutrient uptake by the roots greatly reduces. This is why the big plantations stops all ground applications to the plant. It has been shown that foliar application 2% to 3% SOP after shooting increase bunch yield weight, and shorten the time to harvest.


Anyway for now my large Banana patch has stayed very wet this summer. Most of the plants are growing much slower than normal. I've had 7 1/2" of rain this past month and today it hasn't stopped since midnight. I need to foliar spray the plants to increase their size for the coming winter.

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Juicy Bananas

We make a FPJ with Crotaleria that works really well. Sugar and plant material is not only safe but easy to make. Use banana or other fruit for a flowering FPJ.


Good luck.

edwmax

Was that applied as a foliar spray or ground drench? The fish emulsions and yelp are available in liquid and can be easily added to foliar sprays.

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Botanical_Bryce

It's an either or. I use it foliar.

edwmax

Hummm ... there is no info on the NPK of the product. Info state it is a soil Amendment / Fertilizer enhancement and used along with or after the granular application of fertilizer. ... So this product has no measurable amount of N.

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Botanical_Bryce

You are catching on to some of the problems with the company. They can be very unclear. They have different formulations but the website doesn't express that. The formulation I have been using is added nitrogen, suspended leonardite, and kelp. The formulation you are seeing is probably the leonardite only version.

Botanical_Bryce

The people that I get it through is having a hard time getting the sales rep to follow through and the website keeps getting worse. I love the products and wish a more organised person would buy them out and run the company accordingly.

edwmax

They were custom blending the Root Magic for you. What was the NPK or N% and what was you mix ratio for the spray?

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Botanical_Bryce

I used my last jug about a couple months ago but I think the nitrogen was 4. It wasn't mixed for me it was at the retailer mixed that way. I wanted more but the retailer said the company was becoming unresponsive and when I called the rep he had no idea what I was talking about. Massive miscommunication. Only reason I was using it was because a customer of mine was using it on bushes with huge success. That is why I started. Too much confusion and I probably make it worse.

edwmax

The Bio Gen products is the only thing they list with Nitrogen: 16-4-8; 15-0-15; & 10-8-8. So at most N would .2% per their directions using 1.6 oz per gal of water.

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Botanical_Bryce

The stuff is on the shelves at our local organics and pest control retailer. I know they do custom mixes but not for me. Most of what is on the website does not reflect what is in the store. Poorly run disorganized company needing new owners.

edwmax

Miracle Grow looks to be a good base product for spray for now. I'm trying to determine the maximum concentration of N for Bananas.

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edwmax

Last night I found a study/thesis paper on foliar spray of bananas. The field trials were done 1993 to 1995. Two parts of the study were varying concentration of NPK fertilizer being 19-19-19 and comparing different fertilizer blends.
reference: http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/...0/30050959.pdf

Section 4.4 : Nursery experiment 2: tested the effects of 19-19-19 fertilizer at concentrations of 0 g/L (control); 20g/L; 40 g/L; and 80 g/L. The spray was applied at 30 days intervals beginning 30 days after planting to the field (5 applications). The results indicated plants receiving 20 g/L spray perform the best and diminishing performance at 40 g/L & 80 g/L. The nitrogen concentration for each spray was .38% ; .76%; and 1.52%

Section4.3: Nursery Experiment 1: Tested the effects of different strength NPK fertilizers blends 0-0-0 (control); 19-19-19; 12-12-36; 15-5-30; 19-6-20. These were applied at a concentration of 20 g/L and sprayed at 30-day intervals (5 times). The result indicated 19-19-19, in most measurements, out preformed the other blends although not by much and 10-6-20 only by a negligible amount. The nitrogen spray concentration of each blend was .38% (NPK 19-19-19 & 19-6-20); .24% (NPK 12-12-36); .30% (NPK 15-5-30). The potassium concentration of each blend was .38% (NPK 19-19-19); .72% (NPK 12-12-36); .60 % (NPK 15-5-30); and .40% (NPK 19-6-20).

From the Nursery Experiment 2, it appears the optimum N concentration is between .38% & .76%. I’ll try/use .5%. … From the Nursery Experiment 1, even tho potassium increased in other fertilizer blends, the 19-19-19 show better vegetative growth with only .38% potassium.

For now … I think a foliar spray of .5% nitrogen and .4% potassium concentrations to be applied during the vegetative growth (before shooting). Spraying every 2 weeks basically double the amount of fertilizer applied in above paper. Quantity applied can be varied as needed by reducing or increasing spraying.

Spray after shooting will be determined later, likely maintain potassium and reduce the nitrogen.

The spray mix needed: 79.59 g of Miracle Grow, plus 4 g of SOP for NPK spray concentration of .5-.17-.40 in a 1 gallon mix.

I’m still interested in hearing from other users what foliar spray you use.

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Richard

If I wanted to foliar feed my bananas I'd choose Urea-Free 20-10-20 Orchid Food and mix at the rate of 1/4 teaspoon per gallon for applications every one or two weeks. Note that the best time to apply is in early morning during dew fall.

Yes, the dosage is small compared to soil drench application -- but in comparison to roots, so is the capacity of most plants to uptake nutrients through their leaves.

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

edwmax

Update with my foliar spray.


This pic shows 2 plant that were severely yellow this past Monday. I spray it twice with Miracle Grow mixed per package direction (1 Tsp Tbsp per gallon). There was some improvement by Saturday morning. Saturday (yesterday) I sprayed the plant with the new mix (5.6 Xs stronger) of Miracle grow of 80g MG; 4g SOP;, 2 Tsp Tbsp Epson salt; and a pesticide. In a little more than 12 hours there has been 100% plus improvement of the color.





This next pic is a closeup of one leaf. On the far right is a steak of yellow. That was what the entire leaf looked like last Monday and shows how much the foliar spray (nitrogen) improved the color.





Next photo shows a leaf that lost all green color and was white. The 1st foliar spray (weak package direction mix) added a little green around the edges. The 2nd spray filled in about 25% of the green. The new mix foliar spray in just 12 hours filled in the leaf to about 75% green.





The following photo is interesting because the sufficant (Ivory dish liquid) residue has caused the the dew to stick to the leaves this morning in small tiny beads.





This was one of my immediate needs for a better foliar spray for bananas. And, for products to be 'off-the-shelf' and available locally.


8/7/2018 edited: I left these 2 pic out of the Large Patch. These 2 were taken Saturday morning 8/4/2018.

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HMelendez

This is awesome Max!....


So tell me if this is right or not!....I like simple things!.....LOL!....


New stronger Mix!.....

Miracle Grow (5.6 X stronger) 80g. = 5.64 Tsp. = (approx.) 5 1/2 Tsp.
Sulfate Of Potash (SOP) 4g. = (approx.) 1 Tsp.
Epson Salt 2 Tsp.
Plus Pesticide....



Thanks for sharing it!.....I'm going to try it!.....

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edwmax

The Tsp should be Tablespoons (Tbsp). Actually use kitchen scales to measure the ingredients. I don't like using spoons.


But let wait another day or so to make sure I haven't burned my plants. Right now I don't think that will happen. I would have seen something this morning.

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edwmax

Not all of the SOP will dissolve quickly. Some residue will be in the bottom. So put the SOP in hot/warm water and let sit for awhile (over night; longer the better).


I didn't have a lot of time for the first mix, so I put 12 g of SOP in hot water ( about a pint) for about 4 hrs. Then divided the water between 2 one gal mixes. ... At ambient temperatures SOP will dissolve to a concentration 111 g per liter. Then one can measure the ml needed for 4 g. 4/111= .036 or 3.6 ml. IF more than enough SOP is put into water for saturation.

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