I've never read anything about the Gros Michel and certainly didn't need to, it was obvious before the plants were knee high that yields would be significantly less than that of the Cavendish. Of all the plants I grow, the Gros Michel handled Sigatoka the worst and even with wider spacing the leaf pruning still had to be done much more often.
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Originally Posted by Nicolas Naranja
Gabe, I read in one of my banana books that when the switch to cavendish was made, growers realized that they could increase plant populations and yields went fron 12-15 tons per acre to 30 tons per acre.
At least in my subtropical location, the yield per plant from Williams blows away Gros Michel.
As far as non monocultures go, you still run the risk of having panama disease take out all of your susceptible cultivars. The key to an export oriented Gros Michel plantation would be fresh land and intense phytosanitary procedures. There are also "suppressive" soils but nobody has figured out why they naturally suppress Panama disease.
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