Friday, April 9, 2010

Banana

Banana looks beautiful and yields abundant,sweet, nutritious fruit for a family!

Till about a year ago, we grew banana in half cut drums/containers filled with Amrut Mitti by following the regular Natueco method of planting a sapling.We got a yield of about 20 kgs of banana as against an yield of 35 kgs in Amrut Mitti heap on land.


The first plant gave us a good yield. The second and third subsequently kept giving reduced yields. It also became difficult to loosen the soil in the drum/container, as it kept getting compacted with the roots.

We therefore experimented, by growing directly on the slab. A bed of eight inches of Amrut Mitti was all that we needed to make a start.As the plant grew taller and taller we gave it an external support with bamboo.


Red Banana grown directly on a slab supported by bamboo

Soon we were overjoyed to see the red flower making an entry into this world!. So exotic... we had never seen one before! This particular variety was gifted by a friend from Kerela.


How the plant has grown! It towered over all of us. It is one of the tallest banana that has grown on the terrace. So it was not surprising that the Amrut mitti that is was growing in fell a little short of the required quantity compared to its canopy. However as we did not have have stock of more mitti plant had to do with meager resources.

The tiny red flowers have now grown into delightful red bananas! We are waiting to harvest and eat them!





We harvested 8 kgs of Red Banana. As I said, due to lack of Amrut Mitti to suit its growing size the plant made good of whatever we gave it, and blessed us with this amazing fruit!

1 comment:

  1. 20 kg of banana = how many dozens. I too want to grow my own food and would be interested to know more. I do not have my own garden, so is it possible for me to grow small veggies in my kitchen or balcony?

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