How to care for a banana plant to the time of fruiting in Kabale.
A banana plant takes 9 to 8 months from being a soccer to the time of fruiting during this time there are several things you have to do for it to grow well and make a big fruit or you may call it a big bunch of banana.
A bunch of banana in Kabale usually has 12 to 20 clusters on its bunch.
Some bunches have even less than that if poorly cared for, so for it do yield highly there are some things you must do.
Pruning
When pruning a banana plant, you have to make sure that you cut off all the dry leaves . Here in Kabale people usually use pagers and slashes to cut off the dry leaves. A banana stem should be cleared to the bottom like in the picture below.
This should be done to avoid pests and diseases because if not cut properly or cut to the middle water may be stagnant there and mosquitoes and other disease vectors breed from there hence more disease risks.
Pruning also promotes good health of the banana plant because the excess leaves take water which could have been taken by the plant to make food.
Pruning should be be done using sterilized garden tools to prevent easy spread of diseases.
Thinning
When thinning a banana stool I Kabale you have to make sure that u leave not more than 4 plants on one stool because if they are very many they increase on the competition of water and other nutrients.
When thinning you also have to be kin on the number and ages of plants that Should be left on one banana stool.
Best way is to leave the old one yet to yield of 8 months the following one of 4 months and the other one of 2 months. If the oldest develops a fruit you may leave one more sucker to grow, the one that will replace old one after harvesting it.
Watering
Watering should be done in the dry season to maintain the quality of the bananas.
If a banana plant lacks water in Kabale it might end up drying or if it doesn't dry it yields a small fruit hence a loss if the banana plantation was meant for business or even if not meant for business it will still give you few food.
There are many different methods of watering in Kabale one can use a watering can but it delays if you have a big plantation to water.
The best method is over-head sprinkling though expensive. It requires one to have a reliable water source like a river like the biggest river in Kabale is Kiruruma river or tank, a water pump to pump water at a very high pressure hence sprinkling it over the plant. Though this method is expensive, it is the best and can maintain a banana plantation very well.
Weeding
When caring for a banana plant to the time of fruiting, you have to control the weeds and this is done using hands, a hoe or a forked hoe. The best way is by use of a forked hoe to prevent cutting of banana plant because roots of banana plants are very long and inter-twine with each other hence if u use a hand hoe u might end up cutting the roots. It is advisable to alternate weeding and mulching to reduce the rate of destroying the roots.
Weeding enables the banana plant to grow well by reducing the competition of weeds and the plant for nutrients.
Mulching should be done using dry plant materials, it prevents water loss which could have been used by the banana plant to make food. Mulches should be laid 9 cm away from the banana plant to provide space for the young banana suckers to grow
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