Plantain suckers are planted immediately after field preparation. Plant holes are prepared with a minimum size of about 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm. Adequate care should be taken to separate the topsoil from bottom soil.
The sucker is placed in the hole and its corm is covered, first with the topsoil and then with the bottom soil.
In the plant hole, the side of the sucker corm which was formerly attached to the corm of its mother plant is placed against the wall of the hole.
The opposite side of the sucker’ corm is placed towards the middle of the plant hole, where the soil is loose.
The best sucker (the future ratoon) will emerge at the side opposite to where the planted sucker was previously attached to the mother plant.
If the land is sloping, the sucker should be so oriented that its follower will emerge against the slope.
That will delay the development of the so-called high mat when the ratoon crop grows out of the soil and exposes the corm.
Plantains can be planted throughout the rainy season. However, they should grow vigorously and without stress during the first 3 to 4 months after planting, and therefore they should not be planted during the last months of the rainy season.
Planting with the first rains seems agronomically sound but not financially advantageous.
Most farmers will plant at the onset of the rains, causing the market to be flooded with bunches 9 to 12 months after planting, when prices will be very low.
Planting in the middle of the rainy season is a better proposition as plantains will then be produced off- season and get high prices.
What is Plantain?
Plantains (Musa paradisiaca) are related to banana. They look quite similar and are, in fact, morphologically similar, but while bananas are grown for their sugary fruit, growing plantains are cultivated for their firmer, starchy fruit. Both are members of the Musa genus and are technically large herbs and their fruit classified as berries.
Plantains and their cultivated ancestors originated on the Malaysian peninsula, New Guinea and Southeast Asia and can attain heights of from 7-30 feet. Plantains are a hybrid of two species of banana, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.
Unlike bananas though, which are eaten fresh, plantains are almost always cooked. Plantains are grown from a super long 12- to 15-foot underground rhizome.
The resulting plant has giant leaves (up to 9 feet long and 2 feet across!) wrapping around a central trunk or pseudostem. Flowering takes 10-15 months of mild temperatures and yet another 4-8 months to fruit.
Flowers are produced from the pseudostem and develop into a cluster of hanging fruit. In commercial growing plantain plantations, once the fruit is harvested, the plant is cut down soon to be replaced by pups that sprout up from the mother plant.
Plantains are grown just like bananas, which if you live in USDA zones 8-11, you can grow too. I’m still jealous. Initial plantain plant care requires well-draining soil, regular watering and protection from wind or frost.
Choose a sunny, warm area of your garden and dig a hole that is as deep as the root ball. Plant the plantain at the same level it was growing in the pot. Keep the plantain 4-6 feet from other plants to give it plenty of room to spread.
Add 4-6 inches of organic mulch around the tree, keeping it 6 inches away from the psedostem. Spread this mulch out in a circle 4-6 feet wide around the tree to help the soil retain water and protect the plants roots.
Plantain Plant Care
The number one rule when caring for plantain trees is don’t let them dry out. They love moist soil, not soggy, and need careful watching during hot, dry weather. The number two rule of plantain plant care is to protect the plant.
Cover it with a blanket during cold snaps and put a light bulb or string of holiday lights under the blanket. While the rhizomes will survive underground down to 22 degrees F. (-5 C.), the rest of the plant will die back during freezing temperatures.
Follow those two rules and caring for plantain trees is fairly simple. As with all plants, some feeding is required. Feed the plant once a month during the summer with a slow release 8-10-8 fertilizer.
A heavy feeder, a mature tree needs about 1-2 pounds, spread out in a 4-8 foot radius around the plant and then lightly worked into the soil. Prune off suckers with a pair of gardening pruners.
This will divert all the energy to the main plant unless, of course, you are propagating a new plant. If so, leave one sucker per plant and let it grow on the parent for 6-8 months before removing it.
When the fruit is ripe, cut it from the pseudostem with a knife. Then chop the tree down to the ground and whack up the detritus to use as mulch to be spread around the new plantain tree that will arise from the rhizomes.
Benadine Nonye is an agricultural consultant and a writer with over 12 years of professional experience in the agriculture industry.
- National Diploma in Agricultural Technology
- Bachelor's Degree in Agricultural Science
- Master's Degree in Science Education
- PhD Student in Agricultural Economics and Environmental Policy...
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