DCFRN Hints

The better care we take of our banana trees, the more food they will give us.

* Feed young banana trees manure, compost, or other fertilizer. Place it about 15 centimetres (6 inches) away from the stem on either side, or in a circle around the stem.

* As the banana trees grow, cut off all the dead leaves and use them as mulch. Mulch holds moisture in the soil for the bananas.

* Banana trees need a lot of plant food, so don’t allow any more than two stems to grow close together.

*They have shallow roots, so don’t let any weeds grow near the trees. They steal plant food that the bananas need.

*Another way to get better bananas is to cut off the flower after the hands (circles of bananas) have formed on the fruiting stem.

* Count the leaves on the banana tree. If there are five leaves but six hands, cut off one hand of bananas. The crop will be better if you allow the tree to grow the same number of hands as there are leaves on the tree.

* If you cut off the dead leaves, the extra stems and mature flowers, and if you feed and weed your banana trees, you’ll have more bananas.

B. Moringa leaves control seedling disease of crops

Inocencio Q. Obrero, Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Philippines

Field and garden plants have many enemies. One disease that attacks plant seedlings is caused by fungi that live in the soil. It is known to some people as “damping off.” Many plants contain chemicals that are effective against fungal disease of other plants. One of these plants is malunggay, or the moringa tree (Moringa oleifera), and you can use it to prevent this disease from attacking your seedling plants. Simply mix the leaves of the moringa tree with the soil into which you are going to transplant the seedlings one week before you plan to transplant them. Besides controlling the disease, the leaves also increase the organic matter content of the soil, improving its fertility. Using plant leaves to control disease-causing organisms is cheaper than applying chemicals that you have to buy. It’s also simpler and easier.

C. Use a blowpipe sprayer in your garden

Peter Bushell, Philippines

You can easily make a blowpipe sprayer for spraying plants in your garden with small amounts of non-poisonous aphid or insect spray. To make it, you only need a good sharp knife and a piece of wire. The main material you’ll need is a long, thin piece of bamboo; the inside hole through the bamboo should be about 1/4 inch (just less than 1 centimetre) across. It should be at least 12 inches (30 centimetres) long with a node in the middle but no other nodes in the piece. You’ll also need some sticky tape, or some narrow strips of cloth that are 3/4 of an inch (2 centimetres) wide and waterproof glue of some kind. Pig’s blood or tar could be used instead of glue.

To make your blowpipe sprayer, cut the bamboo into two pieces, one shorter than the other. Cut them so that the longer one has the node in it, located about 3/4 of an inch (2 centimetres) from one end. At the same time, between that end and the node, cut a notch-shaped hole in the wall of the bamboo. Make the notch close to the node. The next step is to make a small hole in the centre of the node. The hole must be small, with no slivers or loose pieces of wood left anywhere near it. To make that hole, simply put one end of the piece of wire I mentioned earlier, in the fire. Get it red hot and burn a hole the size of the wire in the centre of the node.

Now you must join the two pieces of bamboo together at right angles to each other, but connect them so that when you blow through the longer one, air or liquid will be sucked up through the shorter one. You can do this by shaping one end of the shorter piece of bamboo like a wedge so it will fit nicely into the notch you cut near the end of the long one. Now all you have to do is fit them together and bind them in place with the sticky tape or cloth strips, and glue them so that the joint is airtight.

To use this as a sprayer, dip the short bamboo into a can or bottle of your garden spray and blow through the long end of the long bamboo. When you blow, the liquid will be sprayed in fine droplets out of the other end of your blowpipe.

Just two notes of caution. Use the blowpipe sprayer only with non-poisonous sprays, and only when there’s no wind.

Note: Peter Bushell’s explanation: “The device works because of the venturi effect produced by the small hole bored in the node. The airstream is suddenly narrowed, creating low pressure around it, which sucks up the fluid.”