There are countless wild banana plants at the farm that need to be removed quickly. This is to make way for me to plant desired banana varieties especially in this rainy season. As I do not want to use chemicals, the only most environmentally safe way, albeit labour-intensive, is to dig up the root balls manually. This is super time consuming but necessary.
Smaller banana plants that dot the landscape at the farm are fairly easy to remove as the root system have not been established. However, the more matured ones have corms that are large, wide and deep underground. These are the ones that have to be hacked away bit by bit until the extensive root network is removed. It’s literally back-breaking work!
I reckon, based on the number of wild bananas sprouting up over the years; they would take me quite a while to remove. However, I’ve got to work smart by only removing those in the areas in which I wish to plant or tend to. I have to remove the rest in stages during my free time in the absence of workers.
I’ve just recently acquired more than 40 Berangan banana seedlings that need to be planted immediately. Unfortunately, this is hampered by the presence of numerous unwanted wild bananas in the area. I can always plant first and marking the good ones out with a stake, but I’m afraid along the way, confusion may arise especially if it’s too close to a wild banana corm that I missed uprooting. So it’s got to be done in stages.
With the rainy season now in full swing, I can’t lose any more time as I’m unsure when the rain stops. The planting of new bananas has to run its course smoothly and without any potential confusion posed by wild bananas.
