Wife is going to start growing plantains, any advice?

sayanora

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Feb 22, 2012
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Hi,

We have a small finca of about 18 tareas and instead of letting it become overgrown my wife is going to grow plantains on it. I was running some numbers to check the viability of it and one number I've had a hard time finding is how many plantains one tree gives more or less and over what time period. If anyone has some advice or knows a contact in Santiago that might be able to help us out we'd be grateful.

Thanks
 

ju10prd

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From what I can gather a hectare (10,000m2) will yield a crop of 1960lb 50 lb bags based upon a detailed report from Honduras recently based on dense planting and you can work it out from the attached report. That means you could generate about 2200 bags from your 18 tareas. Gives you the cost side too, and clearly pesticides and fertilizers are considerations. (I presume they relate to 50lb bags).

http://www.mcahonduras.hn/documento...ccion/EDA_Manual_Produccion_Platano_05_07.pdf

There are a few useful other reports you can find on line and I am sure the research has been done.

It is very common in DR to plant between the plantains in the shade, other crops and I have seen Yucca and Gandule planted in the same fields when I lived in the campo.

Best of luck with the venture.
 

chic

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Nov 20, 2013
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yeh ..do you can you translate tareas to acres??? or how many tareas in a 1000 acre farm???
 

chic

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Nov 20, 2013
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advice yes....get a six foot chainlink fence installed,around your farm as crop theft is a big sport in d.r.//,and a couple of dogs...train them. your gates...buy muzzles for dogs so they cant eat anything other than what you feed them
and hire a caretaker...well maybe no caretaker as they will probably take care of your crop....if you know what i mean.. and good lucks...
 

kts78

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Nov 29, 2007
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Our farming is in the south (Azua) so I don't know if everything is the same. 12-15 months. A lot of the variables (production, time, spacing, price) depend on the class of plantain. For example criolla produce about half what Fhia 20. Fhia is more pest resistant. To sell- criolla always bring a higher price/carga. We are on our first planting of a new type Fhia 22 they are supposed to produce more, and be more resistant to the new bugs-- we will know in the fall.
 
May 29, 2006
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About 6.5 tareas to an acre..

I've been looking at banana/plantains too, but they don't produce before the second year and the market has plenty of them unless there is a drought.

We're doing passion fruit and my big concern is the cost of enclosing the place..
 
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the gorgon

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Sep 16, 2010
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About 6.5 tareas to an acre..

I've been looking at banana/plantains too, but they don't produce before the second year and the market has plenty of them unless there is a drought. To sell on your scale, you'd end up driving around in a pickup with a loudspeaker..

it is simple economics...scale. if you have an acre, plant something with greater yield per acre. if you had 10,000 acres, i could see planting platanos. with one acre, you need something that would have the economic yields of something like strawberries. if the climate is wrong for strawberries, find something similar, in terms of profitability, that would work.
 
May 29, 2006
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Hillbilly,
Can you recommend any books in English on the topic? I'm ESP interested in soil science.

It wouldn't surprise me now if you used to know Norman Borlaug!
 
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Cdn_Gringo

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Apr 29, 2014
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Bananas and Plantain are fast growing plants with a very high nutrient and water uptake. For a small backyard plot with 10 or fewer "trees" you can usually do well with about a pound of slow release fertilizer high in Potassium spread around the base of each tree. Another pound added when the mother plant is harvested and removed. If you are growing in a plantation setting, then your ongoing fertilizer needs will be measured in tons. Start here, lots of info available online.

http://www.haifa-group.com/files/Guides/Banana.pdf