“Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” is a traditional Jamaican folk song. The song has mento influences, but it is commonly classified as an example of the better known calypso music. The song was originally written in Jamaica, and was first recorded by Harry Belafonte in 1956.
Rest In Peace Mr. Belafonte.
Growing Bananas in North Texas:
Banana is a tropical plant which grows best under warm conditions. Frost will kill the leaves; temperatures in the high 20s can kill the plant to the ground. In the lower Rio Grande Valley and other protected areas, the plant will regrow from below ground buds. In colder areas where banana is used mostly as an ornamental, new plants are obtained and planted each spring.
Banana grows in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is deep and has good internal and surface drainage. The effect of poorly drained soils can be partly overcome by planting in raised beds, as the plant does not tolerate poor drainage or flooding.
The planting site should be chosen for protection from wind and cold weather, if possible. The warmest location in the home landscape is near the south or southeast side of the house.
Propagation and Growth:
Suckers are used for propagation, being taken when they have a stem diameter of 2 to 6 inches. The leaves are commonly cut off in nursery trade, but decapitation at 2 to 3 feet is satisfactory. The sucker should be dug carefully, using a sharpshooter or spade to cut the underground base of the sucker from the side of its mother rhizome. Large suckers can be decapitated at ground level and halved or quartered (vertically) to increase planting material.
Nurserymen transplant from the field into containers for retail use, so planting these bananas is much the same as planting any container-grown plant. Sucker transplanting should be at the same depth as the sucker was growing originally.
For ornamental purposes, bananas may be planted as close as 2 to 3 feet apart, but those planted for fruit production should be spaced about 8 to 10 feet apart.
Fertilization and Irrigation:
Irrigation should be applied periodically to thoroughly wet the soil. Avoid standing water, as bananas do not tolerate overly wet conditions.
Fertilization requirements under Texas conditions have not been researched. However, it is reasonable to presume that nitrogen will be the only limiting nutrient in most situations. For new plants, one quarter cup of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0), watered in, after the plant commences regrowth should be applied monthly for the first three to four months. The rate can be increased over time to two cups per month when fruiting begins.
Established plantings of several plants together should receive about two cups of ammonium sulfate every couple of months throughout the year.
Pruning is normally practiced only to provide suckers for propagation, as most banana plantings are allowed to grow freely in mats of several plants of varying age and size. For fruit production, some pruning would be desirable to limit the number of plants per mat to 5 or 6. Suckers can be quickly dispatched with a sharpshooter or machete when they are only a few inches tall; however, the sucker must be severed from its mother plant underground.
After fruiting, the mother plant which bore should be cut off near ground level, as it can never produce again. The old trunk will quickly decompose if cut into three or four pieces, with each piece then being split lengthwise. Use the remains in a mulch bed or compost heap.
Production:
Well-tended bananas in commerce produce fruit stems approaching 100 pounds, but such yields are rare under Texas conditions. The more delicately flavored, small-fruited varieties may attain stem weights of 35 to 40 pounds. Most Texas producers readily accept production of stems having only two or three hands, although six to eight hands per stem is common for well-tended plants.
Hashtags: #DayO #BananaBoatSong #JamaicanFolkSong #HarryBelafonte #CalypsoMusic #GrowingBananas #TropicalPlant #OrnamentalPlant #FruitProduction #BananaPropagation #BananaGrowth #Fertilization #Irrigation #Pruning #TexasPlanting
Keywords: gardening, Growing bananas in texas, Container gardening
1 Comment
Of all songs on this day 😢