LIKE many banana growers, Shayne Cini, Innisfail, is striving for consistency of quality and this has resulted in a strong focus on soil improvement and nutrition, including trialling new controlled release fertilisers (CRF).
Shayne and his wife, Blaise, grow Cavendish bananas over about 160 acres on a farm that, up until about 20 years ago, produced cane.
The majority of their Edari Bananas go direct to Woolworths distribution centres, with the balance marketed via a selling agent.
With their heavy clay/loam river country – including soil pH in the high 6s – always coming out of cane, Shayne said they used to have a requirement to apply 7-8 tonne of lime per acre. They also applied some magnesium.
He said they grow seven to eight crops on a block and also manage big areas of fallow and plant sorghum to give country a spell. Soil testing and follow-up leaf testing is carried out every crop cycle.
Prior to planting, the Cinis now normally apply a 50:50 lime and gypsum blend that supplies some sulphur and also helps break up the clay. Magnesium is also applied up to three times a year depending on the soil tests.
Last year at planting in August, the CRF, Multicote Banana Plant, was applied over half a block (nine rows), alongside a granular nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertiliser in the other half of the block.
Available through Lindsay Rural, the Multicote fertiliser uses Haifa’s polymer coating technology, allowing nutrients to be released in a gradual manner according to soil temperature, matching plants’ requirements.
This is important in ensuring the nutrients being supplied are not lost during periods of high rainfall or over-watering.
Multicote Banana Plant contains 11 per cent nitrogen, 8.3pc phosphorus and 8.3pc potassium, plus micro-elements. The granular NPK fertiliser supplies similar nitrogen, less phosphorus, significantly more potassium and less magnesium.
Both products were banded at the bottom of the drill row at 150kg/ac.
Shayne said the Multicote should have been applied at 300kg/ac to provide four months nutrition, however, since it was half the rate, he commenced his normal fertigation program two months after planting.
Calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate were applied weekly from the two-month stage and then at increasing increments after the third and fourth month.
Some potassium sulphate and nitrogen were also applied at around three months.
From around five months as a “growth program’’, calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate were applied every second week.
In the alternate weeks, potassium sulphate and nitrogen were applied.
Once a block is 70pc bunched, the calcium nitrate and potassium nitrate are halted and a “bunching program’’ is applied weekly, where the potassium sulphate is increased and the nitrogen is reduced.
Early in the season, Shayne said the plants on the CRF possibly showed some slight growth improvement compared with the plants on the granular NPK fertiliser.
“The trees started to look a bit bigger. The CRF was showing some improvement,’’ he said.
Shayne said he was also investigating a foliar fertiliser application that could help minimise under-peel chill.
Meanwhile, the Cinis have always fertigated through two drip lines down the centre of double row bananas.
“By irrigating and fertigating through the drip lines, we are not growing as many weeds and so we have reduced the use of herbicides,’’ Shayne said.
The Cinis normally produce an average of about 1400 cartons/ac across the whole farm, which includes new plantings and ratoon blocks.
- Copy supplied by Haifa.
