Bud injection, propping, de-flowering, and bagging are key practices for banana cultivation to control pests and improve fruit quality. Bud injection involves injecting insecticide into emerging flower buds to control thrips. Propping provides structural support for plants using bamboo poles. De-flowering removes flower parts from young bunches. Bagging protects fruits from damage using ventilated plastic bags. Together these practices help produce high quality banana fruits for local and export markets.

2. • Bud Injection
• Propping
• Remove Obstacles
• De Flowering
• Foliar Application of Fertilizers
• Finger Pruning
• False Hand Removal and Bud Removal
• Plastic Inserts
• Bagging
• Colour Coding, Fruit Age and Maturity
• Harvesting
TOPICS

3. • Thrips can damage the fruit quality.
• Common practice is to inject the emerging flower bud with insecticide.
BUD INJECTION

4. Banana bud injector
Banana bud injector with PPE

5. • Do bud injection when buds are half or three fourth emerged.
• This operation has to complete carried out 3 times a weeks in banana field.
• The injection needle should be put 6 to 8 inches below the bud tip at an angle of 45
degree.
• The bud injection is given when the emerging inflorescence (Flower) bud is in upright
position.

6. • Prepare a solution of Imidacloprid (Brand: Confidor) 8 ml in 15 lit of water.
Inject a single dose of 80ml solution into the flower bud thereby fully
drenching the bud using Banana Bud Injector pump.
• The needle should remain in the bud for approx. 5 seconds for to allow the
insecticide get evenly distributed within the bud.
• Injecting at earlier stages or more volume may cause chemical damage for
the bud or fruits.
• Use different insecticides on periodic basis, to prevent development of
resistance in the insects.
• A bud should inject once only.
• After the injection, mark the plant by colour or coloured thread.
• Clean the equipments regularly.

7. PROPPING
• Due to water or nutritional
stress, sometimes pseudo stem
tend to break.
• Because of heavy bunches or
strong wind can cause damage.
• We should provide support to
the plants.
• Bamboo poles are tied loosely
together 10 to 20 cm below one
end, provides better support
against wind.
The tied double poles are opened to an asymmetric X, The smaller top part is
placed under the bending stem and larger part is put sideways of the bunch.
Avoid pole touching to the banana bunch.

8. • There may be wooden or
bamboo support and plastic
straps tied to adjacent plants.
• Bamboo support is expensive
but gives better support to the
bunch.
• In case of plastic straps, one
point tied around the neck of
the flowering plant and other
end at the base of another
plant.

9. REMOVE OBSTACLES
• The skin of the young fruits
is extremely susceptible to
mechanical damage.
• Scar or blemishes turn black
and fruit looses its quality.
Leaf Cutter ( Deleafing Tool)

10. Cut the full or part of the leaves, which touches the new growing bunch, trying
as much as to avoid cutting entire leaves.
Sometimes bracts remain hanging on the bunch, they should remove as early as
possible.

11. A Developing Bunch
Hanging Freely

12. • Do not cut the flag leaf and last bract like leaf but bend them backwards.
• Flag leaf and intermediate leaf protects the stem of the bunch from direct sunlight.
• Remove old bracts of flowers from the young hands.

13. DE FLOWERING
• To maintain good fruit quality,
we must remove flower parts
from the bunch at early stage.
• Each bunch has to be visited 3
times to guarantee timely
removal of flower parts in
time.
• Use the bamboo or wooden
ladder of 2 m long, 30 cm
wide and having 6 steps 30 cm
apart from each.
Right Stage for De-flowering
Too-early stage for De-flowering – Not advisable

14. • Flowers are removed when
the hands are at horizontal
position, to avoid latex stain
on the deflowering fruit itself
and on the lower hands.
• Some off type flowers are
difficult to remove, to avoid
damage to the fruits, they
should not be removed but
left on the fingers.
De-flowering Process

15. FOLIAR APPLICATION OF FERTILIZERS
• First spray 0.5 percent (5 gm / 1 lit)
Potassium Nitrate (13:00:45) + 0.5
percent (5 gm/1 lit) of foliar grade
micro nutrients mixture on bunches.
• Second spray 2 percent (20 gm/1 lit)
of Potassium Sulphate (00:00:50) +
Biozyme 2ml/1lit after 15 days.
Repeat the second dose once again
as third spray after 15 days interval.
Add 0.2 percent Bavistin (fungicide)
for to control fungal infection if any.
Do not apply any fertilizers or pesticides 15 days before harvest since there is a
possibility of the unabsorbed chemical residues entering human food chain.
Application of excess dosage of fertilizers, Enzymatic and synthetic Growth
promoters and plant protection chemicals on bunches are to be strictly avoided.

16. FINGER PRUNING
• Need to remove some deformed
fingers, these may be twin, fused,
crippled fingers.
• The deformed fingers can easily be
broken and removed without the need
of a cutting tool. Avoid latex stains on
fruits.
• Do finger pruning together with
deflowering at early stages of bunch
emergence.
Remove off type Unwanted Fingers

17. FALSE HAND REMOVAL AND BUD REMOVAL
• The last 2 to 3 hands usually
develop fingers of poor quality, not
export quality.
• The first incomplete hand from the
top of the banana bunch to the
bottom with only female fingers
called false hand.
• By removing false +1 or +2 hands,
the quality of the remaining hands
can be improved by growing larger,
thicker and less curved.
• On large bunch with 16 hands, up to
false +5 to +7 hands are removed in
early stage of flowering.

18. • For the smaller bunch with 10
hands , upto +2 to +3 false hands
removed. We can keep 8 hands.
• For each hand removed, one
arrestor finger should remain on
the bunch.
• At the same time as the hands
removed , the bud should also be
removed.
• It is important to remove the bud
to break the apical dominance of
the plant and stimulate sucker
growth.

19. PLASTIC INSERTS
• The fingers bend upwards and
their tips touch the outer sides
of the upper fingers, which
causes scars.
• Sometimes the fingers of the
lower hand penetrate in
between the fingers of the
upper hand.
• The thick plastic layer inserts
between the finger rows, can
reduce the scarring.

20. • These plastic inserts are
open sleeve with
perforations to allow
ventilation and avoid
accumulation of humidity
inside.
• If hands are already bent
completely upwards at
bagging, install plastic
inserts together with the
bag.

21. BAGGING
• Bag protect fruits from leaf scarring ,
dust, fungal spores, insects, birds and
from chemicals used in sprays to control
leaf spot diseases.
• If solar radiation is very strong,
additional sun protection with
newspaper sheets tied around the
upper side of the bunch.
• Insecticide impregnated bags offer
protection against thrips and other fruit
attacking insects.

22. • Sometimes bags may cause fruit
damage because of high humidity or
water accumulation if poorly tied,
poor ventilation, over heating,
premature ripening etc.
• Thick bags are more likely to cause
wind scarring, thin bags are prone to
tear and thus loose the bag effect.
• Generally use blue bags, with
perforation holes should not be larger
than 7 mm in diameter, opacity of the
plastic should be between 60 to 70
percent.
• Avoid completely dark colour bags or
paper bags.
• Generally, skirting polythene bags should be 6 percent ventilated may be of 120 cm width,
180 cm in height with sky blue colour, approx. 20 to 30 holes, 20 to 25 micron or 175 gauge
thick made up from 100 percent virgin plastic, different specifications depends on location,
climate.
• You will get the polythene bags roll, the bags should be cut according to bunch size in the
field. The bags should be tied to the stalk above the scar above the first hand. The bag
should be long enough and reach about 15 cm below the last arrestor finger.

23. COLOUR CODING, FRUIT AGE AND MATURITY
• Fruit development and growth is not
uniform, so identify bunches with
desired fruit maturity, a combination
of age control ribbon and fruit
thickness caliper is used.
• For long distance transport 75 percent
maturity is used or three quarter
round fruit.
• Colour ribbon is placed at the bottom
of the bunch and should be visible
from the distance.
• All bunches bagged in one week are
coded with the same colour.

24. • The following week another colour
used. Use 8 different colours ribbon
for coding.
• Generally bunches are harvested 10-
12 weeks after bagging.
• A bunch with a middle fruit in it’s
2nd hand measuring 41 mm
diameter, and the middle fruit in the
last Hand with 35 mm diameter two
weeks before harvest is ideal
for Export.
• One or two days prior to harvest , a
field is pre calibrated and fruit for
harvest is marked.
• Market requirement defines harvest
age of the banana fruits.

25. HARVESTING
• The cutter is equipped with a large knife
and a 2 m long de-leafing tool (knife on
a pole).
• First the cutter cuts all leaves which
may touch the bunch during harvesting.
• Use soft shoulder pad for carry the
bunches.

26. • Avoid latex dripping on the bunch.
• Protective foam pad can be put between the hands and then bunch moves.
• The bunch should not be laid on the ground.

27. Rahul Mane
Head (Sales and Marketing)
AKF Plant Sciences Pvt Ltd.,
Cell: 0091 9890200340
Email: rahulmane76@gmail.com
sales@akfps.com
www.akfps.com