Plantain Suckers

Description

Plantain suckers

Plantain Sucker are shoots that sprout from a bud at the plant’s base) or from corms (underground bulbs known as rhizomes). They may be thought of as tiny plants that are utilized to propagate new plantains. Suckers from robust plants should be chosen. The sword sucker, in particular, should have short, spear-shaped leaves and grow to be around four feet tall.

Each mature plantain tree has a corm at the base. When transplanting a sucker, make a downward incision to extract as much corm and root as feasible. Plant them and clip or decapitate the sucker to allow for enough evaporation. Keep planted suckers at a distance of two to five meters apart. Keep your plant damp but not soggy in the early stages because it does not yet have leaves to evaporate.

Preparing the suckers before planting

Plantain Sucker preparation (peeling) is done on the field where the planting material is obtained. This is done to avoid contaminating the new field with nematode-infected roots or corms infected with stem borers. Corms are delivered to their destination and allowed to dry for a few days (not under the sun).

A spade or machete is used to detach suckers from their mother plant. The sucker corm must not be broken or damaged. As a result, the corm must be gently peeled using a machete. Sucker pseudostems should be removed a few millimeters above the corm.

Peeling the corm prevents the development of nematode infestation while cutting off the pseudostem decreases bulkiness and enhances the early growth of the freshly planted sucker. Peeling is similar to cassava peeling. A healthy corm should be white when newly peeled, however, corms infested with stem borers and nematodes have brown and black patches that must be removed until only white tissue visible.

The sucker should be discarded if the infestation is severe, with many brown and black patches. Suckers must be sown in two weeks. Suckers stored for more than two weeks will have a negative impact on future yields.