Spacing fruit trees from bananas

[TheVeggieProfessor]

Hi all. I know that mangoes can't be planted too close to bananas due to different fertilization needs. But how much distance exactly would be required?

I'm also trying to understand what fruit trees can be planted closer to bananas (around 12 ft). I'm most interested in planting mamey sapote, avocado, and maybe a black sapote or sapodilla in a spot 12 ft away from where I'm planning on planting bananas.

I really appreciate the help - thanks!

[Satya]

From my own experience growimg bananas and fruit trees in my garden:
I planted bananas at certain spots in the garden. One place was 10ft away from a young lychee tree to create a green wall against winds that lychee doesnt like. I did heavy mulching and chop and drop of banana leaves, stem that fruited and lychee is happy.
Another place banana i planted under the shade of an oak, did well but didnt flower well, so banans don’t seem to like shade as much as full sun.
Another was close to avocados and avocados love mulch so do bananas, avocados don’t mind some shade. But i am worried the avos will eventually shade the banana in time.

You can plant banana close to the young trees, 12ft is ok in my opinion and once tree grows big remove the bananas, as it will shade the banana and won’t produce well. Black sapote, Mamey, avocado all will grow into huge trees. I have been growing banans for last three years here in south florida, lot of mulch, chop and drop, never fertilized or watered snd they are disease free and very good tasting.

https://youtu.be/Wk8ibxAAqr4

[spaugh]

12 ft is not going to be a problem at all.  Once the trees get large enough to be a problem, you can remove the bananas too.  Bananas grow so fast, they are easily removed and replaced at a later date.

[TheVeggieProfessor]

You can plant banana close to the young trees, 12ft is ok in my opinion and once tree grows big remove the bananas, as it will shade the banana and won’t produce well. Black sapote, Mamey, avocado all will grow into huge trees. I have been growing banans for last three years here in south florida, lot of mulch, chop and drop, never fertilized or watered snd they are disease free and very good tasting.

https://youtu.be/Wk8ibxAAqr4

You don't fertilize or water and they still grow and produce!? I doubt that would work in my sandy soil. Would be cool though! I'm not too worried about shading. They'll be at the eastern edge of my property, should get plenty of sun most of the year and I will keep the fruit tree at a manageable size. I'm moreso thinking about the quantity and type of fertilizer required for the bananas. Since I'll be feeding the bananas every month, and they require nitrogen, 12 ft is too close for a mango, since I don't want to fertilize those with nitrogen. Conversely, an avocado takes nitrogen, so it may grow pretty big being close to the bananas if I don't stay on top of it, but will at least still produce well. Not sure about other fruits though like mamey, black sapote, sapodilla, etc.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

[TheVeggieProfessor]

12 ft is not going to be a problem at all.  Once the trees get large enough to be a problem, you can remove the bananas too.  Bananas grow so fast, they are easily removed and replaced at a later date.

Thanks so much for the insight. I was thinking about fertilizer requirements too though. Nitrogen every month for the banana, so 12 ft away would be too close for a mango. I know that some plants don't like nitrogen (mango, lychee) and others don't like too much fertilizer. My intention is to keep the tree at 15' tall, so hoping that the shade isn't too much of a problem. But like you said, I can remove the bananas.

On a related note, what if I fertilized the bananas monthly to get them going so I get my privacy and then stop fertilizing them? They won't (likely) produce fruit, but will they continue to grow and serve a role in providing privacy? I'm not too familiar with bananas for ornamental purposes.

[Satya]

You can plant banana close to the young trees, 12ft is ok in my opinion and once tree grows big remove the bananas, as it will shade the banana and won’t produce well. Black sapote, Mamey, avocado all will grow into huge trees. I have been growing banans for last three years here in south florida, lot of mulch, chop and drop, never fertilized or watered snd they are disease free and very good tasting.

https://youtu.be/Wk8ibxAAqr4

You don't fertilize or water and they still grow and produce!? I doubt that would work in my sandy soil. Would be cool though! I'm not too worried about shading. They'll be at the eastern edge of my property, should get plenty of sun most of the year and I will keep the fruit tree at a manageable size. I'm moreso thinking about the quantity and type of fertilizer required for the bananas. Since I'll be feeding the bananas every month, and they require nitrogen, 12 ft is too close for a mango, since I don't want to fertilize those with nitrogen. Conversely, an avocado takes nitrogen, so it may grow pretty big being close to the bananas if I don't stay on top of it, but will at least still produce well. Not sure about other fruits though like mamey, black sapote, sapodilla, etc.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

I had bad soil too, sandy loam with calcarous stones and a river bed. Worked on building soil last 3 years, lots of mulch and nitrogrn fixing ground covers. Not sure if i showed this in the video i shared up there but thats how i have managed to make them happy. The only fertilizer i do is foliar spray to citruses as they have the greening and to seedlings in pots, a mild drench of micros. Soil building was a very rigorous process, physically challenging and seems like i am heading towards an autorenewable soil that regenerates nitrogen and necessary nutriets and hope it will help me relax the next few yrs. I will post pics of avos and mangoes once i return home, i don’t fertilize them either but i am leaning towards foliar micros on mangoes if i see any signs of deficiency.

[bsbullie]

Bananas will grow and produce fruit whether you fertilize or not.  Of course, the quality and number of hands will be better if fertilized.

Not sure why you think fertilizing a banana 10 plus feet away will have any issues with a mango tree.  A proper banana fertilizer is moderately low in nitrogen and higher in potassium which wont really hurt the mango.

[spaugh]

I planted lychees on 15ft space then interplanted bananas between them 7.5ft away.  Im just using the bannas to shield the lychees while they are small and plan to remove thr bananas in a year or 2. 

The bananas get fertilized hard with straight salts that would burn the lychees.  But 7.5ft away thry arent getting any of it.

[TheVeggieProfessor]

Not sure why you think fertilizing a banana 10 plus feet away will have any issues with a mango tree.  A proper banana fertilizer is moderately low in nitrogen and higher in potassium which wont really hurt the mango.

This is what I heard from Har, who indicated that I would want 6 feet between the edges of the canopy of a mango and banana, because bananas take nitrogen whereas mangoes do not.

[bsbullie]

Not sure why you think fertilizing a banana 10 plus feet away will have any issues with a mango tree.  A proper banana fertilizer is moderately low in nitrogen and higher in potassium which wont really hurt the mango.

This is what I heard from Har, who indicated that I would want 6 feet between the edges of the canopy of a mango and banana, because bananas take nitrogen whereas mangoes do not.

Mangoes can take some nitrogen,  especially younger trees.

Keep in mind when fertilizing,  fertilizer does not run out beyond where applied and root zones are primarily at the limits of a tree's canopy.

[Satya]

Not sure why you think fertilizing a banana 10 plus feet away will have any issues with a mango tree.  A proper banana fertilizer is moderately low in nitrogen and higher in potassium which wont really hurt the mango.

This is what I heard from Har, who indicated that I would want 6 feet between the edges of the canopy of a mango and banana, because bananas take nitrogen whereas mangoes do not.

Mangoes can take some nitrogen,  especially younger trees.

Keep in mind when fertilizing,  fertilizer does not run out beyond where applied and root zones are primarily at the limits of a tree's canopy.

Rob, i am confused about this as well, the root zone: tree canopy thing. Because i have heard Har asking to apply fert double the width of the canopy, meaning draw a line from trunk to edge of canopy, double that length and apply within that space, starting from the canopy line. Theoretically it  doesnt sound right, trees having roots doubly far from the canopy line but may be big mango trees (may be not small ones) do that? not my experience so just curious what is the root zone:canopy line ratio in big trees vs small mango trees.

[bsbullie]

Not sure why you think fertilizing a banana 10 plus feet away will have any issues with a mango tree.  A proper banana fertilizer is moderately low in nitrogen and higher in potassium which wont really hurt the mango.

This is what I heard from Har, who indicated that I would want 6 feet between the edges of the canopy of a mango and banana, because bananas take nitrogen whereas mangoes do not.

Mangoes can take some nitrogen,  especially younger trees.

Keep in mind when fertilizing,  fertilizer does not run out beyond where applied and root zones are primarily at the limits of a tree's canopy.

Rob, i am confused about this as well, the root zone: tree canopy thing. Because i have heard Har asking to apply fert double the width of the canopy, meaning draw a line from trunk to edge of canopy, double that length and apply within that space, starting from the canopy line. Theoretically it  doesnt sound right, trees having roots doubly far from the canopy line but may be big mango trees (may be not small ones) do that? not my experience so just curious what is the root zone:canopy line ratio in big trees vs small mango trees.

I have never heard of that.  You may be able to train roots by going out a little further each time.  One major issue is people do not usually have trees planted that far off center from each other where you would in a sense be fertilizing the adjacent trees.

[Satya]

Thank you.

I assume, from your description of grey, rocky soil, that you have limestone or shell rock, covered with some black sandy loam or with muck, that was placed there for sodding.

You could get a 50-pound bag of prilled Sulfur, such as Tiger-90 or similar, probably for around $30, and spread it all within a circle twice the radius of the tree's canopy, to within about a foot of the trunk.  This will lower the pH of the soil's surface, and reactivate some of the fertilizer that you put down previously.  Do this, with some fruit tree fertilizer, three times a year, until the tree greens up, in a couple of years.

This is one place i see the usage of double the radius of the canopy, and may be this helps correct the soil problem rather tjan fertilization but i remember seeing in other scenario for mango fertilization as well.

[bsbullie]

Thank you.

I assume, from your description of grey, rocky soil, that you have limestone or shell rock, covered with some black sandy loam or with muck, that was placed there for sodding.

You could get a 50-pound bag of prilled Sulfur, such as Tiger-90 or similar, probably for around $30, and spread it all within a circle twice the radius of the tree's canopy, to within about a foot of the trunk.  This will lower the pH of the soil's surface, and reactivate some of the fertilizer that you put down previously.  Do this, with some fruit tree fertilizer, three times a year, until the tree greens up, in a couple of years.

This is one place i see the usage of double the radius of the canopy, and may be this helps correct the soil problem rather tjan fertilization but i remember seeing in other scenario for mango fertilization as well.

Tiger Eye should be broadcasted over entire yard like turf fertilizer to correct ph evenly.  Totally different than fertilizing individual trees.

[pineislander]

Hi all. I know that mangoes can't be planted too close to bananas due to different fertilization needs. But how much distance exactly would be required?

I'm also trying to understand what fruit trees can be planted closer to bananas (around 12 ft). I'm most interested in planting mamey sapote, avocado, and maybe a black sapote or sapodilla in a spot 12 ft away from where I'm planning on planting bananas.

I really appreciate the help - thanks!

I pant banana or papaya between every newly planted fruit tree, right in the center between trees. I don't plant in a mowed grass lawn and bananas will not do so great that way. Like BS said there is no problem using even nitrogen fertilizer the first 2 years on any new fruit tree. If you do plant close to mango trees for instance just realize you will need to control banana stem population in the mat by removing suckers. After year 1-2 they begin to sucker and can crowd the other trees. The banana stems and leaves produce a large amount of mulch for the fruit trees. Use some wood ash on the bananas they love the potassium.