Banana freeze damage hinders production; how can safe overwintering be ensured?

    Banana freeze damage seriously hinders banana production. For this reason, all regions should strengthen banana orchard management before winter arrives to protect bananas through safe overwintering. Specifically, the following measures can be taken according to actual conditions:

Bagging bananas to prevent cold

    1. For bananas that have set fruit and are already ripe, harvest and market them promptly to avoid aggravated losses from freeze damage.

    2. For bananas that have set fruit but are not yet ripe, apply foliar fertilizer, such as potassium dihydrogen phosphate and Fengchanlu, and bag them promptly to prevent cold.

    3. For bananas in the early fruit-setting stage and young banana seedlings, cover the tops of the banana seedlings with rice straw to reduce freeze damage, preserve more than four green leaves as far as possible, and ensure nutrient supply.

    4. Strengthen water and fertilizer management. Where conditions permit, dig trenches and irrigate to keep the banana orchard soil moist, and at the same time apply more potassium fertilizer to enhance the cold resistance of banana seedlings.

    5. When freeze damage arrives, during periods of heavy frost and dense fog, actively supplement with the smoke method (that is, burning fires to produce smoke). This method can be used in the evening and continued until 1-2 hours before sunrise. Specifically, it can be divided into two types.

  (1) Smoking method: Insert a thick bamboo pole or wooden stake into the ground, and stack materials from the inside outward in sequence: the first layer uses dry weeds, dry fallen leaves, dry branches, and so on as kindling; the middle layer uses wet rice straw, sawdust, fallen leaves, and so on; the outer layer is covered with 8-10cm of soil. The smoke pile is 1-1.5m high, with a bottom diameter of 1.5-2m, and 4-5 smoking points are placed per mu. Before igniting, pull the bamboo pole out of the smoke pile, light the dry firewood and grass in the hole, and pay attention to the amount of smoke so that the smoke pile produces as much smoke as possible and lasts a long time, which can raise the near-surface air temperature by 1-3°C.

  (2) Smoke screen method: Use chemical substances that produce smoke when burned to make anti-frost smoke agents. This method produces a large amount of smoke, with smoke reaching as high as 5-7m, and is suitable for mature banana orchards. Formula one: 57% sawdust, 30% ammonium nitrate, 10% sulfur, 3% black powder; formula two: 35% sawdust, 30% ammonium nitrate, 25% bituminous coal powder, 10% diesel, mixed in proportion. For specific operation, take 1 kg of the mixed material, seal the bottom with kraft paper (three to four layers), place an ignition fuse inside, poke holes around the paper bag, then ignite to produce smoke. Use 2-3 smoke-generating packets (bags) per mu of banana orchard.