The Organic
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Fruits · Herbaceous

Growing banana

Musa spp. · also called kelaBanana is a tall tropical herb planted from suckers or tissue-culture plants. It wants warmth, rich moist soil and plenty of water, and fruits about a year after planting, with ratoon crops from the suckers.

North-west plains: Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
A bunch of green bananas hanging from a banana plant, with palm fronds behind
Photo: Dinkum · CC0

At a glance

Banana in the North-west plains

  • Season

    Planted mid-February to early March; harvested April to May of the next year17

  • Sowing to last picking

    Planted in late February, bunches emerge from September to November and are cut the following April and May. PAU says the plant gives two ratoon crops after the first, three crops in all.17

  • Plant out

    Mid-February to early March17

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Wait until February

The next sowing here is Mid-February to early March.

Sowing now in:Deccan plateauSouth interior
  • Transplant
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
North-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluNot suited here
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluNot suited hereCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiNot suited hereSub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratNot suited hereCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
North-west plainsMid-February to early MarchApril to May
Temperate HimalayaNot suited here
Cold desertNot suited here
Sub-tropical foothillsLate February to early MarchApril to May of the next year
Gangetic plainsMay to JuneSeptember to October
North-east hills and valleysMarch to May
Arid westNot suited here
Central plateauMay to JuneSeptember to October
Deccan plateauJune to JulyOctober to NovemberFirst week of February
South interiorNovember to DecemberJanuary to FebruaryApril to May
West coastMay to JuneSeptember to October
East coastFebruary to AprilApril to May

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    FYM mixed half and half with topsoil17

    Fill pits of 60 by 60 cm · Pit filling

Banana likes moist soil; even slight dryness gives smaller fingers and pale leaves, while too much water rots the stem near the roots. PAU's schedule: every 7 to 8 days in March and April, every 4 to 6 days in May and June, every 7 to 8 days as needed in the rains, and every 10 to 15 days from October to February. Irrigate the field on nights when frost is expected.17

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1,6

    6.5 to 7.5

    Deep (0.5 to 1 m), rich, fertile, well-drained loam that holds moisture and has plenty of organic matter. Alluvial and volcanic soils suit it well. Standing water causes disease, and alkaline or saline soils are to be avoided.

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the North-west plains, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Full sun in open fields. Plants also grow in light shade, as in coconut and arecanut gardens, but bunches are smaller.

  • Temperature6Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

    Grows best at 20 to 35 °C

    Frost: none tolerated.

    Monthly temperatures for the North-west plains aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

Watering17

Banana likes moist soil; even slight dryness gives smaller fingers and pale leaves, while too much water rots the stem near the roots. PAU's schedule: every 7 to 8 days in March and April, every 4 to 6 days in May and June, every 7 to 8 days as needed in the rains, and every 10 to 15 days from October to February. Irrigate the field on nights when frost is expected.

March to April 7 to 8 days; May to June 4 to 6 days; rains 7 to 8 days as needed; October to February 10 to 15 days.

Weeding10

Weed regularly in the first four months; about four spadings a year keep weeds down, and a cowpea cover crop between rows also smothers them.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Pit fillingFYM mixed half and half with topsoilFill pits of 60 by 60 cm

Sources17

Varieties and yield

Typical range17

18 to 20 kg a plant

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Varieties grown here17

  • Grand Naine

    PAU recommendation (2008). Plants 7 to 8 ft tall with heavy bunches; need propping. Fingers about 24 cm long.

Good neighbours1,8,10

Keep it away from

Pests and diseases13,17,8Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Tobacco caterpillar

    Signs

    Active July to September. Young caterpillars feed in groups on both sides of the leaf; older ones eat the central whorl and stunt the plant.

    What to do

    • Pick off and destroy leaves carrying egg masses and young caterpillar groups

  • Pest

    Aphid and thrips

    Signs

    Aphids are active from February to mid-April and again in September and October; thrips in May and June.

  • Pest

    Pseudostem borer

    Signs

    Sap oozes from small holes in the stem with a black mass. The grubs feed inside the stem, and a badly attacked plant dies. Most active in summer and the monsoon.

    What to do

    • Uproot and burn badly attacked plants
    • Keep the plantation clean of dry leaves and old stems

  • Pest

    Rhizome weevil

    Signs

    Grubs tunnel through the corm, which rots. Leaves yellow, wither and die early, and yields fall.

    What to do

    • Clear the debris and rotting stems where the weevils shelter
    • Lay split pieces of old stem or rhizome, 30 to 60 cm long, between the plants as traps and pick off the weevils that gather

    Prevention

    • Plant only suckers from fields known to be clear of the weevil

  • Disease

    Bacterial soft rot

    Signs

    The stem rots, the tissue turns soft and dark brown to black, and the plant breaks at ground level.

    What to do

    • Improve field drainage

    Prevention

    • Use clean planting material
    • Avoid injuring the rhizome and stem

  • Disease

    Panama wilt (Fusarium wilt)

    Signs

    Older leaves yellow from the edges, hang down around the stem and wither. A cut stem shows yellow to reddish streaks, darker towards the rhizome. Worst in poor, light, wet or badly drained soil cropped with banana year after year.

    What to do

    • Uproot and burn badly affected plants
    • Put quick lime near the base of the plant and water it in
    • Add Trichoderma viride or Pseudomonas fluorescens to the soil

    Prevention

    • Do not replant banana in badly infected soil for at least 3 to 4 years
    • Use clean planting material and resistant varieties
    • Grow paddy in the rotation, and keep sunflower and sugarcane out of it

  • Disease

    Sigatoka leaf spot

    Signs

    Light yellow spots on the leaves grow into oval dark brown spots with a dead grey centre and a brown ring. Spots join and kill large parts of the leaf. Spreads in rain and dew above about 21°C.

    What to do

    • Improve drainage and keep weeds down
    • Remove diseased suckers

    Prevention

    • Keep the right spacing so the plants stay airy

  • Disease

    Bunchy top

    Signs

    New leaves come narrow, upright, pale and brittle with rolled-up edges, and dark green broken streaks run along the veins and midrib. The plant stays stunted and gives no useful bunch. Dwarf types are very susceptible.

    What to do

    • Dig out and destroy affected plants, their suckers and the whole clump

    Prevention

    • Never take planting material from places where the disease occurs

Seed and the season's end

Saving seed15,18

Commercial bananas are seedless and are raised only from suckers, rhizomes or tissue culture. Take planting material from healthy, high-yielding clumps whose bunches carry at least 10 hands, since banana varies from plant to plant.

When the seed is ready

Choose sword suckers 2 to 4 months old with a well-developed base and narrow, sword-shaped leaves.

In Jalgaon, Basrai rhizomes are lifted after harvest and stored in a cool, dry place for about two months before planting. Pick conical rhizomes of 500 to 750 g and reject flat ones (NHB). MPKV's Jalgaon station found moderately large, straight, non-cylindrical rhizomes of 450 to 750 g the most suitable planting material.

After the last picking17

Banana gives two ratoon crops after the first. Keep one sucker per plant in September, after the bunch emerges or when about 80% of the field has flowered.

After harvest, cut the stem leaving a stump about 0.6 m tall; it keeps feeding the daughter sucker until it dries. Uproot, chop and burn plants attacked by stem weevil, and keep them out of manure pits.

Rotation

Do not replant banana in soil badly infected with wilt for 3 to 4 years. Grow paddy in the rotation, and keep sunflower and sugarcane out of it.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 1Banana: crop production guideTNAU Agritech Portal, Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
  2. 10Banana: intercultural operationsNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  3. 11Banana: irrigationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  4. 12Banana: manuring and fertilisationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  5. 13Banana: pestsNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  6. 14Banana: plantingNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  7. 15Banana: propagationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  8. 16Banana: varietiesNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  9. 17Package of Practices for Cultivation of Fruits (banana chapter)Punjab Agricultural University, LudhianaRead the source
  10. 6Banana: soil and climateNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  11. 7Banana: area under cultivationNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  12. 8Banana: diseasesNational Horticulture BoardRead the source
  13. 9Banana: harvestingNational Horticulture BoardRead the source

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