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Re: [nafex] Growing Bananas



Seeing Don Yellman's post about chicken manure, my favorite too, reminds me 
of the chickens I saw scratching about bananas on Kaui in Hawaii.  The 
bananas had been mulched with corn cobs from a corn seed farm in the area.  
The intent was to protect the soil from excessive scratching from wild 
chickens, which love the area of bananas and contribute to the available 
fertility.  It happens that corn cob contains a big hit of potash, too, one 
of the critical needs of bananas.  Corn cob ash is about 50 percent potash,   
the highest of "natural" substances I read measurements for.  Close to the 
sea, one does well to get potash-rich seaweed for mulch.  Because bananas are 
mostly senistive to salt, the seaweed should be washed or left in the rain.  
(You can do this around coconuts which need salt, specifically Chloride ions, 
to produce abundantly.)

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1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses, 
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2000, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL 32192 USA  Internships. 
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or
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