Banana bract mosaic
Spindle shaped streaks run along the leaves and leaf stalks, and the heart bracts and inner leaf sheaths show a dark reddish brown mosaic, mostly on saba and latundan.
Crops it strikes
What you see
When to act
Check each mat every two weeks, mostly saba and latundan: peel back an old leaf sheath and look for spindle streaks on the leaf stalks and a reddish brown mosaic on the inner sheaths and heart bracts. One sick mat means act that day.
Before you spray
No spray cures it. Kill the aphids on a sick mat, destroy the whole mat, keep corn and weeds away and replant clean tissue culture plantlets.
The insect that spreads it
No spray cures a sick plant. What slows the spread is keeping the banana aphid down, early, before it carries the disease to healthy plants.
How to prevent it
- Plant only virus tested tissue culture plantlets. Never take suckers from a mat with streaked leaf stalks or mottled bracts.
- Kill aphids on a sick mat first, then destroy the whole mat and its suckers with herbicide or by digging it out and chopping it.
- Do not grow corn next to banana. Aphids from the corn carry the virus to the mats.
- Keep weeds down around the mats and prune extra suckers, where aphids gather.
- Remove sick mats early and check the neighbors every two weeks for the next months.
Natural enemies and biological help
- Ladybird beetles, hoverfly larvae and small wasps eat aphids, but they never stop the virus. Spray only the sick mat to spare them.
Not sure it is this one?
Many diseases look alike. Send a photo to Anee, the smart farm technician in anee.io. She reads it with your crop, its age and the weather, and tells you what it most likely is and what to do first. In Tagalog or English.