Banana freckle
Older leaves and the fruit peel get many tiny raised black dots that feel rough like sandpaper, and the blemished fruit sells poorly.
Crops it strikes
What you see
When to act
In the wet months, check the leaves hanging over each bunch and the young fruit every week. Act when tiny black sandpaper dots show on those leaves or on the peel: cut the spotted leaves and bag the bunch.
What to spray
- ChlorothalonilFRAC M05ShopeeLazada
- PyraclostrobinFRAC 11ShopeeLazada
- PropinebFRAC M03ShopeeLazada
- FluopyramFRAC 7ShopeeLazada
- AzoxystrobinFRAC 11ShopeeLazada
- DiethofencarbFRAC 10ShopeeLazada
- Copper oxychloride plus copper hydroxideFRAC M01 plus M01ShopeeLazada
- Copper sulfateFRAC M01ShopeeLazada
- Thiophanate methylFRAC 1ShopeeLazada
- ThiramFRAC M03ShopeeLazada
- BitertanolFRAC 3ShopeeLazada
- SulfurFRAC M02ShopeeLazada
Active ingredients only, never brands. The FRAC group tells how it works: switch to a different group next time, so the disease does not learn to survive it. Spray only when the damage is worth the cost, and only with products registered with the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority for your crop. Follow the label. The Shopee and Lazada links only show who sells something with that active ingredient, not a recommendation of any seller or product.
Resistance: Count every freckle spray in the same yearly limits as black sigatoka: mix each systemic with a protectant, never one group twice in a row, and about 3 sprays a year for groups 1, 7 and 11.
On labels for it, but not advised
- Potassium silicate: A plant tonic, not a fungicide: it does not stop the freckle fungus.
How to prevent it
- Bag each bunch soon after the male bud is removed. The bag keeps spores off the peel.
- Cut off old leaves with freckle dots, above all those hanging over the bunch, and take them out of the field.
- Keep the black sigatoka program going. The same protectant sprays hold freckle too.
- Plant clean tissue culture plantlets and never move leaves or suckers from farms with freckle.
- Desucker and keep wide spacing so air moves and the leaves dry fast.
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.