Development of biodegradable pots with banana pseudostems for nurseries

There is a growing interest in home gardening especially in urban areas where vegetable seedlings raised in polythene bags are purchased from commercial nurseries. These polythene bags are essentially removed before planting. Taking this into consideration, the Institute for Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences (IARS) has developed a user-friendly biodegradable pot for raring seedlings successfully which can directly be transplanted in the field as it is. This pot has been developed with banana pseudostems left behind after harvesting the banana bunch. The pseudostems were crushed, mixed with 50% of coir dust, and made into pots using a mould and cased with “non-woven cloths” used to produce coco pellets available in the market. This product is environmentally friendly and generates an additional income for banana growers. This technology was developed by Mr. Srinath Wijesakera, a final year student as a part of his academic programme with the guidance of Dr. Sujatha Weerasinghe, Senior lecturer, IARS.