Every plant goes through five stages in its life
Each of these phases is of equal duration.
External intervention like pruning, adding ash etc… is most productive when administered at the appropriate phase of growth.
For eg: there is no use adding ash to plant when it is in its last stage of growth.
Plants are classified in three categories according to their life span
1. Short duration : 90 – 130 days
2. Medium duration : 1 – 3 years
3. Long duration or perennials
In case of seasonal or short duration plants proper growth at all stages becomes critical. For ex : if root growth is not optimum in the first 15 to 20 days no amount of external inputs will be effective.
Leaves and branches also show these stages in their life cycles
The life of banana is 13 months.
Divide 13 by 5 = 2.6
Say three months
First three months of banana plant are the childhood phase.
During this time no photosynthesis takes place, and no food is prepared by plant.
This period is to be deducted during calculation of weight of dry matter prepared by plant during its life cycle.
So we consider 10 months.