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Growing bananas is relatively easy, but requires a warm, humid climate and well-draining soil. Bananas are generally grown in the tropics and are an excellent food plant to grow in a tropical climate. This post covers how to grow bananas for new gardeners who want to branch out from vegetables.
Each banana plant will only produce one bunch of bananas, so once a plant has produced a flower and fruit, the plant should be cut close to the ground.
Spent banana plants make excellent mulch or compost as they are so full of water, sugars and minerals. Chop and drop is a good policy with banana plants.
Remember that birds and small mammals love to eat bananas. Bush turkeys in particular! Always protect your ripening bunches of bananas with a banana bag. You can buy these cheaply at most hardware or garden stores. You can see these plastic bags in the photo above.
Banana clumps can look really messy if you don’t keep on top of maintenance. Strip old leaves and make sure you only allow one new shoot or pup to grow.
Banana flowers, the banana bell, are edible. slice them really finely into salads. A mandoline on its finest setting would do this job well. They’re delicious and common in Vietnamese food. The leaves are great for wrapping food before cooking, or for making a plate, as in Indian thalis or “banana leaf” meals.
Tips For Growing Bananas in Your Garden
- Bananas need a warm, sunny spot with plenty of space to grow. They are very large plants and will spread over time, sending up new shoots. Make sure the soil is well-draining and rich in organic matter. I would not attempt to grow normal-sized banana plants in a pot or raised bed.
- Planting: Banana plants can be grown from either suckers/pups. Suckers or pups are offshoots that grow from the base of an existing mature plant. Ask a friend for a pup. If you’re using suckers, dig a hole deep enough to accommodate the root ball and plant it at the same depth as it was growing before. It’s more common to buy a small banana plant from a garden centre or nursery. It would be very unusual to start bananas from seed, watch out for scams in the banana seed world.
- Banana plants need moist soil. Don’t allow the soil to dry out, water regularly as needed. Water deeply and frequently, especially during the growing season. A thick layer of organic mulch can greatly reduce the amount of watering needed.
- Banana plants are heavy feeders and need plenty of nutrients to grow and fruit. If your soil is poor and you don’t mulch with complost or organic material your bananas may need regular fertilization. Use worm tea, home made compost, and so on. Potassium is the building block of cells and banana plants grow fast. We have our bananas next to the goose pen, the deep bedding system in the pen feeds the bananas and the goose house stays odour free.
- Remove any dead or damaged leaves as needed to keep the plant healthy. Just pull downwards when the leaves become brown. You can use these dead leaves to mulch around the banana plant. Only allow each plant to produce one new shoot or pup. Remove any others. Banana clumps are always a trio, the grandmother will produce the fruit and then be cut down, it won’t fruit again, the mother will fruit next, the baby daughter after that.
- Bananas can take anywhere from 9 to 15 months to mature and produce fruit. Once the bananas form protect them from birds using a banana bag. Once the first fruit is yellow cut the entire bunch off the plant and hang it in a cool, dry place to ripen further. Use the bananas as they turn yellow, fresh, or preserve them by drying or freezing.
Bananas are very easy to grow in tropical and some subtropical areas. In colder climates they will need protecting with fleece in winter. Dwarf bananas are grown for decorative red foliage, these can be moved to a greenhouse in winter.