How Much Water Does A Banana Plant Need?
Bananas plants need regular watering to sustain their large tropical green leaves and to produce sweet tasty banana fruit.
But how much do they really need on a daily basis?
So, when it comes down to banana plants, they should be watered slowly and deeply every 2 or 3 days during the warmer months.
When To Water Your Banana Plant?
The best way to find out if a banana plant needs watering is to test the soil. If the soil at the base of the banana plant is 1/2-1 inch dry then is time to water.
Most Bananas varieties require an average of 4 to 6 inches of water each month, and about 1 to 1 and a 1/2 inches per week at minimum, depending on the season.
However, too much water and overwatering can cause the banana plant root to rot. Ensure that the soil drains well and does not have standing water such as a swamp.
Bananas need a lot of water and food to survive, grow and bear healthy banana fruits. Banana plants are actually an herb rather than a tree as most people think.
They are made predominantly out of the water, their trunks are mostly water so they need a lot of water to live. They are just like humans with approximately 74% of water within them.
I used to live in the tropical reason of the Caribbean where the main agricultural crop was bananas and plantains, but mostly plantain.
Both plants are the same but one grows bigger, which was the plantains. Plantains and banana plants were usually planted along the floodplain of a river so that when it rains, each plant gets the maximum amount of water.
During the tropical summer times in the Caribbean, they also get ridiculous amounts of the hot tropical sun, which dries excess water.
Why Most Banana Plants Are Resistant
The reason why banana plants or so resistant is because everything starts with the root.
You can cut the entire top of a banana plant down or destroy the plant in general, however, as long as you have a relatively healthy root intact, you can get lots of new banana suckers.
If the banana root rots are not healthy, then you are screwed. Nevertheless, even though they need a lot of water, they need decent drainage.
How Fast Banana Suckers Grow?
Banana young suckers grow moderately slow, however, once the main plant is cut down the suckers/pups will grow a lot faster.
Normally Banana roots are shallow which is why they tend to sprout multiple suckers during their growth.
Their root consists of a ball with stringy tentacle-like roots that stretch out horizontally for the most part. If you want to grow a banana plant in a pot outside of its natural habitat.
I would recommend using a pot that is extremely rather than deep. Use a well-drain mix and try mixing compost with some sand. Water the banana plant frequently, but it should not feel or look like a swamp.
Conclusion
Banana is a form of succulent, which is an evergreen, shallow-rooted crop that requires a large quantity of water to increase its productivity.
The banana plant watering system should be supported by an efficient irrigation system like drip irrigation.
That is the reason why most people plant them near the rivers and swaps but not indirectly.
Normal furrows, basin, and trench systems are followed. The application of drip irrigation and mulching technology has been reported to improve water use efficiency with it comes to the banana plant.
This way you can save 58% of water and increase the yield by 23-32% under the drip system. Nonetheless, the system also enables efficient fertilizer application through the fertigation technique.
Related Post: Banana Plants – What Lot of People Do Not Know About Them
