How to Care for Banana Plants So That They Can Produce the Best Yield?
Well, it all comes down to the basic laws of growing plants and crops: sunlight, water, and nutrients.
A lot of people around the world love eating and growing their bananas, either cooked green or eaten raw when ripened.
Research has shown that the banana is one of the top 5 most consumed foods in the fruit family around the world.
This is why in most backyards, farmland, and vegetable gardens, once you’re not located in winter climates, you would see one or two banana plants around.
However, how does one care for a plant to produce the best yield?
Most people refer to banana plants as trees. Bananas don’t grow as true trees; however, they shoot from an interconnected bunch of roots at the base, which is sometimes called a pad, sucker, or pup.
Each sprout lives only for two years, and fruit occurs the second year. However, as fast as the old ones topple over and die, new sprout suckers of great beauty are popping up, little pups of their stately elders.
Banana Need a Lot of Watering
Banana plants need a lot of water, so give them lots of water to promote growth. They are thirsty and require 1–2 inches of water per day.
They strive well, mostly in full sun, and afterward, you will see the results as you go, and you will soon have a banana pad. Many soft trunks grow, bear, and die according to the banana plant’s age. One becomes a patch.
Banana Thrive Better In Tropical Climate
If you live in the south, such as Texas, Florida, or the Caribbean, where there is a tropical climate, you can grow bananas in the ground and count on their fruiting.
In semitropical climates such as north Florida, even mild frost will damage banana plants; however, the thick stems will pop out more big chartreuse leaves when the weather warms up.
Some gardeners hide this process by cutting off the banana plant stem a little below where the frost killed the tissue, so the new shoot or sprout has less to push through.
Potted Banana Plant needs Lot of Space
If you don’t have a side or backyard garden, or any yard in general,. Alternately, you can grow banana plants in a pot also if you live where the climate is cold and bring them inside in winter.
This practice may not satisfy some people, even if they use a big pot and a dwarf variety.
Why?
Well, because you won’t get fruit from your banana plant, they need as much sunlight as possible, or as much as you can give them.
I grow two kinds of bananas: blue Java and plantains. When they fruit, they have a really large, cone-like flower with deep maroon bracts suspended from a big stem.
However, the banana fruit I get for the blue Java variety is small compared to the plantain variety and rarely has enough hot weather to ripen them. Both plants usually top out around 12 to 18 feet tall outside.
How Can You Get More Out of Your Banana Plant?
I’ve been growing banana plants for decades now. Normally, I replant the suckers when they get too large by growing one of the suckers that always sprouts at the base elsewhere.
The secret to growing banana plants successfully in a house during the winter is to keep them in a relatively small pot.
Probably around 16 inches, and do not fertilize it much too often. It will grow and hit the ceiling with its leaves, but you can go years before having to replant the banana.
Once winter has passed, repot or transplant the banana outside, and in a year or less, it will produce wonderful, sweet bananas.
Final Tips on How to Care for Banana plants
Banana plants are fast growers, so divide them every other year once they sprout and plant them in rich compost amended with perlite to help keep the soil pliable.
If you don’t have a compost pile in your city, town, or county, you might have a composting program available to the public.
Or go to a nursery and purchase a soil-based potting mix. Nevertheless, beware of chemical and peat moss-based potting mixes, as peat moss has no nutritional value in it, and chemical fertilizers are limited and leach out fast.
I usually feed my banana plants organic and nitrogen-heavy fertilizer throughout their growing season.
Related Post: How Much Water Does A Banana Plant Need Daily?