Growing Bananas

            Bananas are of course a tropical plant so a lot of people are very surprised when they see my bananas I have growing in pots on my porch or the ones in the backyard beside the back porch.

            I am not an expert on growing bananas but am quickly learning. There are just a few places on the internet that have banana information but a few of the best are the Banana board on the Garden Web(www.gardenweb.com) and Bananas.org . I myself have learned a lot from the people on these forums and have been able to grow my bananas in the photos and others.

            Bananas are very easy to grow. They require just a few things, sunlight, lots of water and fertilizer. Sunlight- most except those variegated with white need full sun. Water-As long as the growing medium is fast draining banana plants just can’t get too much water. Fertilizer- there is a lot of debate of which fertilizer is best. Some just use Miracle Grow but I use an inexpensive slow release tomato/vegetable fertilizer. My bananas have really grown since I started this fertilizer. There are fertilizers supposedly specially made for bananas that you can buy from Ebay. These seem to work good as well.

            You will be amazed at the variety of bananas once you start doing a little research on them. I myself am growing 18 different varieties. Some are just ornamental and grown for their tropical look or their beauty when flowering while others are plain but produce edible fruit.    

            Here in Georgia it is a bit more difficult to get fruit than it would be in place like Southern California and Southern Florida but it can be done. Plants will take longer to produce and must be protected in a greenhouse or some place them under their houses in the crawl space during the winters. Here they can take up to 2 years to flower and then 6 month to ripen after the bananas appear.

            There is a lot to learn. Much more than can be put in one article but for those who are interested it is worth finding out more about it.

            My banana plants now include: Musa “ Raji Puri”, Musa ”Dwarf Red”, Musa Dwarf Orinoco, Musa Manzano, Musella Lasiocarpa, Musa Sikkimensis, Musa Sikkimensis “Red Tiger”, Musa “Ice Cream”, Musa Nagensium ,Musa Dwarf Namwah Pearl, Musa Dwarf Cavendish, Musa Super Dwarf Cavendish, Musa Velutina, Musa Zebrina, Musa Misi Luki, Musa Dwarf Cavendish High-Color Mini, Musa Dwarf Cavendish “Williams”.

                           Rebecca Whitford