We all love to eat bananas, and probably many of you have wondered whether it is possible to grow a banana at home in a pot on the windowsill, I hasten to answer. Growing a banana from seeds at home in a pot is quite easy.
There are varieties of bananas that can withstand large temperature fluctuations and grow well in small pots, such as the dwarf banana variety. The first question usually asked is, will a banana tree grown produce fruit? And the answer is yes, a grown banana from the seeds of the fruit will bear fruit for 3-5 years of cultivation.
The banana tree is a lush green, fast growing plant with large oblong leaves, the banana tree can give any place a tropical feel. Because a banana is not a tree, but a herb. Many varieties are excellent indoor plants, which do not need a lot of care and grow very quickly. Dwarf varieties of banana can grow up to 4 meters in height. Compared to regular banana trees which can reach up to 15 meters in height.
How to plant a banana?
In our stores and bazaars, hybrid bananas of the Cavendish bananas variety are sold, which do not contain seeds, or rather, there are seeds in a banana, but they are so small that they are not noticeable. These bananas are grown specifically for commercial purposes. Cavendish bananas bananas are propagated only by root shoots or pieces of rhizome, which are separated from the mother plant. IN wild nature, bananas spread through seeds, and varieties that contain seeds usually have almost no edible pulp, and such bananas do not taste very good, to put it mildly.
If you want to grow a banana at home and get edible fruits, you need to buy a seedling of an ornamental banana, and if the goal is to grow only an ornamental plant, then you can plant a banana from a seed
Banana varieties that can be grown at home
Here is a small list of banana varieties that grow well at home. These dwarf varieties of banana tree grow to a height of no more than 1.5 m - 4 meters, and feel great in a hill.
Banana pygmy red
Banana dwarf Cavendish
Banana dwarf brazilian
Banana pygmy Jamaican
Banana Rajapuri (Rajapuri)
Banana Williams (Williams Hybrid)
Banana Gran Nain Gran Nain
banana ladyfingers
Banana Kyiv dwarf
How to plant a banana from seeds
Before planting banana seeds in the ground, they need to be “awakened”, for this, the hard skin of the seeds is cut on one side with a knife (this allows the seed to germinate easily and quickly) and the seeds are soaked in warm water for a day (24 hours).
Plant seeds in small pots 8 - 10 cm wide. Fill the pot halfway with a light potting mix enriched with plenty of organic compost, place a banana seed in it, and top with a small ball of soil. Remember to water generously until excess water comes out of the bottom of the pot, and keep the soil constantly moist.
The time it takes for seeds to germinate depends on the variety. Some germinate in 2-3 weeks and some varieties take over 2 months, so be patient.
After the seed germinates and reaches a height of 10 - 12 centimeters, the bananas need to be transplanted into a larger pot, the plants need to be transplanted using the transshipment method so as not to damage the root system.
Reproduction of a banana by root processes
As mentioned above, the banana is a giant herbaceous plant that sprouts from an earthen bulb. And over time, the rhizome bulb grows and sprouts new shoots, for reproduction, a young shoot is broken off with a small piece of root and transplanted into a separate pot.
It is worth mentioning that you can tear off the shoots only after all the bananas have ripened on the plant, and in no case should you cut off all the shoots, it is important to leave one. If you tear off all the shoots from the rhizome of a banana, the mother plant will die.
Transplant the cut bulb into a pot with drainage and a light potting mix to prevent standing water in the pot and provide adequate ventilation for the developing roots.
After the bananas are transplanted, they need to be provided with bright light, temperatures in the range of 20 - 30 degrees and high humidity of 60 - 90%.
Care and conditions for growing a banana
light / sun
Banana trees grow in tropical and subtropical parts of the world and therefore they love the sun, warmth and high humidity air. If you want to grow a banana tree at home, you need to place the plant pot in a sunny location, preferably the south side of the house. For good banana growth, it needs to provide at least 13 - 14 hour daylight hours. If your windows face north or daylight hours are less than 13 hours (winter time of the year), you need to take care of lighting the plant.
soil for banana
Banana tree loves “light” soil mix, the soil should be slightly acidic or even neutral, the pH of the soil should be about 6 - 7. Of the purchased soil mixtures for growing a banana, "For palm trees" is well suited. But purchased soil contains a lot of coconut fiber, so AinoGarden recommends making your own soil mix.
To do this, you need to take sand, perlite and compost or manure in equal proportions (manure can be replaced with peat). Such soil will be well moisture permeable and rich in organic matter.
Watering a banana, humidity
Banana loves moisture. Watering a banana tree should be regular and plentiful, it is advisable to combine root watering and leaf watering (spray the plant), while there should be no standing water in the pot. In summer, bananas are watered every day, if it is very hot, then even twice a day. IN winter period watering is reduced, and watered after the topsoil dries out.
To grow a banana at home, in an apartment (or house) you need to constantly maintain high humidity in the aisles of 60-90%. To increase the level of humidity around the plant, you can put a container of water near the banana or carry out constant spraying.
Banana tree overwintering
Banana tree stops growing when the temperature environment drops below 10 °C, but if the temperature drops below 0 °C, the plant dies. Before the onset of winter, you need to perform heavy mulching of the soil and trim the leaves a little. The prepared plant is transferred to a cool but bright room, away from radiators.
banana fertilizer
Banana, like any herb, is a fast growing plant and requires constant fertilization to maintain growth. young plant for a quick set of green mass, it is necessary to apply nitrogen fertilizer, organic - urea or mineral with NPK 30:10:10, with a frequency of one to two times a month. After the banana grows foliage should be applied mineral fertilizer for the banana more potassium, for good growth of fruits (bananas) NPK 15: 5: 30 with a frequency of 1-2 times a month.
Banana pests and diseases
Bananas are very disease resistant, and the worst thing that can happen to him is root flooding or overabundance / lack of fertilizers. If the banana leaves have darkened and dried around the edges, this is definitely a bay and the roots begin to rot. If the leaves turn yellow, the plant is deficient in nutrients.
The main pest of the banana tree in our area is the common aphid, weevil and spider mite. It is very easy to get rid of all these pests with the help of pesticides, I use Aktara on an ongoing basis.
Perhaps someone will think that it is not an easy task to grow a banana at home. Someone will say that it is generally unrealistic. However, practice shows that growing a banana in an apartment is very realistic, as well as getting sweet fruits from it.
This possibility depends on the variety you choose to grow. But first things first.
First, it is worth saying that a banana is not a palm tree, as many people think. It is a perennial herbaceous plant (giant grass) from the banana family (Musaceae).
What many people think of as a stem or trunk is the densely packed bases of the leaves (pseudo-stem). And the real stem is hidden under the ground - this is a kind of rhizome spherical shape(rhizome).
The inflorescence emerges from the middle of the pseudostem, which is monocarpic, i.e. after the end of fruiting, it dies off. The rhizome itself lives up to 40 years and continuously produces basal shoots that replace each other after fruiting.
Propagated by seeds, basal shoots and division of the rhizome. By the way, those bananas that we all buy in the markets do not have seeds. These are the fruits of varieties from the Cavendish group - they are sterile and reproduce only vegetatively.
And bananas, propagated by seeds, have not entirely edible fruits. That is, there are a lot of seeds inside and an insignificant mass of pulp, which, moreover, does not shine. palatability. Such varieties are more bred for their decorative effect.
We all know that bananas are very tall plants. Under natural conditions, they can reach 9-12 m. But there are also undersized (dwarf forms) that can be grown at home, like houseplants.
What species are suitable for growing at home
All types can be conditionally divided into 2 categories.
"Decorative", grown for landscaping and interior decoration. The fruits of most of them are inedible:
- Velvety banana (Musa velutina) - 1.3-1.5 m, in photo 1;
- Banana lavender (Musa ornata Roxb.) - 1.5 m;
- Banana bright red (Musa coccinea Andrews) - 1 m;
- Banana Chinese dwarf (Musella lasiocarpa) - 1.5 m.
"Fruit", which are grown for the sake of fruits with high palatability:
- Banana pointed (Musa acuminata) - 2 m;
- Banana Cavendish dwarf (Musa Dwarf Cavendish) - 1.8-2.4 m;
- Banana Cavendish super dwarf (Musa super Dwarf Cavendish) - 1-1.3 m;
- Kyiv dwarf - 1.5-1.7 m;
- Kyiv superdwarf - 1 m, photo 3.
The last 2 varieties were bred in 1998 by the Ukrainian breeder A.V. Patiy. He claims that even in room conditions at good care these varieties can produce up to 150 fruits that taste no different from store-bought ones.
And now about how to grow a banana at home
Substrate and transplant
The best soil composition is under the following deciduous trees: linden, birch, hazel, acacia and others, except for poplar, chestnut and oak. You need to dig upper layer soil 5-10 cm.
The presence of a drainage layer is very important - depending on the size of the pot, it can be from 3 to 10 cm. A layer of wet sand must be placed on top of the drainage, and then the soil itself.
You should also take into account a small feature - it is undesirable to put the pot directly on the pallet. First, put 4 flat stones or a grate in the pan, and place the pot on them. Thus, air will flow to the drainage holes, and accordingly to the roots.
Air is as important to roots as water. Therefore, air access must also be provided from above - for this, 2-3 days after watering, loosen the top layer of soil 1 cm.
With each transshipment, the plant must be buried deeper into the soil than the previous time. Therefore, the pots should be chosen deep.
Watering and humidity
Banana "drinks" a lot of water, because. its leaves are large and evaporate a significant amount of moisture. It should be watered rarely, but plentifully. Watering is required only when the top 1-2 cm of the soil is completely dry (if you squeeze the earth with your fingers, it crumbles).
Always water with warm water (25-30 °), plentifully - so that water seeps through the drainage holes.
If in winter time the room temperature will be about 18 °, then it is necessary to water even less often than usual to avoid rotting of the roots.
Still need to ensure high humidity preferably up to 70%. In summer, spray every day, in winter - at least 1 time per week. Leaves often wipe from dust.
Temperature
The optimum temperature is +25-30 °C. At +15 °C growth stops. And for the development and ripening of fruits, such a decrease in temperature is unacceptable.
If in summer the plant is in the garden or on the balcony, then with the onset of cold nights it should be brought into the house.
Lighting
Lighting is required bright, it is desirable to keep closer to the window. The southern, eastern and southeastern windows are best suited, in extreme cases, the western ones. On the north side, it will be impossible to achieve good growth and fruiting without the use of lighting.
If in the summer the banana will be on fresh air, then it must be shaded with gauze (tulle) from direct sunlight, or set the pot in the shade of trees.
Who at least once in their life would not like to grow a banana at home? At least in your childhood you probably had such thoughts, admit it.
Now is the time to make your dreams come true. So let's learn how to grow bananas. Is it possible? As it turned out, quite.
The first step is to choose a banana for planting. If you want the plant to bear fruit in the future (and you probably want to), then you need undersized varieties- Kyiv dwarf, for example. It is best to start growing from a sprout.
There is another option of growing from seeds, but it much more difficult, and finding seeds in the store is not an easy task.
When looking at a banana fruit from a store, you will not find those very seeds in it, and all because commercially grown bananas are located on the shelves of supermarkets and on the shelves of the market.
Gardeners managed to almost completely rid them of seeds through successful selection. Sometimes small brownish formations are visible in the middle of the fruit - unformed seeds, remember this for the future, so that you know if necessary.
Today, it is quite easy to buy a banana sprout, as they are available in many stores. By the way, you can immediately purchase a suitable pot there.
Growing fruit from seeds or seeds
If you managed to get banana seeds, great! To get started you need slightly damage their shell so that the seeds grow faster. This can be done with soft sandpaper.
Use disposable cups as utensils. One seed per glass. The soil in the cup should be as follows: we place a drainage layer at the bottom, fill the rest with a regular substrate, leaving about 3 cm to the edges of the container, but no more.
An hour before sowing, water the substrate with a saturated solution of potassium permanganate. Then we plant banana seeds, not very deep, approximately in the middle of the cup, do not overdo it.
We cover with glass from above and freeze in anticipation. Will have to wait a long time, the seeds germinate in at least 3 months. during this time, the glass must be periodically raised to ventilate the soil.
Cups should be in a warm, well-lit place. When sprouts already appear, be guided by the rules described below.
On the Internet, they often say “buy” about the soil for a banana, but we will say “go to the forest.” It is in the forest, after all best soil for growing bananas is located near linden, birch, but the land from under the oak should be avoided.
The soil must be fertilized, but there is no need to go to the store for mega-cool approvals with which, according to the promise of noble producers, a banana will grow (grow) in two weeks.
It is ideal to use cow humus as a fertilizer, it can be found in a meadow where cows graze. Add about a liter of sand and half a liter of ash to the soil. soil needed how to loosen, then pour boiling water to remove all kinds of harmful bacteria.
Growing fruit from a piece of banana
When the soil is ready, it's time to transplant the banana sprout. You do not need to use too large a pot for this, as this is fraught with rotting of the plant's roots. It must be low, a banana bears fruit in a container with a volume of about 50 liters.
Very important - the pot must have holes for drainage. Many advise before putting the pot on a stand, pour pebbles on it so that there is room for air.
Pour some sand into the bottom of the pot, then fill it with prepared liquid soil. We stick a banana sprout with a clod of earth there and fill it with an additional portion of liquid soil.
Nuances when transplanting a plant
Think it's that simple? It wasn't here. So, we transplant a banana wisely.
- After you have purchased a sprout, give it a couple of days to acclimatize in new conditions, and only after that proceed with transplanting into another container.
- If you see that the plant has become slightly lethargic a day or two after purchase, wait until it begins to grow rapidly again, so repot.
- Keep the banana position after transplant. What does it mean? The side that the plant was directed to the south should remain directed to the south. Make small marks "north", "south" on the new pot so as not to turn the pot in the future. If you turn wrong, great harm it won't bring but banana growth on certain period stops.
- Transplant when it is warm, it is best to do it in late spring or summer, in winter you should not do such things.
- Light, more light! A banana needs maximum lighting, even sunburn leaves are not as terrible as the lack of lighting.
- plus one more little secret- in order for a banana to start producing canes, it can be a little squeeze in a pot. But this is done after transplantation, that is, a year or two after purchase and transplantation, not in a store pot.
By following these tips, you will get rid of many problems and difficulties when growing a banana.
Watering is one of the most important factors, which affects the growth of the banana. The main thesis to remember is that a banana is not afraid of drought, but excessive watering can be fatal to a plant.
Regular watering is not suitable for him, that is, when they moisturize a little bit and often.
You need to water when the soil is about 2 cm dry on top. When you notice this, pour in much water(all excess will come out through the drainage) and wait for the next "drought".
It is worth considering the small nuance that the usual running water, it needs to be defended for several days to get rid of chlorine and give it a normal temperature. But spraying banana leaves is very fond of, you can spray at least every day.
When it gets cooler, watering can be canceled quite for a long period. When cold, moisture almost does not evaporate and the banana root can rot.
If you see that lower leaves plants dry up, this is normal, but does not mean at all that the root has begun to rot.
There are secrets for the cold season. The fact is that when the temperature drops, the banana stops growing, and you can resume this process simply by heating the soil, that is, by putting the pot on the radiator. If the batteries are too hot, place foam under the pot.
Is the banana sick?
Growing a banana is not the easiest task even for a good gardener, but everything is greatly simplified if only by the fact that this plant is quite disease resistant.
While many plants infect harmful scale insects, they have no effect on the banana. In fact, the only thing a banana is afraid of is a midge that appears if the soil is waterlogged.
Feel free to buy a sprout and start growing, the process is slightly complicated, but entertaining, so do it with great pleasure.
Banana is a favorite fruit of the same name by many. herbaceous plant growing in tropical climates.
But is it possible to grow this plant in an apartment or house, and even get delicious fruits from it? The answer to this question is can.
Before you start planting a plant, you should decide on the variety. Those bananas that can be grown at home should be no more than 2 meters, for obvious reasons. Remember that many varieties of this plant can reach a height of 10-12 meters.
In total there are 2 types of bananas: fruit and ornamental. Depending on the variety, either one or the other can be grown at home in a pot.
Based on the name, ornamental bananas are grown for decoration, or, more simply, for decoration. The fruits of such plants, for the most part, are not edible. These include "musa velutina", "musella lasiocarpa" and others.
Fruit bananas, on the contrary, their fruits are edible and very tasty. They are grown rather not for decoration, but for fruit. Basically, they grow on plantations, but it happens that at home too.
For home conditions, for example, varieties
- "musa acuminata"
- Musa Super Dwarf Cavendish
- "Kyiv dwarf", etc.
Seed preparation
First you need to prepare the seeds for planting. They have a fairly dense shell, and in order for the sprout to be able to break through it, it is necessary to slightly damage the shell. To do this, it is enough to put a few scratches with a sharp object, such as, for example, a pin. But be careful not to pierce them through.
Choice of dishes
Banana seeds can be planted individually or together. For these purposes, disposable cups are suitable (if bananas are planted separately) or wide and shallow dishes (if seeds are planted together). After you have decided on the dishes, do not forget to make drainage holes so that excess liquid can flow out.
Planting seeds
The bottom of selected containers should be covered with a layer of drainage. It can be small pebbles, expanded clay or foam. The drainage layer should be 1.5 - 2 cm. Then comes the substrate.
The best substrate for growing bananas is a mixture of river stove and peat in proportions of 4:1. The seed should be slightly pressed into slightly moistened soil and left without sprinkling the earth on top.
Remember that feeding in this case is meaningless, and sometimes harmful. For bananas, it will not give any benefit, but it will create favorable conditions for the growth and reproduction of harmful bacteria and fungi.
seedling care
Then future bananas need to be placed in a greenhouse. It can be cling film, cake lid, bag, etc. In general, everything that can create an imitation of a greenhouse. You need to ventilate it every couple of days, at the same time you can control the soil moisture. If the soil is dry, spray it with water from a spray bottle. Don't over-wet. The banana loves light, but make sure it is out of direct sunlight as this will simply kill the plant.
The first shoots will have to wait about 2-3 months, but then the growth of the banana will be rapid and in a week you will be able to transplant the sprout into a more spacious dish. Be prepared for the fact that in a year you will need dishes with a volume much larger than flower pot, depending on the variety.
After the banana has grown and given fruit, the plant dies. But do not be discouraged, after himself he leaves children who safely go through the same life cycle.
The tempting idea of how to grow a banana at home has probably been visited by more than one amateur gardener. Because it's a perennial exotic plant not only bears fruit, but also has an attractive appearance decorating the interior. In the article we will analyze how to grow a banana at home from purchased banana, and also consider the procedure for planting a banana.
In contact with
Unfortunately, it is impossible to grow this fruit in an apartment from the seeds of a purchased banana. Purchased ones do not have seeds, so the answer to the question of how to grow a banana from seeds is the only one - no way. Some amateur gardeners claim that there is a technology on how to properly plant a banana from a banana at home. Using this technology, it is supposedly possible to grow a full-fledged plant that will bear fruit even in ordinary apartment. What is needed to grow a banana at home? Section 4 will detail the process of how to grow a banana from seeds of ornamental varieties.
Dwarf species for growing at home
If you want to know how to grow a banana from dwarf varieties, we recommend that you pay attention to new varieties that are adapted to Central European environmental conditions. For example, the brainchild of the Ukrainian breeder A.V. Patia - "Kyiv dwarf", growing up to one and a half meters in height. Even shorter - "Superdwarf Kyiv" of the same variety, it can be grown up to one meter in height. A dwarf banana at home is unpretentious in care, but needs abundant watering and an air temperature of 25-28 C.
It looks like a banana sprout "Kyiv dwarf"
For the Kyiv Dwarf banana, home care comes down to three things:
- lighting;
- maintaining the temperature regime;
- watering.
It is able to bear fruit already at the age of three with flowering from 3 to 12 months. Despite its diminutiveness, the tree brings a full-fledged harvest of up to 150 sweet fruits of a regular size. Another common variety of dwarf tree is "Cavendish", the plant can be grown up to 2.5 meters in height. The length of the leaves of dwarf varieties is 1.5-1.8 m, and they are usually 35-50 cm wide.
How does a banana plant reproduce?
There are 2 confirmed methods of reproduction: using basal processes and division of the rhizome. Experts attribute seed propagation to an unlikely outcome, especially those obtained from a purchased fruit.
The easiest way to plant a banana at home is to use part of the rhizome. This breeding method is used on an industrial scale, on banana plantations.
The peculiarity of the plant is that its stem, called the "rhizome", is located underground. It acts as a rhizome, and the plant grows with the help of the so-called pseudo-stem (twisted with a bundle of leaves), where an inflorescence is formed. The rhizome remains viable for up to 40 years. To understand how to plant a banana at home, you need to know these subtleties.
Where can I get seeds and how to plant them?
Growing bananas at home is more likely from dwarf seedlings. As for seeds from flower shops, only ornamental plants grow from them, which do not bear fruit.
Tourists visiting Asian countries, for example, in India, Thailand, you can find mini bananas with large black seeds inside. From such seeds, it is probably possible to grow bananas at home, but this is unlikely under domestic conditions.
Let's give an answer to the fundamental question: what is the chance to grow a banana at home from a purchased fruit? It turns out to be zero.
Fruits imported to Russia do not contain pits or seeds. Those numerous recommendations and videos that can be found on the Internet that you can separate the grains from a purchased fruit and grow a plant from them are nothing more than a myth. All of these videos show in detail the extraction of dark grains, which the experimenters call seeds, but do not show the process of germination of these pseudo-seeds, the appearance and development of a sprout.
Only ornamental plants can be grown from seeds. Only from this position will we answer in the affirmative to the question of whether it is possible to grow a banana at home from seeds. An inert substrate is needed, which is bought at any gardening store. To sterilize, the mixture is steamed, dried, and perlite is added. Then, for prevention, they are sprayed with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Do not be lazy to prepare the substrate for planting yourself:
- Prepare a mixture of peat, sand (1:3), mix.
- Drainage material is placed at the bottom of the pot with a diameter of about 10 cm.
- Then the substrate is placed (layer 5-6 cm).
To get a full-fledged decorative banana, growing at home begins with seed scarification:
- Light incisions are made on the dense seed shell with a needle, nail file or other sharp object so that the sprout can break through the shell.
- The seed is pressed into the substrate, leaving access to light.
- Abundantly watered.
- Then cover the pot with a film to improve germination.
It is necessary to monitor the day and night temperatures, in daylight hours 27-33 C, and at night 20-25 C. Every 3-4 days you need to slightly open the film to ventilate the soil. When drying, you can spray the top layer from a spray bottle. If signs of mold appear, immediately remove this area, and spray the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate. The technique can be applied to seeds ornamental plants purchased from a specialized store.
Banana, like a plant, sprouts at home for a long time - up to three months. But after strengthening the green sprout, after 6-8 days, the plant can be transplanted into the ground or into a more spacious container.
How to grow from a leaf?
There is no confirmed information that an independent plant can be grown from a single leaf. Now consider the care of a banana at home.
Features of care
The plant is considered unpretentious, although it requires compliance with certain rules. For an indoor banana, home care consists of four activities:
- Glaze. It is necessary when the top layer dries up by 1-2 cm. The sprout loves rare, but sufficient watering with heated water. In winter, watering can be reduced so that the roots do not rot.
- temperature balance. For normal growth, t25-30 C is required. If the temperature drops below 15 C, the development of the sprout slows down.
- Illumination. The plant is exposed only on the south or east side under daylight. In winter, it needs additional lighting. At the same time, the sprout does not like the direct rays of the sun, and its better in summer be placed in partial shade.
- Top dressing with infusions of herbs (lupine, quinoa), biohumus is carried out in moist soil so as not to burn the rhizome. As biohumus, experts recommend natural humus, but not chicken or pork.
Do not forget to loosen the soil, and also wipe the dust from the surface of the leaves. Since home care guarantees safety from diseases for a plant, only in rare cases can a spider mite start (if the humidity is low). If the plant is planted in the ground for garden plot, it can be affected by fungi, some insects (black weevils).
Useful video
On the video experiment: seeds are planted, which are prepared independently from an overripe banana fruit. One part of the seeds was planted fresh, and the second part was kept in water for a day:
Conclusion
- The likelihood that it will be possible to grow a banana at home is when it comes to a young seedling of a dwarf variety.
- Most The best way: division of the rhizome or from the finished dwarf variety.
- Thinking about how to grow a purchased fruit from seeds is the prerogative of dreamy gardeners. And here decorative varieties successfully grown from seed, but do not bear fruit.
- A young plant needs watering, lighting, temperature balance, top dressing, but in general it does not cause much trouble to the owners.
- With the help of dwarf varieties, you can grow fruits of a regular size, and it is convenient to place such plants right in a city apartment.