How to properly grow bananas at home?

Many lovers of plant exotics are interested in how to grow a banana at home. An indoor plant that can bear delicious fruit and not only purify the air will be a decoration for your home. It is advisable to learn about the peculiarities of growing and possible difficulties before purchasing a plant.

Features of home growing

Banana is a herbaceous plant, therefore, intensive development of the aerial part takes place in it. It blooms, bears fruit, gives many shoots, and dies about 5 years after planting. The fruiting plant is cut off, and the shoots continue to grow from the root. The root system of indoor banana remains viable for 40 years.

It is important to keep the large burdock-like banana leaves perfectly clean, he loves frequent spraying and a warm shower. After a refreshing shower, it is necessary to remove excess moisture at the base of the leaves to prevent decay of the growth point.

Only after 3 or 4 years of cultivation do fruits appear. If the plant is about 70 cm tall, it can begin to bear fruit in the year of purchase.

Getting and germinating seeds from a purchased banana

It is difficult to grow a banana at home from purchased fruits. The fruits are picked while still green in order to take them to the place of sale, so the seeds in the pulp are underdeveloped.

It is better to buy banana seeds from online stores or from lovers of indoor exoticism. Dwarf varieties that do not exceed two meters in height are suitable for home cultivation.

There are dwarf decorative and fruit bananas. Decorative varieties include lavender, velvety and bright red varieties. Fruit varieties at home can produce edible, tasty bananas, most of them are hybrids, and reproduce only vegetatively, by shoots.

Popular varieties:

• Dwarf Cavendish;
• Kiev dwarf;
• Kiev super dwarf.

To germinate a dwarf banana from seeds, you need soil, a flower pot, and drainage. Instead of a planting container, you can use disposable cups, at the bottom of which drainage holes are punctured. The seeds of a decorative banana are covered with a strong shell; before planting, it needs to be slightly scratched with sandpaper or a file without damaging the kernel.

Landing order:

• expanded clay or ordinary pebbles are poured at the bottom of the planting tank;
• then a mixture of sand and peat in a ratio of 4 to 1 (it is not recommended to use fertile soil for germination, this can lead to the appearance of mold or mildew);
• the soil is watered with a solution of potassium permanganate before planting;
• the seeds are dipped for half an hour in a solution of potassium permanganate, then planted in the ground, slightly pressing into the surface, without falling asleep from above;
• cover the container with a film, put it in a warm, bright place, where there is no direct sunlight.

Seeds germinate for a long time, about 3 months. The film is removed daily, airing the greenhouse, moistening the substrate by immersion in warm water tinted with potassium permanganate.

When shoots appear, the film is removed. Grown bananas are transplanted into separate containers with nutritious soil from a mixture of sod, leafy soil, peat and sand. From above, the soil must be mulched with vermicompost (2 cm). In a large pot with a capacity of 50 liters, you can plant 3 bananas at once, and they will bear fruit one by one.

Planting a plant in a permanent place

Transshipment of young bananas is done 2 times a year, increasing the volume of the pot slightly, a small plant cannot be immediately planted in a large pot.

Basic transplant requirements:

1. The pot must have a drainage layer and a hole to drain excess water.
2. Banana needs neutral or slightly acidic soil. You can cook it yourself by mixing 50% humus and 50% forest land.
3. It is desirable that the banana tree in the flowerpot be surrounded by a mulch layer. Thanks to him, the soil will be loose, structured.

After transplanting, the plant is watered with a solution of potassium permanganate, which disinfects the soil and is a growth stimulant. Potassium permanganate is used only at night or when there is no direct sunlight.

Water abundantly so that the water passes through the drainage holes. Then they do not touch the banana for 1 or 2 weeks, loosen the soil so that the roots breathe, then the plant will take root better.

Indoor banana care

Banana needs good lighting for normal development. On the south windows, it needs to be shaded at noon so that there are no burns. Large leaves intensively evaporate moisture, it is advisable to maintain high humidity in the room or to carry out frequent spraying.

Basic care requirements:

1. Do not flood the plant, the soil should dry out between waterings.
2. Water temperature 25-30 ° C for irrigation and spraying, roots can rot from cold.
3. In winter, the minimum air temperature is +15 ° C, in summer, a banana feels comfortable even at +40 ° C.
4. We need regular feeding.

A banana does not need formative pruning. Its lower leaves die off from time to time. Old, dried leaf plates cannot be removed at the very root, this exposes the trunk and deprives it of its natural protection. Cut off the dried sheet at the top.

Flowering and fruiting of a banana tree

It is interesting that when a banana begins to bear fruit, it throws out a leaf in the form of a heart, and then a peduncle, on which small bananas are then tied.

In order for the plant to bloom and bear fruit, it needs regular feeding. Fertilize a banana a month after planting. Then you need regular feeding with wood ash, humus or mullein. A banana is poured with fish broth once a month, this promotes flowering (200 or 300 g of fish, fish waste, boil in 3 liters of water, do not salt).

It is best to add a small amount of fertilizer with each watering in spring, summer and early fall. In winter, the amount of fertilizer is reduced.

Disease and pest control

Sometimes the young leaves on the plant take on an unnatural light green or yellow color. This disease is called chlorosis. It is caused by a lack of iron in plant cells. To combat chlorosis, the plant is transplanted into fresh, fertile soil with a slightly acidic reaction. Pour with neutral or slightly acidified water (add a few drops of lemon juice to 1 liter). For the treatment of chlorosis, complex fertilizers are used, including the trace element iron.

When waterlogged, the banana root often rots, it is difficult to save it even after transplanting, so it is better not to be zealous with watering.

Noticing indoor pests on green banana leaves - scale insects, spider mites or aphids, spray the plant over the leaves with Fitoverm. After 7 days, the treatment is repeated to destroy the insects that have just hatched.

Possible growing difficulties

An inexperienced lover of home exoticism may face difficulties when growing a banana.

Care errors are easy to fix if you know what causes them:

1. A banana needs a well-lit place for normal growth, in shading the plant stretches out, its leaves turn yellow.
2. Too bright light can dry out the leaves and cause sunburn.
3. Banana tolerates drying of an earthen coma well, and does not react well to waterlogging. In constantly moist soil, the root begins to rot, and this leads to its death.
4. The lower leaves turn yellow quickly if they are improperly cut, you cannot remove them when they begin to dry out. The plant needs moisture and nutrients, which are contained in these leaves. Only when they are completely dry can they be cut.

Growing a crop of fragrant and sweet bananas on your own windowsill is not so difficult. You just need to buy seeds or a small plant, and follow the care recommendations.

For people who love home plants and flowers, it often becomes desirable to have an exotic look on the windowsill at home. How to grow a banana at home is a question that lovers of this delicious fruit may have. Surprisingly, you can grow a banana at home, this will require knowledge and a little diligence in caring for the plant.

Description of a banana for home cultivation

Banana is a herbaceous plant capable of long-term growth, not a palm tree (a common misconception). Mass cultivation (on a production scale) is concentrated in Asia, Africa and Australia.

An ordinary plant is not suitable for growing at home. For this, breeders have bred indoor or dwarf banana. A banana tree can be grown at home, it will of course be much smaller in comparison with what grows in a normal environment. If an ordinary "palm" has a height of up to 13 meters, then a domestic one will grow to a maximum of two meters.

A home banana will be commensurate with the street banana, the foliage of the plant will reach a maximum of one and a half meters in length and 35-40 cm in width. The banana "palm" has no trunk on the surface, what resembles a trunk, just the bases of the leaves are strongly pressed against each other, the stem itself is rounded in shape, hidden in the soil.

Flowers bloom in the very center, where bananas appear. After the berries are ripe, the pseudostem dies, drying out. But the plant does not stop growing, new leaves replace the old ones, lengthening the not real trunk, and continuing the life of a home banana. The average life of a plant is 35-40 years.

Two varieties are suitable for growing at home: decorative and fruit. The main difference is the presence of edible bananas. Ornamental plants have various beautiful flowers. The flowering period itself is also different, but the fruits are small, they are not eaten. Fruit plants at home will yield a harvest. Bananas are edible and tasty.

Reproduction methods

There are not so many ways to propagate an indoor banana. One of the ways is more time consuming. This is propagation by growing from seeds. The procedure is long, not easy, does not always give the expected. The main thing is that such a home "flower" will not produce edible fruits. When propagated by germinating seeds, only decorative varieties grow.

The second method is simpler and requires nothing but money. This is buying a ready-made seedling in a store. It is possible to choose both decorative and fruiting types of dwarf banana plants. When you buy, you can immediately see what an adult home banana tree will look like. Let's consider the first method in more detail.

Seeds

If you decide to grow a banana at home by germinating a seed, there are two ways. The first is to buy seeds from a store or order them online. The good thing about ornamental varieties grown in this way is that they are more resistant to disease and are not as whimsical as fruiting ones.When planting a banana from purchased seeds, you should pay attention to the outer layer of the seed, it is hard, the main thing here is to allow the sprout to emerge. To do this, it is necessary to damage the surface of the seed, scratch it with a fingernail or make a neat cut with a knife. This procedure will help the sprout to germinate and speed up the growth process by several days.

It is possible to get seeds from a purchased banana, but it is not easy. Ordinary fruits are not suitable, wild fruits are needed, and it is difficult to find them in our country, but possible. This is due to the fact that bananas are plucked before ripening, and by this time the seeds are just emerging. Wild bananas are smaller than normal bananas. Dark, almost black, seeds are distributed throughout the pulp.

When the desired fruit is found, it is placed in a bag and placed in a warm place without direct sunlight. It is necessary to wait for the skin to dry out and acquire a characteristic black color. Next, you need to carefully free the pulp from the peel, and with a sharp knife cut the banana lengthwise, remove all the seeds, spreading them on a paper towel or napkin. A tropical plant will only come from round seeds, flattened seeds are not suitable, they can be thrown away immediately. The next step is to rinse thoroughly under running water. After the banana seeds should be placed in a plate or saucer and covered with warm water and do nothing with them for 2-3 days. It is better to put the container on the windowsill so that the sun gets in.

After all these steps, the seed is ready for planting. A special composition is suitable here - an inert substrate (sold in flower shops). Sphagnum or coconut are suitable for homemade banana. Or prepare the composition yourself, for this it is necessary to carefully displace the sand (preferably coarse) and peat in proportions of 3: 1.

A container with sides of 10 cm or more is suitable for germinating a seed. As a rule, drainage is lined at the bottom when planting, in extreme cases, ordinary small stones are suitable. Next comes the substrate layer, 4-6 cm thick. The seeds are placed on top, pressing strongly into the soil. Do not forget about the thick crust of the seed, which needs to be damaged, using, for example, an ordinary nail file, making a file for the future sprout. You need to work carefully without damaging the core. Don't forget to water the plant. The germination process is not fast, the sprouts will appear in two or three months.

Buying a plant in a store

This method is much easier than sprouting grain, and has both advantages and disadvantages. Buying a home "flower" in a specialized store, you can choose a variety, type and size. You don't need to take any additional steps, except to transplant the dwarf banana into a new pot, then wait for the plant to rise and mature. And the biggest plus is the opportunity to acquire a fruit-bearing “tree”, providing itself with a small harvest of small but edible bananas. There is only one drawback, but a significant one. A purchased homemade banana is capricious and demanding to care for.

Homemade banana care

Growing bananas is not easy, but enjoyable. Care will depend on whether it is a seed banana or a purchased tree. The "palm" is not planted in a new pot right away, an exotic plant purchased in a store is kept at home for several days, observing whether there are any diseases or pests. If it is an indoor banana grown from a seed, transplanting a sprouted sprout (as described above to sprout) can be dealt with when its height is at least 10 cm.

Soil and fertilizer

It doesn't matter what kind of homemade banana, bought in a store or sprouted on its own, in any case, it is transplanted. First, let's decide on the size, it will be a small pot (if it is a dwarf banana) or a large pot. For small specimens, the calculation is as follows: 10 cm of a plant per 1 liter of a pot, that is, if a plant with a height of 20 cm is an ideal pot with a volume of 2 liters. For domestic bananas over 50 cm high, the calculation is 20 cm per 1 liter (for 60 cm a pot of 12 liters is suitable).

We buy ready-made soil or prepare it ourselves. The process is laborious, but the quality is 100% guaranteed. The ground will serve as the basis, which is better to collect under a linden, walnut or birch. You will need an upper layer of soil, up to 6 cm. Ten parts are needed, then two honors of any sand are added, one part of ash and 0.5 humus. Everything is thoroughly mixed and calcined; a regular oven will do.

We fill the bottom of the selected pot with drainage, then there is a layer of wet sand (up to 1 cm) and on top of everything warm soil. If a sprouted seed is transplanted, then it should be deepened into the soil, carefully, without damaging the growth by two centimeters. Keep track of the growth of the root system, and when it begins to occupy the entire pot, the home banana needs to be transplanted. Banana care involves the use of fertilizer throughout the plant's entire growth. Humus, wood ash and herbal infusion are better suited. For good growth, nitrogen must be present in the fertilizer.

Temperature and lighting

Temperature conditions for growing bananas at home are very important. The thermometer should not show a temperature below + 20⁰С, since at + 15⁰С growth practically stops. The temperature maximum is + 30⁰С. Considering the natural growth of the banana "palm", the more sun, the better. Choose the most lighted windowsill. In the summer, transfer the pot to the balcony, but only if the nights are also warm. If the apartment is dark and there is little natural lighting, you should think about growing another home flower or make special lighting that will be needed in winter.

Watering and humidity

Banana cultivation requires special attention to watering and moisture. A high level of humidity is good not only for bananas, but also for humans. An ideal indicator will be 50-60%; to maintain this indicator, it is good to have a humidifier in the house. But if there is no humidifier, then there is another way out. Daily spraying is an alternative procedure required in both summer and winter. In winter, the air is dry due to heating in apartments and houses. But since in cold months the air temperature in the room is lower, you can spray it once every 4-5 days.

Watering the soil needs regular and abundant watering, but at the same time the water should not stagnate, otherwise root decay will occur. To determine when watering is required, it is worth looking at the soil. When the top layer 1.5-2 cm deep becomes dry, you can safely water it. It is better to use only running water that has been settled for at least a day. If it is possible to collect rainwater, irrigation will only be of better quality.

Reproduction

Low-growing banana plants propagate vegetatively. Around the home banana, with proper care, "babies" grow. Such a sprout can be transplanted into a separate pot when its height is more than 10 cm. When transplanting, a little root system of the "parent" should be left at the sprout, and the cut must be treated with wood ash. Immediately after disconnecting, the "baby" is planted in a pot. A window sill on the south side is suitable for a small plant. The soil, fertilization, watering and growing method are the same as for any other homemade banana.

Fruiting homemade banana

Growing a banana obliges you to follow all care recommendations, otherwise the plant simply will not grow. And fruiting is an even more difficult stage to achieve. If this is not a decorative, but a fruit variety, it is definitely possible to achieve a harvest. The most popular homemade banana that can bear fruit is the dwarf Cavendish. Observance of temperature conditions and illumination will be important. The air temperature is not lower than + 25⁰С, and the place where the banana will grow should be light and warm. The more light and heat, the faster the "palm" will begin to bear fruit, the approximate time is from one to three years.

Winter care

In winter, there is very little sunshine, especially if it is not in the south of the country.When growing a banana at home in winter, take care of additional lighting. There is a huge selection of special lighting lamps on the market today. Better for decorative growing, within an apartment or house, a fluorescent lamp with a glow temperature from 6400K to 6500K is suitable, while the color rendering index marked on the lamp itself is 765 (ideally 865). Do not forget to humidify the room or spray and water properly.

Diseases

Homemade banana, especially sprouted from seeds, does not often get sick. The most common disease is spider mite. Usually appears when the plant dries up, both the root part and the leaves. This threatens further drying and yellowing of the foliage. For treatment, it is required to remove all dried and diseased parts of the plant, to establish watering and spraying. Rotting of the root system may turn out, and this will most likely be connected not with frequent watering, but with the fact that the drainage layer was not made.

Any green and live plant at home is wonderful, and if it is also exotic, with delicious fruits, it is almost a miracle. It is not easy to grow a homemade banana from a seed, but it is easy to buy and enjoy an amazing "palm tree" every day. It's expensive when at home on the windowsill, self-grown, fragrant and sweet little bananas flaunt.

The opportunity to have an exotic plant in your home always attracts amateurs. The article will discuss how to grow a banana at home (indoor) conditions from the seeds of a purchased fruit. Videos and photos will help you better understand everything.

Banana plant. Varieties for growing in the room

General view and biological characteristics of the plant:

• The height of a banana tree in the tropics reaches 10-12 m.To grow at home, there are dwarf varieties that grow no more than 2 m.
• The length of the leaves is 1.5-2 m, the width is 30-50 cm.
• Their bases are very close to each other, thus forming a plant trunk (pseudostem).
• The stem itself (rhizome) is underground. It has a spherical shape and in parallel performs the functions of a rhizome.
• The inflorescence emerges from the middle of the pseudostem, which dies off after fruiting.

Attention! The banana tree is not a tree at all. It is a herbaceous perennial plant.

The life span of the rhizome of each banana tree is about 40 years. New ones grow in places of drying pseudostems. On an industrial scale, bananas are propagated by dividing the rhizome, that is, the basal processes are planted. This way all varietal qualities are fully preserved. Plants grown from seeds are used for decorative purposes. Their fruits, most often, are unsuitable for human consumption.

Banana tree

At home, amateurs grow both varieties of bananas with very tasty fruits, and trees that decorate the interior. The average height of such plants is 2-2.5 m, and some dwarf varieties are 1-1.5 m. The first ones include:

• Pointed banana;
• dwarf Cavendish banana;
• banana Cavendish super dwarf;
• Kiev dwarf;
• Kiev super dwarf.

Attention! You can get banana fruits in a room only with proper care.

Decorative varieties:

• Velvety banana;
• Lavender banana;
• Chinese dwarf;
• Bright red banana.

These varieties bloom very beautifully and can produce small, inedible fruits.

How to get seeds from a purchased banana and germinate them

To independently obtain seeds from a purchased banana, you will need to follow these steps:

• A banana with a yellow peel is placed in a plastic bag until it darkens completely.
• Peel the flesh and cut it lengthwise to the level of the pith.
  With a sharp object, remove the seeds from the pulp and lay them out one by one on a paper napkin.

Attention! Only round seeds are suitable for planting. Flat specimens should be selected and discarded.

• To separate from the pulp, the seeds are washed well.
• The resulting material is poured with warm water and so left for 2-3 days.
• Rinse well again and dry.

Take seeds from dark-skinned fruits

Then the seeds are germinated, which requires an inert substrate. Sphagnum or coconut, which can be purchased at specialty stores, will do. The substrate must be steam sterilized. After cooling, it is mixed with perlite and poured with a solution of potassium permanganate.

If it is impossible to purchase a substrate from plant fibers, you can use a mixture of coarse sand and peat (3: 1). Germinate banana seeds in this way:

• The bottom of the container is covered with drainage material. A layer of substrate 5-6 cm thick is placed on top.
• The seeds are pressed into the substrate and watered well.

Attention! The shell of banana seeds is very dense, therefore, its integrity should be broken before germination. This can be done by rubbing between sheets of sandpaper, scratching the shell with a needle, or shallow cuts with a nail file. The main thing is not to overdo it and not damage the kernel.

• To preserve moisture, a polyethylene greenhouse is arranged.
• During the day, the temperature is maintained within +27 .. + 33 ° C, and at night +20 .. + 25 ° C.

Seeds germinate for a long time - from 2 to 3 months. To eliminate mold that may appear during this time, it is enough to treat the substrate with potassium permanganate.

Planting a banana

How to plant and care for a sprouted plant

To grow a banana plant, take the top layer (5-7 cm) of soil from under hazel, birch, linden and acacia. Sand, humus and ash are added to the soil collected in this way in a ratio of 10: 2: 1: 0.5, respectively. The whole composition is mixed and calcined in the oven. The bottom of the pot is lined with drainage material. Moistened sand is poured over it, and only then prepared soil.

Advice. To prevent the pot from adjoining closely to the pallet, you can put several small stones or a grate between them. This technique will allow air to penetrate unhindered to the roots.

The germinated seed is buried in the soil no more than 2 cm, sprinkled and watered well. After the banana grows up and the roots "take over" the entire space of the pot, it is transferred into a larger container.

Caring for a banana in a room consists of performing the following work:

Water the banana as the soil dries

1. Regular loosening of the soil.
2. Watering. It should be done infrequently, but abundantly. The indicator is the drying of the upper (1-2 cm) layer of soil in the pot.
3. Spraying. In winter, this is done once a week, and in summer, every day.
4. Maintaining the temperature regime. The acceptable temperature for a banana is +25 .. + 30 ° C. At + 15 ° C, plant growth and development are greatly slowed down.
5. Lighting. Banana is only suitable for the south and east sides in dwellings. In winter, you need to provide additional lighting.
6. Feeding. Fertilizer should be applied regularly. Vermicompost, herbal infusion will do.

Growing a banana from seeds is troublesome. But after all the efforts, you can enjoy yourself and surprise your friends with a beautiful exotic plant, which may become the main decoration of your home.

Growing a banana at home: video

A bit of history

Scientists all over the world seriously believe that the banana belongs to the plants that interested the first people in distant prehistoric times. The banana culture is about 10,000 years old, however, this age is inaccurate. It is known that the banana came to Southeast Asia as a valuable food plant; it began to be cultivated long before the cultivation of sugar cane and rice crops. The folk epic of the Hindus tells about the first birth of a banana on the island of Ceylon (Sri Lanka).

About how and where the cultivation of bananas took place, we are told by multiple written sources. For example, the first mentions of the wonderful "Indian fruits" can be found in the manuscripts of the ancient Greeks, Arabs and Romans.Banana drawings have been found on frescoes in ancient Assyria and Egypt.

Around the 16th century, the banana tree took root in Africa and became an important food for such an arid region.

Over the next hundreds of years, the banana settled in the Canary Islands and South America (before the expeditions of Christopher Columbus).

In Europe (the beginning of the 20th century), the banana won the hearts of the townspeople for its unusual appearance, thanks to which it became one of the important exhibits in any Victorian greenhouse and home winter gardens.

Description, cultivation and care at home

The banana is often incorrectly referred to as a banana tree, however this plant does not have all the traits of woody crops. Basically, a banana is a herb that can grow, depending on the species, from 1.5 m (home banana) to 7.5 m (in the wild). The massive stem consists of dried leaf stalks. Abundant, colorful bloom. Fruiting is rich. After the plant gives a crop, its natural death occurs. Instead of a dying old banana, young offspring appear around the base in the ground, capable of repeating the entire life cycle again.

Growing at home usually does not cause serious problems for lovers of plant exotics. The purchased young plant is capable of blooming in the third year of growth. Banana grows green mass rather quickly; under favorable conditions during the growing season, it has at least one leaf per week.

Depending on age, banana leaves can be up to 2.5 m in length and up to 60 cm in width. By their color, they maneuver from rich green, sometimes with burgundy inclusions, to green at the top and reddish at the bottom of the leaf.

With the right content, a banana can bloom and produce quite edible fruits (depending on the species). Flowers are usually yellow and red, grouped in compact apical inflorescences. The banana fruit is usually called a berry. The color of the fruit at the beginning of its ripening is green, gradually changing to yellow or red. The taste is pronounced, usually sweet, less often with sourness, somewhat reminiscent of an apple.

Seed banana

Growing a banana at home is an unusually painstaking exercise, but no less interesting. Many will be surprised that a banana has seeds. Remember at least purchased bunches of bananas: no matter how much we eat them, unfortunately, we cannot find seeds in them. Those who like to plant something from the bone of a freshly eaten fruit have probably seen in the fruit of a banana the rudiments of seeds that are not capable of germinating when planting. What is sold in our supermarkets and markets was produced commercially.

Wild species are characterized by an abundant presence of seeds - sometimes it happens that it is difficult to see the pulp, but no one would buy such fruits. That is why the banana is gradually artificially modified, getting more sweet pulp and a minimum of seeds. The inability of mature individuals to produce seeds is completely covered by vegetative propagation of well-proven crops.

For those who are not looking for easy ways and want to grow a banana on their own, you can advise using purchased seeds. Often on sale you can see the seeds of an indoor banana, which rarely grows above one and a half meters, which is especially important for residents of small houses.

Basic guidelines for planting banana seeds:

• before planting, it is recommended to soak banana seeds in warm water for a couple of days. It is desirable that the temperature is maintained within the range of + 35 ° C - + 40 ° C;

• water can be changed, but no more than 2-3 times the entire period;

• after the expiration of the term, the seeds must be cleaned of the remnants of pulp, mucus;

• then the seeds are disinfected in diluted 10% bleach. After processing, the seeds are thoroughly washed in clean running water;

• planting into the ground is carried out at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other.However, it will be better if the seeds are planted in separate pots, then the risk of root damage will be minimal during transplantation.

A home-made banana may be less than the size of the plants displayed in flower shops and will not bloom soon. But grown in the microclimate of your particular home, it will be less likely to get sick and, most likely, will give the richest harvest.

Lighting

Homemade bananas need bright sunlight during the growing season. During the midday sun, many flower growers recommend shading a banana from strong heat. In winter, to ensure the normal growth of the banana, it is necessary to install additional lighting.

In the case of growing on a windowsill, you need to ensure that the leaves do not touch the glass (they can burn) and there is no draft. Sharp temperature changes do not affect the plant in the most favorable way, since it is still a tropical culture, sometimes the harsh weather of other countries is alien to it.

Preferably it is the southern window and further in descending order. The northern location is the most unfortunate, regardless of the time of year, the plant will require daily additional lighting.

Watering

Banana is not one of those plants that will forgive you overflowing or drought of an earthy coma. Watering the banana is necessary only after the topsoil dries out. Water the plant abundantly, until the first drops in the pan. By the way, it is advisable to immediately pour out excess water from the pan, since excessive waterlogging will lead to acidification of the earth and rot of the root system.

Overdrying the soil will lead to the death of the roots, and even if watering is resumed again, the surviving roots will not be able to fully provide nutrition to the vegetative part and it is quite possible that some of the foliage will die off naturally.

In summer, a banana is watered with abundantly settled water closer to room temperature. When the temperature drops to + 16 ° C, watering is significantly reduced. In the summer months, the banana simply loves daily spraying from a spray bottle.

This should be done in the morning or evening, to prevent the sun's rays from getting on wet leaves. In winter, spraying is either stopped altogether or carried out no more than 1 time per week.

Pot selection

Despite the fact that the banana plant is unpretentious, an important part of its successful maintenance is the right choice of the pot. For young plants no more than 20 cm in height, a 2-3 liter pot is enough.

A plant that has exceeded the half-meter line can be safely transplanted into a container with a volume of up to 20 liters. The maximum pot size is 50 liters. However, it is important to remember that you should not immediately transplant the plant into a pot that is too large, as the roots may rot, which will make the plant unwell. There is no time for flowering.

Soil selection

Banana potting soil is easy to buy at any garden store, but you can make the potting mix you need yourself. To do this, we need an ordinary universal soil based on vermicompost (1 l), to which it is recommended to add river sand (2 l) and wood ash (0.5 l).

It is advisable to lay out the bottom of the pot with a layer of expanded clay for good soil drainage. The seedling is always planted a little deeper than it grew before. Thus, many adventitious roots are formed on its trunk, accelerating its growth and development. It is recommended not to clog the drainage holes, with their help oxygen will flow into the pot directly to the roots of the plant.

Top dressing

Indoor banana is fed during the growing season 1 time per week, during the dormant period no more than 1 time per month. Fertilizers based on vermicompost are perfect for feeding. Fertilize should only be done with liquid fertilizers during watering; by other methods of feeding, you can accidentally burn young developing roots.

Possible difficulties

Banana is practically pest free.Examine the leaves of the plant daily for pests or diseases, especially if you have a recently purchased specimen that has not yet passed quarantine. As a preventive measure, you can loosen the top layer of the soil and sprinkle it with tobacco dust at least once a month. Also, some gardeners water the soil every six months with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. And avoid drafts!

Growing a banana at home is fairly easy compared to whimsical plants like azalea or orchid. The main thing is to monitor the degree and frequency of watering. A banana can be called ripe when 13–17 well-developed leaves are formed on it. Usually during this period, a huge bud is shown at the top of the plant in color closer to a red-purple hue. The flowering itself is often delayed for a year, in which the bud drops down and continues to form small rudiments of fruits, while other fruits are fully ripe.

To replace the already boring floral exoticism, the banana is increasingly becoming the subject of desire of many seasoned flower growers. Newbies who love this plant should also not be afraid to have a banana at home, since it is quite unpretentious and easily interferes with the size of the rooms. Try and experiment! Good luck!

How to grow bananas at home? Video.