Can bananas be grown at home?

Growing banana in home conditions.

There is an opinion that it is almost impossible to grow a tropical or subtropical plant at home. For example, a banana is a plant from the tropics, a lover of a humid and warm climate. How will he feel in room culture? And is it possible to grow a banana from a seed, and even eat homemade exotic fruits?

Plant features

Many people are used to thinking of a banana as a palm tree and are extremely surprised that it is a large herbaceous plant. It is demanding to care for (you need to create conditions for it close to the tropics), but it is quite amenable to home cultivation. Moreover, the fruits can also be obtained.

The perennial representative of the Banana family literally has no trunk. What we consider to be the trunk of a "tree" is the closely spaced bases of oblong leaves (pseudostem). The rhizome (rhizome) hidden underground is the real stem. An unusual plant, in which everything is not like other cultures, but "upside down".

Refers to monocarpic crops: after the completion of fruiting, the ground part of the plant dies off. The rhizome gives rise to a new plant, forming shoots. The banana quickly builds up the ground part: a leaf grows in a week. It begins to bloom in room culture in the third year. A flower forms at the top of the leaf. Moreover, a banana can bloom throughout the entire growth period, gradually forming a bunch of fruits that ripen unevenly.

Although banana is a herbaceous plant, in the wild it grows to a great height (9-12m). Low-growing (dwarf) varieties have been created specifically for cultivation at home.

Breeding methods:

• seeds;
• basal processes;
• dividing the rhizome.

Important! The bananas we eat are seedless. These are the fruits of the Cavendish varieties that can only be propagated vegetatively. Those that can be grown by seeds are almost inedible: inside the banana there is an abundance of seeds and little pulp. They are grown for decorative purposes.

Indoors, a banana can be propagated in two ways:

1. Plant with seeds. It will be a wild subspecies, strong and viable, but its fruits are inedible, since there is little pulp in them.
2. Purchase a germinated plant. It is, as a rule, a varietal crop obtained vegetatively, capable of "producing" tasty, edible fruits.

It is interesting!

In some tropical countries, banana accounts for the lion's share of exports. In terms of sales to other countries, this crop ranks 4th in the world, behind rice, wheat and corn. About 40 species are part of this genus.

Species grown in room culture

Species are conventionally divided into two groups:

1. Decorative, the cultivation of which at home is intended for a variety of interiors, for landscaping an apartment. Their fruits are also a kind of decoration, but they are inedible. These include bananas: velvety, lavender, bright red, Chinese dwarf. All of them reach about one and a half meters in height.
2. Fruit species are decorative, and they ripen fruits with good taste. This is a pointed banana, dwarf Cavendish, super dwarf Cavendish, Kiev dwarf, Kiev super dwarf. Their height varies from one meter to two.

It is interesting!

The Ukrainian breeder, who was engaged in the cultivation of this crop at home, claims that the yield of the above species is 150 fruits from one "herb tree".

Read also: Clay plates for flowers

The seeds of this culture take a long time to germinate, like most seeds of tropical plants. Therefore, you can buy an already germinated plant. Subject to all care requirements, it will bloom and bear fruit in a room culture. After purchasing, do not forget to transplant the banana into suitable soil for it, making drainage and creating the necessary conditions for growth.

Seed Tropical Plant: Difficult or Simple?

The seeds can be purchased at the store. As a rule, the package contains 3-4 seeds. According to customer reviews, they sprout, but not as quickly as we would like.

How to properly plant at home? Let's consider in stages.

1. The seed has a dense shell, so it will be difficult for it to hatch. For this, there is a technique called scarification: a strong shell must be filed, but not piercing or damaging the contents. The main thing is to give the sprout an opportunity to come out into the light.
2. You can plant seeds in separate containers, or in a planting box at a distance of 15 cm between future seedlings.
3. A separate technique is the germination of seeds in advance in a moist coconut substrate mixed with perlite. The substrate is poured into a plastic bag and mixed with the seeds. Tied, pierced several holes in it. They are placed in a warm place, and after 2 weeks, the seeds that have hatched are planted in pre-prepared pots.
4. The potting medium for banana seeds is river sand and peat (4: 1). Top dressing is not needed, but drainage is needed for further cultivation. You can also prepare another soil mixture - this is forest turf with decayed leaves and needles. They are excellent disinfectants. The mixture will have the following composition: forest sod, wood ash, sand and peat in equal proportions.
5. Seeds planted at home in the spring-summer period germinate after 3-5 weeks, and the autumn-winter planting will increase the duration of seedlings emergence up to 3-5 months.
6. The seeds must be spread over the surface and lightly pressed into the soil, without covering them with earth, so that light falls on the seed. To retain heat and moisture, the container is placed in a warm place and covered with glass or foil.
7. The film is periodically opened so that the air does not stagnate. If the substrate dries up, then spraying with a spray bottle is mandatory.

Advice!

No need to place seedlings in direct sunlight. If mold appears on the surface due to insufficient ventilation, then this area must be removed, treated with potassium permanganate and monitored aeration.

8. Cultivation of tropical plants and seeds involves a long wait for the emergence of seedlings. It may take 2-3 months for green shoots to appear. Then their rapid growth begins, and after a week, young bananas can be planted at their "permanent residence".

You don't have to buy seeds in the store, but get them yourself from the appropriate varieties at home. If the ripe fruit is covered with brown spots, then the seeds are ripe. Knead the pulp and remove them by hand. We rinse well. Soak for 2-3 days in water at room temperature, change the water periodically. Then we wipe the seeds and slightly scrape them. The seeds should be brown in color. After that, we plant it in the usual way.

Advice!

If the tropical culture has grown "to the ceiling", then you can cut the top. This will not prevent it from blooming and bearing fruit. But it is better to use dwarf varieties that are specially made for growing at home. They also yield crops, tolerate cold, and are resistant to disease.

A wide variety of tropical plants are grown at home, and the banana is no exception. You need to plant it according to all the rules, carefully look after it. And then sit in a chair under the "palm tree" and feel like on vacation in an exotic country.

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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 up pseudostems. On an industrial scale, bananas are propagated by dividing the rhizome, that is, the basal processes are planted. So 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 acquire 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 violated 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, arrange a greenhouse made of polyethylene.
• 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 on top of 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

The very idea of ​​growing bananas in your apartment or house seems pretty fantastic. However, anything is possible. Perhaps not only grow real bananas, but also enjoy delicious fruits that will be no different from those that you can buy in the store. It all depends on the type of plant you choose. Of course, such an exotic plant can be easily sold and made money on it.

First, let's talk about the plant itself. Banana is a herb, not a palm tree. The root of such a plant is located deep underground, has a spherical shape. On the surface - leaves, which are very tightly adjacent to each other, form a pseudostem, from which an inflorescence subsequently appears. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies off, and a new one grows in its place. A banana rhizome in the ground can live up to 40 years, constantly releasing new shoots that continue to bloom and bear fruit.

Bananas propagate with the help of seeds, division of the rhizome or amniotic processes. The bananas we buy from the store are seedless and only propagated in a vegetative way. Bananas, which are propagated by seeds, are usually not eaten. Since there are a lot of seeds inside the fruit, and there is practically no pulp, and it does not taste very well. They are bred mainly for their decorative appearance.

Some varieties of bananas can grow up to 12 meters in height. But there are also those that are undersized, they just can be grown at home.

Now let's move on to the varieties of bananas. All banana varieties can be safely divided into two groups: decorative and fruit.

First, about the decorative. They are grown for decoration and landscaping. Most of these varieties should not be eaten. Examples: banana lavender, in height it can reach up to 1.5 meters, the velvety banana is 1.3 - 1.5 m, and the banana is bright red, it can grow up to one meter in height.

And now about the fruit. These varieties are grown for their delicious fruits, these are the most banana bananas. Examples: banana cavendish dwarf, this variety can grow up to 2.5 meters, the banana is pointed, the height of this variety can reach two meters.And new varieties, bred in 1998 by the Ukrainian breeder A.V. Patius, Kiev dwarf - 1.5 - 1.7 m in height, and Kiev superdwarf - up to one meter in height. The scientist claims that these varieties can be grown indoors, with proper care, and their yield will be up to 150 fruits, which taste the same as in the store.

Instructions "How to grow a banana at home"

And now to the fun part. How can you still grow such a miracle as a banana at home? The most important thing is, of course, the substrate and the correct plant transplant. You need to find a good soil to prepare the substrate, it can be dug out from under trees such as linden, acacia, birch or walnut. Soil from under poplar, oak or chestnut is not recommended. Take the top layer 5-10 cm thick.

A bucket of this land goes: wood ash - 500 g, river sand - 2 kg, humus - 1 kg. Stir and disinfect by pouring boiling water and calcining.

Do not forget to drain, it can be from 3 to 10 cm, see the size of the pot. On the drainage layer, on top, put a layer of river sand, always wet, and only then spread the soil. Do not forget one important nuance, do not put the pot right on the pallet, put something like a lattice between them, you can take several flat stones, air will get into the resulting space, which means it will get to the roots, which is very important. Air is very necessary for the roots, both from the bottom and from the top, so a couple of days after watering, loosen the topsoil.

Watering. Bananas love moisture very much, but they are rarely watered, but very abundantly. Watering should be done only when the topsoil is completely dry by 1 - 2 cm. The water temperature should be 25 - 30 degrees. When watering, make sure the water seeps through the holes in the pot. In winter, when the temperature is 18 degrees, reduce the amount of watering, otherwise the roots will rot. Air humidity plays a significant role for this plant. In summer, the leaves should be sprayed daily, in winter at least once a week. Remove dust from leaves.

The temperature regime is very important for the ripening of fruits, since at a temperature of +15, growth slows down, so it should be +25 - 30 degrees.

Lighting plays an important role in the maturation process. Bananas require bright and abundant light, so it is best to place the pot close to the window. In summer, if the plant will be outdoors, make sure that direct sunlight does not fall on it, it is better to place it in the shade of a tree.

To enjoy delicious bananas, the plant needs to be fed. It is advisable to introduce fertilizer into moist soil so as not to burn the roots. In summer, fertilize once a week, in winter, once a month is enough. The best fertilizer solution is humus, just do not take pork or chicken. An infusion of herbs such as lupine, quinoa, or common weeds is also effective. For adult plants, from one meter in height, humus with fish ear is well suited to enhance fruiting.

If we talk about diseases and pests, then there are practically none of them in the home environment, but due to low humidity, a spider mite can start. As for the natural habitat, the plant is mainly affected by various types of fungi, as well as black weevils and roundworms.

As you can see, it is quite possible to grow a banana at home, the price of such plants is quite significant. Therefore, gardeners and plant lovers, in addition to their own interest in the new, in the new culture of the house, can also make good money.

We recommend that you familiarize yourself with our other interesting business ideas: growing mushrooms at home and breeding partridges.

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 Hindu folk epic 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 in 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 (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 produces a crop, it naturally dies. 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. In their color, they maneuver from rich green, sometimes with burgundy inclusions, to green in the upper and reddish in the lower part 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 the 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:

• it is recommended to soak banana seeds in warm water for a couple of days before planting. 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 when transplanting, the risk of root damage will be minimal.

A home-made banana may be less than the size of the plants on display 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, during 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.