All About Banana Plants

Banana plants are fantastic edible plants to grow and are ideal to grow in schools. The fruit is high in fibre, potassium and vitamins A, B6 & C and no one is allergic to them!

How many banana plants can you count?

Did you know, each banana plant only produces one bunch of bananas?

Did you know, one bunch of bananas can take over a year to grow?

Did you know, banana plants are not classified as trees, they are just very big herbs?

There are several cultivars of bananas that grow well in Sydney. Ideally plant a dwarf variety so they don’t grow too tall. The bananas we are growing in the EcoGarden are called Gold Finger Musa paradisiaca.

They are propagated either by division or by tissue culture, and which means they are all genetically identical clones.

They’re not true trees, in fact the stems are made from layers of tightly packed leaf-bases, and each new leaf is forced through the centre of the stem. At maturity they flower and the first part of the flower to open is male – that’s called the bell. Then the spirally arranged female flowers come out and develop into fruit.

The banana grove can provide shade that is required for worm farms and banana plants love worm juice, so if you place a worm farm under a banana plant you can leave the tap open to drip continuously onto the roots.

Growing Bananas

Bananas are well suited to a warm, frost-free coastal climate and grow well in Sydney. When setting up a banana grove, look for a sunny, sheltered position in your garden. Prepare the soil by adding lots of compost and mounding it up so that the area drains well. If planting more than one banana plant, space them approximately two metres apart.

Ideally, plant three banana plants at the one time in a triangle shape to create a grove. Then mulch the soil all around to keep it moist. Hessian sacks can be used to lay over the soil when setting up the grove to inhibit weed growth and help maintain soil moisture too.

Banana plants need a lot of water and food (undiluted worm juice is perfect). You’ll need to feed them regularly with compost or manure (our favourite, Super 6, is available from ANL). Another option is to place an in-ground compost bin at the centre of the grove, and as the food waste that you add to it breaks down, it will continually feed the surrounding banana plants.

Harvest the bunch of bananas when the first bananas are turning yellow & ripening, but some are still green, and bring inside to ripen on a bench. Cover the growing banana bunch with a banana bag whilst ripening. These can be bought commercially or reuse a chook food bag or a hessian sack. Close the bag at the top and leave open at the bottom to promote air flow. This stops the wildlife eating them before you get to! You can also cut hands of bananas off and place them into a paper bag to ripen inside.

Once the bunch of bananas have been harvested, the mother plant should be cut down and composted. New plants called ‘pups’ will grow up from the rhizome underneath the ground.

(Insert picture of small banana plant next to chopped base of an old banana plant) ?

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Can you identify where the old plants have been cut down and the new plants have emerged.

It is ideal to maintain three plants at any one time to a total of nine plants in a triangle banana grove. Cut out any extra pups and pot them up to sell or give away to family and friends.