If you found this video helpful, please "Like" and share to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS for convenience: 0:00 Introduction To Growing Bananas 2:24 Banana Growing Tip #1 4:48 Banana Growing Tip #2 6:45 Banana Growing Tip #3 8:06 Banana Growing Tip #4 10:03 How To Fertilize Banana Plants 11:46 The Banana Varieties I'm Growing 13:47 Adventures With Dale
Oh my god I've been trying to grow banana plants and I had three growing two died and one is surviving with a pup. I have watched a zillion videos and resilient articles and your short video here was the most helpful yet thank you so much
Thank you! I'm really glad to hear that. If you're growing bananas in a cold climate, the key to overwintering the corm is to mulch is VERY WELL. Chop up the leaves and pseudostems after the first few light freezes kill them back and cover the corm to insulate it. Add more chopped leaves and grass to insulate if you need to. However, once spring rolls around, you then need to rake back the mulch. Otherwise, the soil won't heat up quickly enough, and the bananas could stall or fail. The mulch can work against you if you forget to remove it.
@@TheMillennialGardener I don't live in a cold climate matter of fact it's too hot and too dry. I live just outside of Phoenix Arizona and this July the sun was extremely scorching we're having a lot of monsoons right now but June and July was scorching. But it's good to know I can grow bananas in a colder climate because my plan is to move to Oregon in a couple of years
@@JoeandAngie I was deciding whether to ignore your comment or say something. But I think that's a very negative thing to say. I don't put any labels on anything or anyone and moving there I'm moving to be with family. Love of family never goes to s*** as you put it
@@charlessingletaryiii331 anything goes. I live in northern Arizona 7a Climate. I use old leaves and grass clippings. I just cut them back and cover them with burlap. Keeps them nice and insulated.
Something to consider, is pruning leaves to promote faster vertical growth. Then chop those leaves and spread them around the trunks to help feed your trees.
Here in South Florida I can grow 30 foot tall banana plants. They often have so many bananas I have to use the Bobcat to get the bunch down without dropping it. I compost my plants using a lawnmower. All my yard trimmings get dumped on the bananas and shredded after sitting a few days. I have collected urine in a pitcher and dump it out when it is full on the bananas. Have plenty of ducks that deposit their waste everywhere. One tip you may like is that magnesium sulfate (epsom salts) is important when starting your cluster. I did dump the ash and char left over from my woodgas truck for years. I grow orinioco, namwa, cavendish grand nain, gros michel, saba and plantain. had dwarf cavendish but after decades of having it the plants died. I am amazed you can get bananas in a time cycle of less than a year.
The bananas here have to be overwintered. If they die back, they won't have enough time to fruit. Building a cage around them and stuffing them full of straw usually saves a few pseudostems from the previous year, and I'll usually get a couple that will flower during the season.
I watched your video last year, protected and saved my banana plant in Switzerland. Now during the spring they are growing back. I will follow your tips for some fruits this year :). Thanks a lot.
Wow!!!! I’m amaze at how you can grow bananas in zone 8a. You really inspire me and I’m so glad I found you and subscribed to your channel. I’ve seen so many videos on RU-vid regarding how to take care citrus and avocados and now bananas, your channel is the BEST. ❤️❤️❤️ you’re very knowledgeable.
Thank you! I really enjoy challenging myself and growing some interesting things that turn heads. People are confused when they see all the citrus, the avocado tree and bananas growing, but it's doable if you're willing to help them along a little.
Ty, I get told all the time by others that I’m really intelligent & inspire them to want to achieve greatness, but still nice to hear every now & then lol
I live in Iowa zone 5b,i grow about 60 banana trees outside from May to October, they get about 16 ft tall and look amazing. Theyve been out in the garden for about 3 weeks now and are recovering well from the long winter. Its a LOT of work,but its worth the effort if you love gardening!
Gals can peeee too, we just need a pot to pee in and then we pour it. However, I always advise to delute the urine 1 part urine to 10 parts water because urine can burn the roots , etc. great info..thanks
Your banana tree are just outstanding, great job. Reminds me of those I had growing in my dad's house in Puerto Rico. I know they love composte. They grew best in hummus reach soil in PR.
I love that you rise to the challenge of growing things that are not necessarily perfectly suited to your climate zone. I am on zone 9B... but zone isn't everything. My 9B is extreme. Blistering hot and dry in the summers, 105+ on a regular basis. But also frosts up in winter. So I'm scared to try certain things. Like Avocado trees... I recently bought an ice cream banana plant and a dwarf Cavendish... Wish me luck.
I'm zone Zone 9A, just north of Houston Texas. Last year I planted a Cavendish and Nam Wah ladyfinger and this year in April I transplanted them to a different location. And to my shocking surprise the Cavendish is producing bananas! Only two hands worth but I'm extremely happy with it. I protected them during the winter just like he showed us on his videos by putting a cage around them and stuffing it with hay and it worked great. I also just planted an ice cream banana tree and it's growing like crazy with four pups around it.
I am also in Zone 9A. Last my banana tree die down and it came back. I have it in a pot and want to take it inside this Winter. Right now it is beautiful and dont want to Lose it. Thanks for All the Info. Thanks Dale. Fantastic information
Leave 4 leaves on plant. If you have 5, 6, 8 , 10 cut back to just 4. Thickens false stem and gets it growing. I'm in Norfolk. Have the "real" blue java. Have a rack that began August 9th. Takes the fruit time to mature. 115-150 days. Crossing my fingers. 1st frost usually 3rd week of November. But it's supposed to be a mild winter so. 🤞
Hi.Great video you got here. Here's some other things if you'd like to experiment with. Fertilizer programme: Month 1 - 5: 16:16:16 (150g/plant/month) Month 6: MOP (100g/plant - one time application only on month 6 or when you see the last short leaf before flowering comes out) + 12:12:17:2(100g/plant/month) Month 7 till harvest: 12:12:17:2 (150g/plant/month) For the suckers. 2 ways to go around it. First: Only keep 1 at 3 months old and another at 8 months old. Second: Only keep one once the flower comes out. Choose only sword suckers as this is the one with vigorous growth rate. As for leaves. Maintain 8 leaves while growing, 6 once the flower comes out and 4(excluding the small leaves before flowering) once you cut the flower. Cut the flower around 2 inch after the last bunch. Just sharing. Happy gardening everyone.
I’m inspired to start growing bananas plants again. I have tried for three years and I couldn’t get them to grow tall, fruit, or survive the winter. I’m in zone 7a so your video helps a lot since our winters are similar.
The day I have to wrap the bananas for winter is a bit of an ordeal, but aside from that one day a year, they're really easy to grow. They're one of the only things that are invincible here. Extreme humidity and rainfall don't bother them. Hurricanes bounce off them. They have no pests or diseases. They're just a delight.
Great nitrogen tip... no need to apply "straight from the hose"... just keep a 2 liter bottle in the bathroom under the sink. Fill it up, use a needed 👍
We use an empty laundry detergent jug and pop out the pour spout. I pee in a paper cup and pour in the jug and screw the lid on. It’s stored in the built in “hamper”. It doesn’t smell at all. I rinse the paper cup and put it in the cabinet. I ask other family members to contribute but I’m not sure they are. 😆
You're welcome! If you're in a cold climate, make sure to mulch the corm very well. After the first couple light freezes knock it down, chop down the pseudostems, cut them into pieces and mulch the area with the cut up pseudostems and shredded banana leaves. If you need more insulation, toss on a couple inches of shredded leaves, etc. Then, when it warms back up in the spring, rake the mulch back to soil level so the ground can heat up and the corm will grow back. It's fairly important to pull the mulch back, because while the thick mulch layer will insulate the corm from cold damage, it'll prevent the ground from heating up in spring and could prevent it from regenerating.
I appreciate all of your videos because even though I have had vegetable gardens for 40+ years, I have learned so much from you. With that being said, I now live near Charlotte NC in zone 7a and wanted to know if you think I would actually be able to grow bananas on a tree and if so which variety of dwarf would be best for where I live? Again, thanks for sharing your gardening experiences and for your amazing videos, 🙏 poppy
Any tips on transplanting from pot to soil? Mine was stretching the pot so much with 3 big stems and a baby one. When i cut apart the plastic pot, i had thicks roots that hit the bottom and started curling up. Should I take the tree back out of the ground and separate all the bottom roots so they grow out instead of up?
Also a great banana tree fertilizer is dead fish. Throw fishing scraps into the hole before you plant them. No smell. If you have an aquarium, the detritus from gravel cleaning is very effective.
Amazing video :) Truly is soothing, relaxing, and educating. I have learnt a lot from giving this a chance, and I am so glad. Thank you so much for taking the time to create this video with us, :) It really is special and inspiring to get into my own gardening as a way to battle and get better at handling the stressful life I got myself into. Finding the way to the roots of ourselves. Thank you again and wishing you the best :)
We are in our second year with the Musa Basjoo in zone 7b/8a upstate South Carolina. What fun. I keep all the pups off so the energy can go to the main stem. This year it is flowering and fruiting, although I know these are non-edible. On this variety, in our zone, no protection is needed. I will fertilize more next year.
I watched from brings to end. I'm soooo glad you didn't do one of those quick moving videos that change every 2 seconds. The video is paced perfect, great information and you are for questions. Thanks and great video...
You can grow faster if you maintain a 4 leaf stem, cut off the older leaves so you’re left with 4 leaves. The banana knows how many leaves it needs to produce before it sends a blossom.
I'm not sure what you mean. My thinking is that more leaves = more solar energy gathered, so that would help the banana complete the cycle more quickly and flower. Wouldn't removing leaves slow the banana down, because it wouldn't be able to absorb as much energy?
@@TheMillennialGardenerno actually it will rob energy from the plant to support all those leaves. Keeping fewer leaves gives it more energy to focus on fruiting. Definitely needs some for photosynthesis so 4 is a good number.
I almost choked when you said to pee on them, lol! The potash really makes sense. Bananas are high in potassium and I guess they have to get it somewhere. Does your bananas have large seeds? Or do they look like the ones you buy at the grocery store? Thanks for such great content!
It's funny, but it's true! Bananas LOVE being peed on. If you're willing to do it, they'll greatly appreciate you for it. All my bananas are edible and of high quality. They are all seedless.
A couple of my neighbors have these and they come back every year with little maintenance! I’ve never seen any bananas on them lol but I want to grow them to use the leaves in cooking and for food plates and more!
I live in a sub tropical climate and give them manure in straw of the chicken coop and put 3 large pots with kitchen scraps (covered with cardboard) around the plot of bananas. They do super well and I have bananas red and yellow bananas every year
Dale gets a walk every day, no matter what. He's a hound and he's very nose-driven, so he can't settle down until he gets it out of his system. He will not be content without it, but once he gets his walk, he's docile for the rest of the day. If I lived in Zone 10b, I would have a field of bananas 😄
Absolutely right...gotta 'pull my finger out' Thanks for the push. Paws gets a v early morning walk too,,calms her down. And I;m happy too.. PS: having great success withsunflower microgreens (from a 1kg birdseed packet) @@TheMillennialGardener
I cannot believe this you can plant bananas 🍌 in USA. I am from a banana republic and dont know how to plant bananas 😅 This is why I like greengoes. You try and try and get the impossible done ... unbelievable. This video gonna inspire me to start planting bananas.....Just one observation in tropical weather there are not winter or summer there are wet season and dry season.....at least in my country that us locate in the tropic of ecuator...
very appreciative to see people in Europe struggling to grow banana plants, while in the tropics it is very easy to see banana trees grow well even without care even the tubers that have been thrown away can thrive
Very informative video! My banana tree fruited this year and I'm in Zone 8a too. I mulch heavily and also chop and drop. This year I fed them kitchen scraps and covered it with the mulch. However when it fruited the flower only produced a few bananas. The rest didn't get pollinated or we're sterile. How do you avoid that?
You avoid it by giving it proper care & nutrition. Let’s say it’s 2 years in the future, and you’re a banana tree. You sprout as a seed & into the sun as the season turns warm to spring. Now, would you like it if someone came along, dumped garbage all over you, and covered you in prickly wood chips? No, you wouldn’t. Do you get some kind of enjoyment out of suffocating plants? Mulch is for trees, genius… not smaller plants or shrubs
I have been gardening most of my life and worked on a farm my entire childhood, so it has always been an interest. I am an engineer by trade, so if I determine something is feasible, I design ways to make it work. I like a challenge. Bananas, however, are surprisingly easy.
idk you, but i love you for this, i bought a 4 foot winterized plant and im really hoping it starts back up. already ordered everything you suggested. and am getting ready to pee!
You can grow Musa Basjoo in ground as an ornamental. Just make sure to mulch the corm with a few inches of thick mulch of some kind to insulate it to get it through the winter. Then, rake the mulch back in the spring to heat up the ground and re-sprout it. If you want to grow bananas for fruit, the dwarf varieties grow well in a container and can overwinter in low light in front of a window.
I only grow dwarf bananas. I’m not climbing a ladder to get my fruit. I grow dwarf cavendish and just started growing the truly tiny variety that only grow 3-4 feet tall. After the banana fruits and I chop off a bunch, then chop down the fruited stem. It will naturally die anyway. So I chop and drop, in addition I always mulch the area. The humidity breaks it down so fast in south Florida we don’t need to chop up the stem after fruiting. If your in a cold area, try the “truly tiny” variety. Thanks for the great video from zone 10b south Florida. 🍌🍌🍌
You're welcome! I also don't see much point in growing full-sized banana varieties unless you're selling bananas, or you want to grow a really cool variety like Blue Java and you have no choice. How can one person eat one of those full-sized bunches? There are like 80 bananas on a bunch, and they all ripen at about the same time! The dwarf bunches are perfect for a family garden, and you don't have to worry about climbing, support for the bunches, etc.
Florida here and I grow bananas. VERY IMPRESSED with your dedication and success growing them in your zone! Great tips, however, as my bananas are in my front yard, close to the street, AND I'm a chick, peeing on them is def out of the question! 😂👍😥
OMG Dale!!! I bought a little tiny Banana 🍌 plant from Lowe's on the Markdown rack. It's Huge now! Your tip about peeing on the plant is spot on! We regularly spray pee around our property line to keep 🦌 deer away from flowers & our 🪣 vegetables plants. It works!!! We use a Pressure Sprayer. That Banana plant is probably 10 Feet tall right now! I think Dale is your cute Dogs name?..
Urine is magical fertilizer. Urea is the primary ingredient in fertilizers, because it makes plants grow like weeds! Yep, Dale is his name. He's the best!
I'm lucky to live in an area in Australia which has a similar climate to Charleston in South Carolina which is north of Sydney in Australia in New South Wales (Newcastle) which has a 10a-b USDA plant hardiness zone. They do go semi dormant at winter time & our areas climate isn't much different to where my grandfather on my dads side used to grow them commercially 600 kilometres (360 miles) north near the Queensland border where he grew the same lady finger variety that I grow. They're grown in a subtropical climate & I am experimenting with growing the Cavendish variety which is commercially grown in the more tropical parts of Queensland in the Tully & Atherton Tablelands areas !
I live about 2.5 hours north of Charleston. They get around 5-6 hard freezes, and about 8-12 freezes total, a year there, so bananas still struggle. They're a *very* weak Zone 9a, so bananas often die back there and require some protection, though they perform better there than where I live in 8a. I've been to Sydney in May, and while it got cold there at night, it stays frost-free, so bananas perform a lot better. The stuff at the botanical gardens looks absolutely magnificent. Things were definitely in dormancy, but everything looked beautiful and held their form. I would actually advise against Cavendish, solely because they're found in grocery stores. You can get them anywhere. Most people say the best tasting bananas are Mysore and Namwah. Growers "go bananas" for Mysore. If you can find that, maybe give that a shot? I would grow it, but it is a tall banana that can grow 15-20ft (5-6 meters), so I can't protect it in my 8a climate.
Excellent! You may want to watch the banana protection video I have linked in the video. It works well enough to get them to fruit here on mild winters. Last winter was particularly bad, though, so this may be my first year without fruit in 4 years.
Also, I was thinking about planting mine in a large pot that I could potentially drag inside during winter. Have you had any success doing that with your banana plants to keep them going through winter?
@@TheMillennialGardener Thanks! I have watched that one in the past. My poor plant right now is in a pot that's way to small for it and I need to decide if I'm going to plant it in the yard or get a bigger pot and try and drag it inside when it starts getting chilly.
I have my first flower in my banana! This is from my ice cream banana. Growing it in Sacramento area. I feed it with fish emulsions every week and then more bloom.
Thanks for info! I am also in 8a NC zone, so your videos are very helpful to me. From where did you buy these varieties? Would love to get hold of one of them.
I recommend checking out Banana Man Larry at bountifulgardennursery.com. He always has a few things in stock. I've purchased several things from him. Super common bananas like Dwarf Namwah and Dwarf Orinoco can usually be purchased off eBay for dirt cheap. I wouldn't buy any "rare" banana off eBay. They're usually a scam.
Great video! I was not doing any of these things with my banana trees. No wonder thay are only 2 ft tall after a year or two. Poor things have been starving. Off to your store to get them some food! Thanks so much! 😃
Bananas are very heavy feeders. I think they're the heaviest feeders of anything I grow, even more than figs. They need constant organic matter. The good news is that the banana plants themselves contain tons of nutrients, so if you chop up and mulch the old leaves and pseudostems religiously, the requirement for fertilizer goes down. When the bananas are young and you don't have that thick "rainforest mulch layer," they need more supplemental fertilizers.
you're right - i was totally surprised to see bananas pop up on your vids because i know you are north of me and that means freezes. had no IDEA you could grow bananas in non-tropical areas. i was getting so used to having to give up on a lot of things that would have grown in FL but i didn't have any space to. and now in GA, have space, can't grow things like lemons, limes, or passionflower. :/
Bananas grow very well in Zone 7 as long as you mulch the corms to insulate them during the winter. Then, once spring comes around, rake the mulch back so the soil heats up faster and the bananas should re-sprout.
Kerrie Gruber I also live in Zone 7 and purchased a small Banana plant this year that's now about 10 feet or more tall! I'm trying to figure out how to get it to live through the 🥶 winter!
@@TheMillennialGardener 🙋🏾♀️Hi! Great advice! My Question is that I'm in zone 7 and have mine in a Huge Pot. Should I put it in the ground, leave it in the pot...or move it to my Basement for the winter 🥶?
They need to be spaced out more in single rows. Just like they do it in banana plantations. Try to chop off the sprouts and just leave the main banana plant. If you grow them in groups, all crowded they have a hard time fruiting.
Having grown up in a tropical climate with lots of banana plants in the backyard never heard of peeing on the banana plant. Thank you for all other tips though.
I’m in a 6b-7a though our winters usually low average around 20-25 degrees F. I’m in Boise area Idaho which is very dry here with sweltering summers and don’t think they can do full sun but I do have a location in the front. Never tried growing these but my plan was to cut them down to 2 ft. once they die down and fill with dry leaves and the dead musa basjoo leaves inside chicken wire with a tarp over it. Hoping that’ll be good enough.
Beautiful little jungle you got going. You thought about adding some palm trees? Butias, Trachycarpus, palmetto's, european fan palms is some that would be great in your climate. There is a youtuber growing way more tender palms inland in Charlotte so the ones listed should do well at your place.
Thanks for the tips. I've been collecting urine for my bananas for a while, and can confirm that it works! Love Dale, what a lucky pup to have such a great family.
I collect it every night as my bedroom is far from the toilet, and I'm lazy to walk to it. Now I have a even better reason to keep doing it. Bananas must be feed
Thank you! They're a lot of fun to grow. Just looking at them makes me happy. It feels like you're on vacation. Bananas are a must-add to the garden, even if you're just growing them as ornamentals. They're an excellent source of mulch, too!
My banana tree doing well this year / have 2nd flowers . and some banana young trees around . I love ❤ banana trees I love ❤️ papayas tree Too banana trees plant in small lot …
I'm in New York, and I know it's too cold for even the most cold hardy bannana you say grows 15 feet in one year and regrow, however, given there is no above ground part, I should be able to use in ground hot water pipes like in a radiator system and keep the roots alive over winter, and I do mean NY by the canadian border.
TY!!! Growing bananas now just transplanted 4 pups about 2’ high growing like crazy also have main about 8’ or more & one 4’ 2 more babies 🙂 coming perfect timing I want a wall! + fruit
Outstanding! Bananas grow like nothing else. They grow so fast, they make my fig trees look lazy. I love the way the leaves sound rustling in the wind. It makes me feel like I'm on a tropical island somewhere.
OHMYGOODNESS! Hi neighbor! I live in Maple Hill, NC about 45 minutes from you. I just bought a lady finger corm. Do you think I can grow her in the ground. Or do you think I should keep her in a pot and move her in & out? Thank you for the video. It was awesome!
Great video as usual! Thanks for posting. 3rd year with bananas. I live in zone 7A and have always cut back my plants to about 12" and covered with yard leaves, NOT Banana cuttings. I will try the banana cutting process this year on your recommendation. My bananas are getting too thick and are spreading because the old dead trunks are no longer sprouting. What is the best practice to thin them out and should I dig out the old hard and dry trunk bases?
Great video! You got me more interested in figs and I'd love to see an annual tour of your fig trees to see what has changed in the last year. Any plans to make a fig tour video anytime soon? Also, i know you use figbid, but do you ever sell cuttings? I'm jealous of your 258 tree!
I do a fig tour every single year. You can search my channel for past year's fig tours. However, this year, I probably won't have one, because it was a very, very bad year for the figs. Many of them were damaged by the bad winter we had last year, and the fig breeding program I started required me to overwinter 42 seedlings, which wound up overwintering the prior year's fig rust, which rapidly spread across all my trees. This winter, I will be going through a massive cull of varieties I no longer want, I'll be re-organizing my entire container garden, aggressively pruning and rehabbing the orchard to fix up the damage this year. I do offer cuttings every winter to my subscribers. Everyone that subscribes gets notified when the time comes.
@@TheMillennialGardener Ignore my comment on your new video - it says pretty much the same thing as the one you just replied to. I missed your reply on this comment before I typed that comment out. And yes, i thoroughly enjoyed your fig tour videos and I pull it up often to see if you mention a variety when I'm looking to buy one on Figbid. I'm sorry to hear about your figs this year. There's so much work that goes into gardening and it's hard when something doesn't work out. Especially the fig breeding stuff! I have several fig trees with rust and I'm assuming I can't even root cuttings of those this winter because it will contaminate the new plant, and I'm bummed about that.
You should consider the 3 generation method for plants and remove the extras..(give them away or sell, plant in another section of your yard or discard. ) 3 generations being grandmother..daughter...grand daughter.
@dinyardalal The idea is to just keep 3 generations of bananas in ur mat. Remove the extras. Keep the grandparent - the oldest then the child several months old then a baby. All other pups should be removed. After the oldest gives its cut down. Then the child pup becomes the oldest the small pup is now the child and now u can keep any new pup that comes out.
Thank you very much for answering my question that I ask a few videos ago. Your banana trees luck awesome. Great advise. Definite will do the pee and mulching down here in central Florida. As always a fantastic video.
Great video! Now make one for 4 tips on how to kill bananas! I had a banana tree too close to my house and it took me 3 years to finally stop it from growing and throwing up pups.
Bananas are difficult to kill. Aside from native pests like borers, the only thing that'll kill them for the most part is cold. If you don't want to dig them up, maybe cut them down and drop a block of dry ice on them and toss a cooler over it. Maybe -120 degrees will kill the corm.
Excellent! Nice collection. They're so much fun to grow and can bring a flavor of the tropics to temperate climates. The sounds of the leaves rustling in the breeze makes me feel like I'm on an island somewhere.
