Yes, you can easily grow a banana tree from banana in two ways.
Hello everyone, you are a banana lover? You have at least 2 bananas in your everyday diet? You are dreaming of having a banana tree in your garden or you want to grow a bunch of banana trees? But the fact is you don’t know how can you grow a banana tree from a banana. You must be aware of the fact that banana doesn’t come out from a tree. Banana plants don’t have woody stem but large green leaves and stalks. They can be propagated from its own stalks. If you have a banana plant in your farm or any relatives yard then you can grow a banana tree from collecting offshoots from there. Also, you can grow banana tree through purchasing banana seeds from online plant suppliers including amazon.
Types of Banana plants
Banana is one of the most important food crops on the planet earth. it provides us with a healthy source of fiber, potassium, vitamin b6, vitamin c and various antioxidants. Similar to every species in the world, bananas also have variety in its family.
A list of most common types of bananas are given below.
Cavendish Banana: Cavendish banana are the most common banana found at the grocery and near us. The immature banana of this species skin is bright green and tastes not that good. When it gets mature and ripen it takes the bright golden yellow color and it also tastes sweeter. This species of banana doesn’t have seeds. Its plant’s mature size is approximately 6-10 ft. They’re long, slightly bended and cylindrical, with slightly pointed ends. Only this variety have no seeds in it.
Pisang Raja: It is considered as the king of bananas. It is the most productive of the orange-fleshed bananas and produces a slightly fuzzy fruit that is deliciously sweet with no starchiness, thick, creamy texture. It is about 10 to 15 cm long with a thick skin and faceted shape. It will grow up to 20 feet tall in a clumping structure.
Red Banana: They have reddish-purple skin and are smaller and plumper than the Cavendish banana. They have a flesh that is creamy and hint of raspberry sweetness. At maturity, it will grow up to 20 ft tall.
Blue java: They are also known as ice-cream banana for their vanilla ice-cream tinge when ripen. They have a beautiful purple peel and a white flesh along with creamy texture and slight taste of vanilla. They are cold-tolerant variety. At maturity it grows up to 15-20 ft tall.
Plantain: It is the savory siblings of bananas. It is also known as cooking bananas, as it is used mostly for cooking. They are very starchy, green and not as sweet as other bananas, but delicious when cooked especially fried.
Wild banana: It has the close reference to wild ancestors of domestic banana plants. Their botanical name is Musa Acuminata. At maturity it grows up to 20-40 ft. tall.
How can you grow a banana tree from a banana?
You can naturally grow banana tree in two ways.
- By pups or suckers or the offshoots which can be severed from the parent.
- Via seeds.
Now Wild bananas propagate themselves via seeds. So, if you are willing to grow your desired plant, then you should skip the Cavendish variety and go for the wild one. While farming wild bananas, you have to keep that fact in mind that it may taste good but eating them is not a joyful case as it contains many seeds and hard and chewy also. The other variety of the banana propagate through suckers.
In this article, we will show you both the process of propagating banana.
Propagating banana via seeds
So, you can easily grow your banana plant from its seed by taking care proper care of it. Let the seeds grow by soaking them in water, sowing them in sandy and loamy soil, watering them consistently and maintaining proper temperatures.
Here are some easy steps to follow while growing banana plant at home.
- Choose the right seed:
Yes, you read it right. Choose the right seed to germinate. If your seed is not mature enough, then your desired plant will never come out. So collect the seeds from a mature wild banana or purchase it from online plant supplier.
- Soak:
To initiate the germination of banana seeds, you have to take a bowl and put the seeds into it and then cover it with warm water and keep into it until the water cools down and change its color. Let the seeds to soak for 48 hours to soften the seed coat so that the embryo can easily sprout.
- Prepare the Soil:
Take an outdoor bed or a seed tray or a small container where you want to grow your plant. Bring it on the sunny area, fill it with potting soil with plenty of organic compost in the amount of 60% soil or sand or airy loam and 40% organic compost. Mix it properly so it can be a friendly environment for the seed to germinate. Soil temperature must be 60-68 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer to germinate properly.
- Sow:
Sow the seeds ¼ inch (6mm) deep in the tray or pot where you want your to grow your desired plant. You have to keep a look so the soil temperature don’t go above 68 degree Fahrenheit, then the soil will get dry and the germination will not be perfect.
- Watering:
After the sowing process, you must water the seed until the soil is moist, but be careful that the soil doesn’t get over-drenched then the seed will rot in place. Water everyday so that the soil remains damp and get a friendly environment for germination.
- Maintain temperature:
While germinating banana seeds, you must maintain at least 60 degrees Fahrenheit temperature. Some varieties might need as much as 19 hours of cool temperature and 5 hours of warm temperature. It is a fact only; you can also research about how much temperature your seed need.
- Be patient:
After you sow your seed, you must be patient for its proper germination. You can’t make a seed germinate overnight. Some variety completes its germination within 2-3 weeks and some within 2-3 months or longer. It depends on the variety of the seed. So be patient and take care of the seed regularly.
By following the steps mentioned above, you can grow your own banana plant.
Now, we will show you how you can grow a banana plant from splitting a banana offshoot from its parent plant.
- Selection:
Before you go for the selection, you must ensure that your mother plant is healthy and has at least three to four good sized offshoots for transplanting somewhere far from the mother plant. To select a pup, you must ensure that the sucker you are selecting is 2-3 feet tall and minimum 2-3 inches in diameter. Then your sucker will be able to develop into a healthy plant. Make sure that you select a sword sucker. Sword sucker have narrower leaves than water suckers and also a larger root system.
- Division:
After you select the sucker, sever it from the parent with a sharp, sterile knife. Then use a shovel to separate the rhizome. Then lift the sucker and rhizome up and take away from the mother plant to separate the roots altogether. Don’t worry if some of the roots get ruined. Because what you need is a good-shaped sucker and a few healthy roots to spread out under the ground.
- Transplant:
Now when your pup is ready to planted away from mother plant. Plant the pup in same depth you severed from in well-drained soil that has been improved with compost and natural fertilizer.
After all the process mentioned above, what you need to do is to take proper care and patiently wait for the propagation. If you grow your plant in your field or yard then plant it on that place where the plant will get proper sunlight. If you plant it on the container or any pot, then you have to make sure that the container or the pot has drainage way to pass off the extra water. Don’t forget to keep it on the place where it will get proper sunlight.
Conclusion
Here you go. We had explored all the methods how you can grow banana plant from a banana. Now you can grow banana following the steps showed above and have a delicious food crop in your garden or your field.
Grow banana, eat banana, stay healthy and lead a very happy fit life