Allowing more than that to grow, spreads the plants resources too thin to produce well. After a few years, when the corm gets a little older and larger, leave two baby shoots to grow for the following year. Cut them off with a shovel when they are small, leaving the one most vigorous shoot to be next year’s banana producing shoot, as well as the large shoot that was already present of course. If you follow the four rules above, then your plant will be very happy, and respond by sending up many little baby shoots… way too many shoots. There are two times when you need to prune a banana plant. I start fertilizing when I see the first new leaf emerging in the Spring, and I continue until the average daily low temperatures drop below 60F in the Fall. Don’t aply any fertilizer in the Winter months. Bananas stop growing when temperatures get too low. Use 1-1.5 lbs of granular fertilizer, every month during the growing season. The Ideal ratio for banana fertilizer is 6-2-12. It sounds like a lot, but it settles down to less than two feet very quickly, and it breaks down over time. I pile the mulch up about three feet deep around the base of an adult plant. Compost, or any other organic mulch works fine. Pile it right against the trunk of the plant. When you plant a baby banana, start with several inches of mulch, and add more as it gets taller. Most plants will rot if you pile mulch up against their trunk, but not bananas. This is the key to having a thriving banana plant. In dry conditions a large established plant can survive on the moisture stored in the corm, but this weakens the plant. Standing water will rot the corm, and kill the plant. If they get less than that, they will grow, and can be a beautiful part of your landscaping, but they won’t produce bananas.īananas don’t like to be dry. They need at least four hours of direct sunlight to produce fruit. Bananas need full sun to really do their best.
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