How to Grow a Banana Tree

Monday, 21 May 2012

This is only the second summer that i've had my banana tree after receiving it from Amazon in February of 2011. I've been surprised by how well it survived and grew this past year. Here are some of the previous pictures and posts where i've written about it.

Banana Tree - 2011
Banana Tree Update - 2011
Banana Tree Planted - 2011
Winter Seeds - 2011

Now it was time to move the banana tree from my living room, where it had been sitting all winter, to the backyard. It was a pain to move outside, it weighed about 100 lbs. I'm surprised the bucket didn't break. But the tree was alive, healthy and all the leaves looked green.

but then...

The phrase about March "comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb" didn't really seem to be true this year. The end of March was cold and so was April. The temperatures dropped down to the 30's at night. My banana tree died. I guess that's why there aren't a lot of banana trees in Michigan.

It's not actually dead, the root system will hopefully send up a new tree when it warms up. But just the fact that i moved it indoors all winter just to move it outside too early and let this happen, is a bummer.

So i cut it down to a stump.

As it warmed up during the month of May, two new shoots came up. So i decided to transplant it from the big green bucket to the ground. You can see the new banana tree shoots on either side of the stump.

So hopefully in the next month i will see one or maybe two new banana trees growing in my backyard.

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Banana Tree Update

Saturday, 27 August 2011

Before it gets too cold i thought that i should move the banana tree to a bigger pot. The roots were completely growing out of the old one.
Here's 1 of 2 new trees sprouting up.
The bigger pot weigh's probably close to 100 lbs with all the dirt in it.

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Banana Tree

Friday, 12 August 2011

6 months ago in the middle of February i ordered this banana tree from Amazon.com. It cost $4. It was delivered to my house when it was 10 degrees outside and sat outside on my porch for almost a day. When i opened up the box and saw it, i was sure it was a goner.
But i watered it and put it in my little greenhouse by the window and was surprised that new leaves were coming up.
By spring it was growing great with lots of roots so i moved it outside.

Here's what it looks like now, it's grown a ton. A new leaf comes up out of the center almost every week. I'm planning on bringing it in for the winter but then next year planting it permanently outside. I know it will die in the winter but it should grow back every year if the roots don't freeze. Pretty soon i won't have to be paying those outrageous fees of 84 cents per pound for bananas at the grocery store.

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Banana Tree

Thursday, 16 June 2011

I'm surprised how well the banana tree grew in my house. It had lots of roots.
With it now being 80 degrees i decided it was safe to move and replant outside.
It likes a lot of water. I've noticed that even watering it every day outside isn't enough, the leaves sag a lot and turned brown. But a water pan underneath it's doing better.

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Winter Seeds

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

During the same time that i was trying to get the lotus seeds to sprout i also tried growing some other plants. First i ordered a banana tree online for $4. It showed up in the middle of winter and looked pretty hopeless.

But since then it seems to have recovered. It shoots up with 2 new leaves every 2 weeks.

Also i tried planting garlic and an onion. They are both growing great so far in a small pot by the window.
I also brought home palm tree seeds from when i was in Las Vegas and Phoenix. I'm not sure what type of palm it is, but here's what it looked like. You can see the seeds near the bottom and on the ground.

I couldn't get the seeds from the really big California Palm trees, they were too high up and most of them weren't ripe yet.

But i took the smaller palm seeds home with me, then removed the outer "fruit" part.
I soaked the seed for a day in water then put it in a plastic bag with a damp paper towel. Out of probably 15 seeds that i did this with only 4 sprouted. The rest showed no signs of doing anything. But it turned out that they just took longer, around a month and a half they began to sprout.

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