Banana tree, a decorative and edible plant

Flowers appear 15 months or so after stem budding. They are distributed in an inflorescence formed by a huge purple or purplish bud, with female flowers, which are about 5 x 1,2cm, white or purplish, hermaphroditic and male.

The fruit is a false epigine berry 7 to 30cm long by 5cm in diameter. The pulp is white to yellow, very rich in starch and sweet in taste. They rarely produce seeds. A healthy and well-cared for specimen can produce about 300 to 400 fruits per ear..

Its roots are rhizomatous and superficialwhich reach 1,5 meters deep and can cover 5 meters of surface. After flowering, the scions emerge from them that will replace it.

How do you take care of yourself?

If you want to get a copy, we recommend providing the following care:

Location

Due to its size, it is advisable to be outsidein a sunny location. As its root system is superficial, we will not have to worry much about the pipes or others, but for safety and for it to have an excellent development, it must be planted at a minimum distance of 3 meters from any asphalt soil, swimming pools, walls, etc.

Land

Prefers deep, well-drained soils; however, it grows in a wide variety of soils, even those that are poor in nutrients. But it is important that they are moist.

Irrigation

Very frequent. During the warm months it must be treated almost as if it were an aquatic plant, that is, it must be watered every 1-2 days; the rest of the year we will do it every 4-5 days.

Subscriber

From early spring to late summer must be paid with Organic fertilizersLike guano or manure. Also, we can throw him compost, stale vegetables, used tea bags, egg and banana peels, etc.

Planting time

In springwhen the risk of frost has passed.

Multiplication

Seeds

To multiply the banana tree by seeds you have to sow these in spring or summer following this step by step:

1. The first thing we will do is put them in a glass of water for 24 hours. Thus, we can discard those that are not viable (which will be the ones that remain floating).
2. The next day, we fill a pot with universal growing substrate mixed with perlite in equal parts.
3. Then, we place the seeds, avoiding putting too many in the same pot. To know more or less how many to put, you have to know that in, for example, a 10,5cm diameter pot you don’t put more than 3.
4. Now, they are covered with a thin layer of substrate.
5. Finally, a plate is placed under it, given a good watering and placed in a bright area.

If everything goes fine, will germinate in a maximum period of two months.

Stems

To separate the stems from the mother plant, you have to do the following:

1. To begin, we will dig 2-3 trenches around the stem that we want to remove, with a depth of at least 30-35cm.
2. Then, with a serrated knife or a small hand saw, we will cut trying so that the plant does not lose too many roots.
3. Next, we plant it in a pot with universal growing substrate mixed with 30% perlite until it takes root, for which it will need a year, and we water.
4. After that time, it will be highly advisable to plant it in the garden.

Pests

Image – Ecoterrazas.com

• Nematodes: they are a very small type of worm that feeds on rhizomes. It is fought with Cypermethrin at 10%.
• Trips: they are parasites similar to earwigs of about 0,5 cm of black color that lodge in the flower buds but that can also affect the leaves. They are fought with sticky yellow traps.
• Cheap banana: affects the leaves and then the fruit, causing cracks in the skin and wilting. It is fought with acaricides.

Diseases

• Mushrooms: as the Mycosphaerellea musicolamanifested by pale spots on the leaves that darken and spread across the plant. It is controlled by spraying the plant with mineral oil or fungicides.
• Bacteria: the hereque or Ralstonia solanacearum it affects the roots. There is no cure.
• Virus: Cucumber mosaic virus affects bananas, retarding growth. There is no cure.

Pruning

Dry leaves and withered flowers can be removed so that the plant continues to look beautiful. In addition, in large plantations the shoots are usually removed, leaving only one. To do this, what is done is to cut them at ground level using kerosene to kill the yolk.

Rusticity

It can withstand temperatures down to -5ºCbut temperatures below 0 degrees seriously harm it, and -7ºC kills it.

Can the banana tree be potted?

Not ideal, but yes. To do this, it has to be planted in a large pot, at least 40-45cm in diameter, with mulch. Likewise, it must be fertilized from spring to early autumn with liquid organic fertilizers such as guano, and watered very often.

What uses does the banana tree have?

Ornamental

It is a very decorative plant, which, as they say, “makes a garden. Whether it is protected by a wall or by other taller plants so that the wind does not harm it, it looks very pretty in any corner.

Grown in a pot, it can be kept indoors in a bright room without drafts.

Culinary

The fruits, the bananas, are edible. Its nutritional value per 100 grams is as follows:

• Carbohydrates 22.84g (sugars 12.23g and fiber 2.6g)
• Fat 0.33g
• Proteins 1.09g
• Vitamin B1 0.031mg
• Vitamin B2 0.073mg
• Vitamin B3 0.665mg
• Vitamin B5 0.334mg
• Vitamin B6 0.4mg
• Vitamin B9 20 μg
• Vitamin C 8.7mg
• Iron 0.26mg
• Magnesium 27mg
• Manganese 0.27mg
• Phosphorus 22mg
• Potassium 358mg
• Sodium 1 mg
• Zinc 0.15mg

They can be consumed both freshly picked from the plant, and to make cakes, biscuits, sauces, jams or ice cream.

Medicinal

• Flores:
  • In plaster for skin ulcers.
  • Decoction for dysentery and bronchitis.
  • Cooked as food for diabetics.
• Sap:
  • It is applied to the skin to relieve insect bites and in cases of hemorrhoids.
  • It is used to relieve fever, diarrhea and stop bleeding.
• Roots: once cooked, they are good remedies for digestive and intestinal disorders.
• Pulp and peel of ripe bananas: they are used against microbacteria and fungi.
• Fruit: it has a vasoconstrictor effect and regulates gastric secretion.

Did you know all these things about the banana tree?