5 Tips How to Grow a Ton of Bananas in the Backyard

you say banana i say banana g'day i'm ma from self-sufficient me and in this video i'm going to give you my five top tips on how to grow a ton of bananas let's get into it [Music] once you taste a banana that has been allowed to fully sweeten and draw those nutrients goodness and sugars from the plant you will never forget that experience [Music] [Music] tip number one planting bananas grow best in warmer climates but some people do grow them in cold climates in heated greenhouses or even in containers so that they can be moved indoors during winter for a backyard banana grower i think the best way to start them is from sucker growth or small plants purchased from a reliable retailer these plants behind me except for the small one there were all started from just two plants i found growing off the side of the roadway in our local area technically it's a bit naughty of me to take them due to the risk of introducing diseased bananas onto our property such as bunchy top but a quick inspection of the plants showed no signs of ill health so i took them and they turned out to be the best tasting bananas we've ever grown for free i purchased this ladyfinger here only recently they call it cool bananas from our local nursery so i'm keen to see how that grows compared to these other ladyfingers that i got for nothing there are lots of fun and different varieties of bananas to explore such as dwarf for containers or small backyards or even different colored varieties if you want to seek them out but for a backyarder it's hard to go past the everyday ladyfinger they're deliciously sweet and easy to grow generally commercial banana growers will spread their trees out in rows a few metres apart this makes sure they don't rob each other of nutrients and water it also makes it easier to manage from a farming perspective however i like to grow our bananas in groups because it saves space is easier for me to manage and i just reckon a bunch of banana plants looks great in the backyard banana plants produce suckers which are clones from the original plant grown from its rhizome or root system these suckers can be dug away from the mother plant to be regrown elsewhere plant them in good fertile free draining soil because even though bananas love lots of water they will easily rot and die in boggy ground dig a hole and plant them just like any other fruit tree and pretty soon you'll not only have bananas but you'll also have new plants popping up to replace the old ones hey did you know that bananas are a distant relative of ginger it's true don't forget to check out my how to grow a ton of ginger video tip number two growing the variety of banana that you grow will often determine the size of the bunches and i've seen some massive backyard banana bunches but no matter what variety you have ensuring the plants are looked after will also help to grow better bunches with nice fat fruit make sure the plants are getting regular water and are not subjected to long dry spells although banana plants will survive in dry conditions they won't fruit very well at all banana plants benefit from extra feeds with organic fertilizers such as chicken pellet manure or organic blood and bone mixes natural manures from your own animals are also great to use because we grow our bananas in clumps i like to direct compost kitchen scraps into the center of the plants yeah i know this method might not be suitable for everyone particularly if your plants are near the home because sticking compost in the center of the plants can get a little stinky but if the plants are away from the house like ours this is a really good method of getting extra feed into them i recommend feeding banana plants several times during the life of the plant and during the main growing season i don't feed the plants through our subtropical winter for example if using a typical commercial organic fertilizer such as chicken manure pellets i would throw three or four handfuls around the base of the tree every two to three months in spring summer and autumn mulching yes here we go again you know i love mulch but mulching around the banana plants is really important and very good for them especially when first starting bananas off luckily banana plants tend to provide their own mulch as it grows the dead leaves can be removed and it around the base of the plant to help retain moisture suppress weeds and provide extra nutrients tip number three protecting bananas are particularly attractive to wildlife i wonder why bats birds possums rats will all attack bunches of bananas as soon as they are showing signs of ripening sometimes animals will try bananas even when they're green leading to rune fruit that just rots on the tree or falls off onto the ground it's enough to drive you dare i say it nuts bananas we bag our bunches to prevent the animals getting them even when fully ripe and falling off the hands our bananas are safe i now attach a galvanized mesh to the base of our banana bags and this stops the clever fruit bats from climbing up inside the bag and getting to the fruit there are lots of pests and diseases that can affect banana plants and the fruit so monitor the plants and if you see something unusual such as sudden die back then investigate and deal with it early surprisingly the dreaded fruit fly doesn't touch our bananas despite being a major problem in our area for other fruits and i haven't seen any sign of pest or disease common in commercial plantations i think the reason for that is the small footprint of backyard banana growing doesn't allow for big populations of nasties to generate and grow tip number four harvesting you're looking at about 12 months give or take a few months either side for a banana tree to finish growing and producing its fruit after a few years of allowing suckers to turn into new plants it's possible to have a staggered growth of bananas at different stages and a regular supply of fruit just like most fruits the longer they are left on the tree to ripen the better during the final stage of ripening the raised vertical lines running along the length of the fruit smooth out and the fruit swells and once this happens you can effectively harvest from then on there's a popular myth going around online that i've read a few times people saying that bananas left to ripen on the tree fully aren't as sweet and they lack a good texture the only reason i can think of why this would be promulgated is as a misinformation to justify the artificial ripening of supermarket bananas regardless i can categorically say that bananas left to ripen on the tree or close to it are definitely better than anything picked really early having said that there might be reasons why backyard bananas are harvested before they are fully ripe such as storm damage or pests targeting the fruit therefore it's inevitable that some hands of bananas might be at various stages of ripening when you do harvest the bunch anyway so just eat the ripest first and then the rest can be left to ripen on the kitchen bench personally i don't go through the trouble of harvesting a hand at a time off the plant i remove the full bunch once i see them ripening and sometimes i forget all together until they're falling literally off the stalk oops banana plants only produce one crop so once the bunch is harvested i chop and drop the plant to be used as mulch for the new developing plants tip number five using the glut a glut of bananas or too many bananas is never a terrible thing it can only ever be a wonderful problem to have firstly it means success as a backyard banana grower and growing your own food is always special secondly it's a good excuse to overeat on one of the most famous nutritious and delicious fruits known to man and thirdly it's an opportunity to use your glut of produce in many ways try freezing to use later for smoothies to make fruit ice cream or sorbets or in baking dehydrate them into banana chips and dust them with cinnamon for extra flavour make them into fruit leather rolls how would you use a glut of bananas write your suggestions and tips in the comments section below so that we can all have a good read and learn from it and that's it those were my five top tips on growing a ton of bananas planting growing protecting harvesting and using the glut practice these things and you'll be growing a ton of cool bananas just like i can don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already and give us a big fat ladyfingers thumbs up i'm also on patreon if you'd like to support me there thanks a lot for watching bye for now oh what the heck i might as well eat this quite a way to finish a video

Channel: Self Sufficient Me

Views: 960,009

Keywords: how to grow banana tree, how to grow bananas, how to grow banana tree in pot, tips for growing bananas, banana growing tips, how to grow bananas at home, how to grow bananas in cold areas successfully, how to make new banana plants for free, how to plant a banana tree, best tips for growing bananas, top tips for growing bananas, banana, grow bananas organically, organic banana growing, self sufficient me, ton, self sufficient me banana, backyard, california gardening

Id: -UjhlNoTLIE

Length: 10min 43sec (643 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 14 2018