Banana … your next houseplant?
Bananas are technically herbs, yet they grow taller than many trees!
And unlike many trees, you can’t prune them to reduce their height.
I’m not supporting my point very well, am I?
Just like herbs, bananas are very fast-growing, pushing out a new leaf every week in the right conditions.
That doesn’t sound much?
What if I said that one of those leaves can be wider than a sofa and longer than a car. Have I convinced you to get a banana as your next indoor plant? No?
Damn.
Let’s try again. Bananas are non-toxic (unlike many house plants). Their rapid growth ensures good air quality. They tolerate low light (though they don’t like it), and some species can survive down to 0°C. And if you’re very, very lucky, they’ll surprise you with a giant flower and a bunch of delicious fruit.
Am I doing better now?
What do bananas like?
The answer I’ve received has always been:
☀️ lots of sunlight
🌊 ️lots of water
💩 lots of fertiliser
🌡 lots of warmth
And I agree, with some caveats. ☀️ Strong unexpected direct sunlight can scorch your banana leaves, 💧 keeping the roots of your banana permanently wet leads to root rot, lots of fertiliser (especially chemical 🧪) will lead to a build-up of salt in the soil, and lots of warmth 🌡 … um, I got nothing here. Lots of warmth is great!
Of these four, be wary of root rot the most. I almost killed one of my bananas because I watered it too enthusiastically. The trick is to have good drainage and to flush the soil once in a while, letting it dry up between waterings.
What happens if/when it blooms?
The banana has a fascinating lifecycle. It starts from seed (at least in the wild), grows roots and then a stem, which is really just a curled up leaf. As more leaves come out from the core of the plant (the rhizome), the root system expands, the stem widens, and the new leaves get bigger in size. It’s just like an upside-down Christmas tree, except that the older leaves tend to die (unless you have impressive green fingers) and so it looks more like a palm tree. As the main stem (or mother plant) matures, new shoots (known as pups or suckers) appear at the bottom. These are still part of the same rhizome, and they are there to replace the mother plant, which dies out after fruiting. Each stem only blooms and fruits once. But the plant is perennial.
Okay, but what about size?
Right. So there is a chance that your indoor banana plant may go through the roof, (this guy really tried), but there are measures to control this. As I said earlier, you can’t prune them. Being a herb, the banana doesn’t have a trunk. It’s got a pseudostem, and if you chop that, the whole thing is gone. What you can do instead is limit the amount of fertiliser, heat, sunlight and pot size to control and essentially slow down the growth of the plant.
Or you can choose a species that stays relatively small, like the Dwarf Cavendish, Super-Dwarf Cavendish, and to some extent, the Musa Velutina.
So, what species of banana should I get?
The answer to this is … in my next post!
