Adopt a Banana Pup

San Diego, ever wanted to grow your own bananas?

My wife and I “installed” 2 bananas plants in February, 2016.

They looked like this…

Now they look like this…

The bananas grow off of a stalk, called a peduncle. The fruit emerge from a burgundy missile, a type of inflorescence named a thyrse.

Once the plant can’t support more fruit, the rest in the chain fall off.

They don’t go to waste, though. Back into the circle of life (aka my compost pile).

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Back to the fruit…

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Banana plants are more like ginger or grass than trees. What looks to you like a tree is more like a productive blade of grass that grows on a mat, with other “blades”, off a single rhizome.

The same rhizome produces more grass, each blade called a “sucker” or “pup.” Left unchecked, the plant will produce so many pups that none can be productive.

So every now and again one has to meet with an accident.

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If you know anyone with a banana plant, the pups are easy to replant:(https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/fruits/banana/dividing-banana-pups.htm).

They require as much sun as San Diego offers, and regular watering.

Mine are planted in clay, which is great for retaining water and nutrients, however it requires a thorough gypsum-thick soaking a couple times a year.

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For more about bananas, check out the following links:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/8-things-you-didnt-know-about-bananas

http://www.promusa.org/Morphology+of+banana+plant

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Thanks for reading and stay tuned!!