I have just come back from Fuerte Ventura in the Canary Islands and while there I bought some Banana seeds, but the packet didnt have any instructions on how to plant them. Does anyone know what is the best way to get results please? Do I need to soak them first or just plant them and keep them warm? Any advice would be welcome. Nath
Ive rescearched banana trees because I have always wanted one and I have found this for the main part. many banana trees do not like any cold weather. some banana trees require sertan soils. Most like full sun. and they like fertilizer + compost. You might want to tipe into google: how to grow banana trees, species of banana trees in Fuete Ventura Canary Islands. To get additional info. Also in some ways people are more better off buying a live tree than trying to start one off from a seed. I would do alot of research if I were you before you plant your seeds.
Nath - I can give you some limited information on this, but the best thing you could do is check out the International Banana Society. First of all, what type of banana are the seeds from? Some species have special requirements, while others are reportedly quite easy to sprout. Your young plants, obviously, will need to be kept indoors until summer. Eventually, with care and luck, they will become large plants; at this point you can probably put them outside so long as you protect the pseudostems well during the winter. You definitely need to soak them first, and only keep the seeds that sink after 24 hours. Floaters are rotten seeds, and you'll never get them to germinate. The process for germinating banana seeds can be found here.
Thanks for both of those replies. I do have banana palnts that I am growing that I bought as baby plants and they are doing quite well, but I thought it would be fun to experiment with some seeds too. The variety I bought are Musa Veluntina if that helps. I did find some information on Google that said to soak the seeds for 2 weeks before sowing them in some sterile compost so I will follow that and see what happens, only 6 more days to go. My original bananas are throwing up babies every couple of months so I do have plenty to experiment with. I did see this week on a gardening forum that there is a new species of Musa that has just been introduced to the UK that is very hardy can tolerate temps of -6 and will give fruit in summer once mature. I may give that a variety a try too. Mine are fine in the conservatory though and growing quickly. I just took it for granted that when we lived in Mexico the banana "trees" were every where and just seemed to exist I never noticed them growing they were just all around us, so its been fun trying to grow some for my garden here while we live in the UK. Lorax, I will give the Banana Society link a try and see what advice it gives. Nath
I bought already established Musa Basjoo and seeds. The ones I bought did amazing, the seeds,....just fair. 1 out of 5 seeds germinated. I will try again.
Many varieties of bananas do not produce eatable fruit. Musa Basjoo is normally grown for it foliage. It is a beautiful plant, give a tropical look to the landscape, and is rather "cold" hardy. Among the easiest fruiting bananas to grow is the Grand Nain, which is the Chiquita banana. - Millet
Size on container-planted bananas is limited by the size of the container. In the ground, Basjoo can get up to 6'-8' of pseudostem, with about another 5'-6' of leaves after that. In a container, they can successfully be kept to a maximum combined size of about 8'-10' which so long as you have generous ceilings will be just fine. Basjoo in a medium-sized container will eventually bloom and fruit, (which is really neat, even if the fruits aren't strictly edible) and will also send up pups (suckers) which you can separate from the mother and replant.
I have not had much success with bananas yet. Ten months ago, on a whim, I bought a package of seeds labelled "Banana Plant" from T & M. Germination was said to take 1-6 months. The package called for the seeds to be soaked for 1 day, in warm water, but various articles on the internet said that they should be soaked for a longer period than that so I soaked them for 3 days. Then I put them in soil and left them in a warm humid area. In May, after three months I read somewhere that they need a period of fluctuating temperatures, so I moved them to my plastic-covered hoop greenhouse where the temp fluctuated significantly from day to night. In June, a month later, when I took the greenhouse down for the summer, I moved them back inside to a high-humidity high-warmth area. It is now about 10.2 months since they were first sown and they show no signs of life. I received a package of Musa Sikkimensis last week from Tradewinds Fruits and am about to put them in warm water for a few weeks - although the package says nothing about this - and we will see if the gods smile on me this year.
