zade

I am in Wisconsin near Lake Michigan and overwintered a Bajou near our house last year. It only grew to about 4 feet however. Expect to do the same again this year with the mild winter.

However, most of my banana plants are in containers in my all glass sunroom. Time to start fertilizing again and I wondered what people recommended is the best for container grown plants and where might you get it from. A few years ago, people recommended in a thread Grow More 15-5-30 but not sure where to even get that. Other suggestions where people have had success with fertilizing bananas in containers?

Thank you in advance.

bananarama2

I have used a similar formulation of water soluble fertilizer on an Ensete M. I kept on my back deck last summer. I'm guessing a person could use the same for an inside plant, but I would think only in a 1/2 or even 1/4 strength. My concern would be buildup in the limited soil of even a large pot by the various salts used to make the fertilizer. Being outside, my plant got regular leaching out of the soil mix by rainfall and extra watering during warm periods. I would prefer to use something like sterilized earthworm castings instead, which would add nutrients every time you watered. Perhaps someone else has more experience with inside kept bananas and could pitch in here. By the way, the Ensete went from a two foot plant to almost 8 ft in what was a rather poor growing year last year, so it was happy in my setting. Good luck!

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Richard

For ornamental bananas (seeded, inedible fruit), use a Citrus-type food with a relative High-Low-Medium N-P-K. For example: 9-3-6, 15-5-10, 20-10-15, 28-8-18.

For bananas you are growing for edible fruit, use a fertilizer that is Medium-Low-High -- and with the "K" value about 1.5 times that of the "N". For example: 4-2-7, 10-5-15, 20-5-30.

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timmko

I am in Marshfield Wisconsin and have grown potted bananas from 6inches to over 10ft in pots using Milorganite (made from water treatment facilities near the Milwaukee Brewery) and plain old bagged cow manure. It has worked great. The manure is about 2 bucks a bag and the only drawback is in a larger pot it does add a quite a bit of weight since it retains moisture. Milorganite is around 12 bucks a bag and I just add 4 cups or so to a 24"pot for starters and then a cup or 2 every couple of months. I also add potassium twice a year which I got from the local coop. Just a cup or so at a time.

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zade

Thank you all for the welcome. I have been watching for a year + but have not posted until now.

As for Millorganite - I am familiar with it since I am near Milwaukee. But the stuff has a strong odor - I use it to keep some animals away from blooming bulbs in Spring. So I do not think I could use it indoors.

I believe there are some processed bags of manure or manure/compost mix that do not smell. Will that do the trick as a fertilizer for bananas? Unitl now, I have been using a Miracle Grow 20-20-20 mix or sometimes more on the acid side.