dmullins57

Hello my name is Debbie and its my first year trying banana trees. I ordered some seeds and am soaking them. How long should I soak. Do I wait til they germinate before putting into soil? Help lol

kubali

Welcome aboard,
pull up a chair and have some fun learning.






Anytime you need advice from members, it always a great to know where you live and what usda zone you are in. we all would hate to give you info on growing something in the south, and you are living in the north.

Max363

Hi Debbie - welcome to the site. With a little searching here you can find lots of answers to most of your banana growing questions. Even when I google search banana questions it often brings me back to banana.org! .... Not sure what type of banana seeds you have but in general you do not soak them until germination (which would likely never happen) - 48hrs or so in warm water might be a good answer. After that you'll want to plant them in soil kept moist by a layer of plastic and warm by some source of low heat. I germinated ensete seeds in a pan heated underneath with a small Christmas rope light snowflake. Growing any Banana plant from seed is the longest most difficult and often most discouraging way to begin your banana obsession err ... I mean hobby! lol I'd suggest getting a few small pups (starter plants) of a kind/s you're interested in (I love any with red in the leaves), and soon you'll be adicted like many of us here. Best of luck to you! Max

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Richard

Well, first of all they are not trees, but instead tropical annuals that sprout from bulbs. In the tropics, they would sprout and bloom within 9-12 months but elsewhere could take 10-60 months.

Second, bananas grown from seed generally do not produce edible fruit. The banana fruits we can buy in the supermarkets are grown from hybrids which have been well documented here on the site. These are not grown from seed but from new bulbs (corms) called "pups". One of the more reliable varieties is "Namwah".

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