dkf85281

hi guys, has anyone tried using banana peels as fertilizer or compost for their banana plants? seems like it would be a great idea?

RandyGHO

Roses do well with them.

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Thinking outside the peel always.

momoese

I compost the peels and the plants.

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Mitchel

trebor

OH Yea baby! cut them peals up in small size pieces and place them in you garden or any where your growing a plant. You can just mix then into the ground.. Or bury the complete peel in same area.. I took the time once to toss them in my blender made a paste mixed it into my sunpatiens flowers and BANG!

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If ya can't eat it, it ain't growing in my back yard !

Capitum

Put them in a patch of pineapple or in bromiliads, to promote flowering (or that's what I learned growing up, but I don't have any data on whether ours flowered more than they would have otherwise)

nannerfunboi

nanner peels are great potash source..
i have a source local that i get around 50# of peels a
week..
mine get split (no pun intended) between my worms and
composting..
in the fall when i put vegy garden to bed..i have alot of
peels spaded into the soil with shredded leaves and rabbit
manure.. they slow decompose and makes great addition to
the soil..
good luck to ya !!!!!

kaczercat

I used to do this with all my banana plants I just stopped for somereason, maybe I wasn't eating bananas any more at the time. Thanks for the reminder I will start again today!

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Matt

oakshadows

All of ours get eaten by the cattle so the compost falls short, Our catle love banana anything, I think they are nore bananas than us.

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Richard

To be a significant source of potash, you need to apply over a thousand peels per plant per year.

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crazy banana

So far I do not have any bananas out of my own garden. I wonder if the supermarket bananas are treated with chemicals lets say like citrus or apples to make them look better or to prevent them from rotting too fast. So actually I might add some unwanted chemicals this way.

Richard

After a bit of searching, I found the original post and discussion about Banana Peels.

To have a measurable effect on a single banana plant or fruit tree, you will need 5 pounds of composted peel: think about how light a single dried banana peel is! To provide one year's worth of potash to the plant you will need at least 50 pounds of composted peel.

I started with a store-bought banana, 7 inches long not counting the stem.
Peeling the banana, I weighed:
Fresh fruit alone: 160 grams (yum!)
Fresh peel alone: 64 grams

Drying the peel at 180 deg-F in a convection oven for 3 hours:
Dried peel: 8 grams

So that peel was 87.5% water, which seems about right.

How many peels in 5 pounds?
5 pounds = 2268 grams, so there are 283.5 of those peels in 5 pounds!

If you want to fertilize a banana plant solely with banana peels, you’ll need about 50 pounds composted banana peels = 2835 peels of the variety I tested.

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G.W.

You have to learn how to JUST SAY NO Richard.



ALL MY BANANAS ARE SENSIMILLA

OR
maybe since those chemicals are used by the people who do this for a living you might be adding some WANTED chemicals to your garden ROFL
But seriously, this question about food waste contaminating compost can be answered by googleing "half life pesticides".
Find your pesticide (say Dimethoate to kill fruit flies) find the half life in soil, realize the only thing being contaminated is YOU for eating the fruit.

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I'll be offline for the winter.
Will be back to update sig on cold performance as % of leaves yellowed.
Misi Luki 50% DC 10% Kandrain 30% lowest temp 44f

NANAMAN

The obvious unstated benefit of using compost, (banana peels, or almost anything else composted), is the whole soil- circle of life-food web thing! Those benefits are kinda unmeasurable, but anyone who uses compost and mulches, has experienced the difference it makes. If for no other reason, that's good enough reason to compost those banana peels!

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G.W.

Giving your plant something with a higher analysis than spit is also excellent.

Just think, if you apply nitrogen and potassium at the proper rates you could have your thousand banana peels to compost !!!

__________________
I'll be offline for the winter.
Will be back to update sig on cold performance as % of leaves yellowed.
Misi Luki 50% DC 10% Kandrain 30% lowest temp 44f

dkf85281

thanks guys, i add banana peels, apple skins, and coffee grounds in additon to my regular store bought fruit tree fertilizer.
anyone know how often i should fertilize with the store bought fertilizer? the bag says every couple months, but other online articles says at least once a week or with every watering (which would be every 3 days)?

thanks,
dean

Richard

Depends on the fertilizer. What is the brand name and analysis (NPK) ?


Just for clarity, I was not suggesting to avoid composting. Certainly curred compost is an essential ingredient in a good soil mix.

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dkf85281

hi richard, i bought a local brand (I live in Hawaii) called, Island Supreme Fruit and Flower Fertilizer. The numbers say 10-20-20.

thanks again!
dean

Richard

These are the maximum dosages I would recommend for fertilizing fruiting bananas with 10-20-20. Also, I recommend that when it is economically feasible for you -- switch to something with a 2:1:3 (e.g., 10-5-15, 20-10-30) or a 4:1:6 (e.g., 12-3-18) ratio.

• Very Young Plants, TC's. These have 1 inch or less diameter base, with little or no corm (bulb) development. Dosage: 3/8 teaspoon per gallon of water every watering.
• Young Plant in 2 gallon pot. This has a diameter of about 1.5 inches or more. It might have been a TC that has been successfully grown for a couple of months, or a "pup" with at least a tennis-ball size corm that has been cut off a mother plant. The pstem height (not counting leaves) will be 12 to 18 inches or more. Dosage : 3 tablespoons per month, diluted in enough water to reach the roots.
• Plant (not juvenile) in 10 to 20 gallon pot, or in the ground with a similar amount of root space. This plant has at least a 3 or 4-inch diameter base. Dosage: 3/8 cup per month, diluted in enough water to reach the roots.
• Plant in ground with significant root space; i.e., 1/2 to 1 cubic yard of root volume. Maximum dosage: 9/8 cup per month, diluted in enough water to reach the roots.
• Hydroponics -- Only If The Product Does Not Contain Urea Nitrogen. Dosage (regardless of plant size): 1.5 Tbs per 6.5 gallons of water.

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dkf85281

thanks richard! ...when you say "per month", is it better to divide the dosage weekly or give all at once?

Richard

For plants in soil, it can take up to 3 weeks to uptake all of the inorganic mineral nutrients, and then a few weeks to assimilate them. So even though you may notice a quick response from a plant from some of the constituents, I see no point in applying more frequently than once per month for plants in the ground -- unless you have a fertigation system. Then I'd feed them continuously.

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