JoeReal

Main reason why we fertilize a lot is because we remove a lot from banana plants. When we remove fruits, we remove a lot of potassium too. When we throw away the spent pseudostems after fruiting, that counts even bigger too. We also clean up and throw away leaves because some of us can't stand it being so untidy and all. So we pay back for all we take out and to keep up with our vanity. We should practice nutrient cycling via composting, but that's a lot of work and volume in our yard, pests and diseases would recycle too, a lot cleaner, quicker and cheaper to go head out in Home Depot to get the fertilizers.

I practice composting and put back the composted stuff into the base of the banana plants, but still not enough if you are trying to build up your clump or mat.