Giving my new banana plant a good start
 

Hello! I just got a dwarf cavendish banana plant in a little 4" pot (my first banana plant- very excited!) and was wondering if anyone had some tips for giving this little guy a good start on life?
Because of where I live/the fact I live in an apartment, I plan on growing him in a container. My home is very sunny and happens to be pretty humid. I've had really good luck growing other plants here (I have calatheas, marantas, and ferns as well as about 7 succulents/cacti that are all thriving.)
I was wondering about a few things in particular.
-Containers: because my plant came in a 4" pot should I only size up a bit when I re-pot it? Keep it at 4" until it grows more? Also would anyone recommend container materials? I keep a lot of plants in terra-cotta pots to help increase airflow/wick water away from the soil but I know bananas need a ton of water. Also should I let my plant settle in for a few days before planting in a new pot?
-Soil: I've read bananas like a little acidity in their soils. I have some gritty mix made 1-1-1 with pine bark fines/calcined clay/turface (pH 5.5) and was considering maybe using this and mixing it with peat moss to help it retain water. Is this a horrible idea? Should I just stick to soil/perlite or something simpler?
Thank you guys! I know I threw a lot of questions out there.
(Oh! How long should I wait before I start fertilizing my new plant?)
:birthdaynana:

Re: Giving my new banana plant a good start
 

Sounds like a great plan.

Youtube offers an objective view on how to grow the plant out

I use a gritty mix on a few banana plants.......good stuff.

Re: Giving my new banana plant a good start
 

Well, how is it going?

Re: Giving my new banana plant a good start
 

I'm presuming it is a "super dwarf cavendish" you have if it came in a 4" pot. They top out at about 4 feet.



If it is warm in your place, the plant is going to grow rapidly so I would suggest putting it in a 12" pot for now and look to step up to #15 squat-style heavy duty nursery container later on as a permanent home. You can get one from online hydroponics stores fairly inexpensively like here for example https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/HG15PHD. You don't need gritty mix for bananas, just some straight bagged potting mix from any big box store will do fine.

Re: Giving my new banana plant a good start
 

Okay awesome! Yeah I've got it in a 12"pot with some good potting mix and plenty of perlite for drainage. It's already unfolded a leaf and is popping out a new one, too! I picked the regular dwarf over the super dwarf- I believe it's just a young tissue cultured plant.
It's loving life so far!