Banana
Musa acuminata

days to maturity: Approx 1 year for fruit
plant spacing: 1 plant per 12 square feet
sunlight requirements: 6-14 hours
look out for: bananas need to be managed and have lots of fertility
harvest notes: whole stalk should be harvested when one banana turns yellow
seasons: spring, summer, fall
perennial

Bananas are some of the most popular and exciting fruit we can grow in a backyard in the tropics, and people love it not just because the fruit is so delicious but also because it can take just one year from planting to get your first fruit. But, don’t take that to mean that you just plant the thing and one year later there is fruit, bananas need to be managed properly for fruit production or they’re likely to just sit there in your yard and frustrate you. Definitely read up on care and management and heed our most important warning: keep them well fed with organic granular fertilizer and lots of mulch! We hate to see a banana without a big messy pile of yard debris piled up around it, because we know that banana isn’t going to make much fruit… Bananas are heavy feeders and love having composting material around them at all times.

We source our banana plants from local legend Don Chafin at “Going Bananas”. Give us a call to see what we have in stock. If you are hoping for a very diverse selection of bananas we recommend you go to Going Bananas yourself, they take appointments for retail sales. We tend to stock only their most popular varieties.