Gardening – Growing bananas in small spaces

Bananas are the fourth most valuable food product in the world after wheat, rice and milk, and notable amongst widely grown crops for their lack of genetic diversity. Almost all commercial production uses one hybrid variety, the Cavendish, a genetically identical clone. Because of this, the Cavendish banana is under serious threat from the fungal Panama disease, Tropical Race 4 (TR4), which threatens to wipe out the variety globally.

However, in Northland, the variety of bananas grown is staggering, and on a recent visit to one of these growers I was able to purchase a number of varieties: Blue Java, Mona Lisa, Ducasse, Red Dacca, to add to my collection, which already includes Goldfinger, Cavendish, Lady Finger and Misi Luki.

Bananas are perennial herbs grown from a large rhizome, which is actually a stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. New leaves grow below the ground, pushing through the middle of the plant and emerging as “stems” of tightly packed leaves. New suckers (pups) grow from the rhizome, and these can be removed to grow new plants.

Bananas are nutrient hungry, so when I prepare the soil, I incorporate plenty of compost and manure in a sheltered, sunny location. Luckily, we don’t get frost here and have plenty of sunshine. Growth often stops when the temperature drops below 15°C but it will begin again once it warms up. A one-metre-high stem will take up to two years to flower and produce fruit. 

Mature banana clumps will produce surplus suckers that can be harvested to grow your plantation. I keep just three stems per clump to retain fruiting vigour: the mother that is flowering and bearing, the daughter as the next main stem, and the granddaughter to take over from her, and the surplus stems to sell or give away.

We harvest the bananas once the first banana in the bunch shows some colour, and then hang it in the covered deck area where it will naturally ripen away from birds. 

Banana vegetation is full of water, so we cut up the old leaf stems and any mother plants that have fruited, and stack them around the plant-clump base as mulch. We also remove any dead and damaged foliage to reduce the risk of fungal infection

If your garden is sheltered and warm enough, banana plants produce nutritious and delicious food in a small space in a short time.