Bananas are the world’s second most popular fruit that unlike the common belief are not trees but herbaceous plants native to the tropical regions of Southeast Asia. Nowadays they are cultivated throughout all the tropics but grown for exports mostly in countries in the Central America. There are several varieties of bananas differing in size, taste and color. When ripe, bananas comes in yellow, purple and red color. Bananas can be eaten raw and fresh but some varieties are meant to be cooked first. Unripe bananas and plantains are mainly used as an ingredient for cooking and preparing numerous meals. Growing bananas is not very hard, but will require special conditions similar to those in tropics.

Bananas do not grow from seeds but rhizomes which can be purchased in nurseries, garden centers or ordered online. Since bananas are native to tropical areas of the world, they will thrive in full sun and in a soil with excellent drainage. This is very important as saturated banana roots can die in a very short period of time, mostly within few hours. The ideal temperature for banana cultivation is around 78-86°F. Banana plants do not like strong winds that can damage its foliage so some kind of protection in form of shelters is required.

To plant a banana rhizome, dig a hole a foot wide and about 12 inches deep. Set the rhizome in the hole, cover it with soil and ram down carefully. If planting more than one rhizome, they should be spaced at least 10 feet apart from each other so the plants gets as much of direct sun as possible. Freshly planted banana rhizomes need to be watered very carefully and sparingly in order to maintain the rhizomes in perfect conditions until the banana plant is well established.

As banana plant grows, it produces several shoots at its base. These shoots are called suckers and they should be all except for one trimmed at ground level. The remaining one is called a follower and will serve as a main stem after banana mother plant fruits. When the banana plant have about 30 leaves, the fruit stem will grow through them from the rhizome and will appear as a group of flowers at the top of the stem. It takes the fruit stem approximately 3 to 4 months to mature. After that fruit bracts cover the stem and roll back, each of them exposing a ‘hand’ of bananas which grow downward at the beginning but as they develop and grow, they turn towards sun and start growing in the opposite direction.

Banana plants love and need lots of feeding. Soil should be therefore rich in organic compost at all times. Since banana leaves evaporate considerable amount of water, the plants need to be watered very often in order to keep the high level of humidity.

Banana plants take up to 9 months to grow and produce matured bananas. They are ready to be harvested when the fruit is still green and round with no obvious ribs and flower bracts are very dry and easy to break off from the fruit top. The stalk of the bunch of bananas should be cut with a sharp knife right above the top hand of bananas. Bananas ripen by producing heat and ethylene gas. If you want to maximize the banana harvest, separate green hands and place them into sealed plastic bags with another ripening banana or other fruit. Banana hands can make use of the gas producing by the ripening fruit and considerably speed up the process. Place plastic bags with banana hands in a cool and dark place and remove bananas after 1 to 2 days. After harvesting, do not forget to cut the mother plant all the way down so the follower can take her place for the next banana growing period.