Best way to plant bananas? - Tiki Carving

H Humuhumu Member San Francisco Joined: Aug 22, 2002 Posts: 3691	H Humuhumu Posted posted on Thu, Feb 19, 2004 7:17 PM Peat moss, peat moss, peat moss! Coming from up north, tropicals are not my specialty (yet!), and I haven't taken the time to actually look up what would be best for your bananas, but using peat moss to amend your soil is pretty much always the way to go. Its natural formation, when blended with your soil, provides ideal aeration and water retention/drainage. When you purchase a bale of peat moss for use in the garden, it's been pH balanced (peat moss is naturaly acidic, about 4.5, they bring it up closer to 7), and has had a wetting agent added (when it ges dry, it's naturally hydrophobic & oleophilic -- it's actually used for oil spill cleanup). The bales are usually sold in compressed form, and will have printed information on the bale for how much it will expand. To use it, empty some out into a wheelbarrow, spray down with water and mix it around, then mix it into your soil as best you can using a pitchfork. Make sure you go down deep enough for appropriate drainage -- this will depend on how deep the banana's roots will grow, which I don't know off the top of my head. By far, the best & easiest thing to do is talk to your local garden center -- those guys live to help gardeners and are almost always extremely helpful & knowledgeable (especially at the mom & pop places). They'll understand things about the microclimate in your neighborhood, which can make a big difference, and they'll be able to help you select other soil amendments & fertilizers, and help you give appropriate year-round care. They can also help you select a good book on tropicals -- so many of the books out there are just fluffy crap. Again, tropicals aren't my arena, so I don't know what a good tropicals book would be. My favorite general books are the American Horticulture Society's A-Z of Plants, and its companion, the Enclopedia of Gardening. Dirr's Trees & Shrubs is another bible, it looks like there's a version for warm climates that would be good. Good luck! p.s. -- another option is to used a raised bed, which allows you to easily provide the very best soil. Bananas tend to not do very well in wind, so if the added height would expose them to more wind in your yard, that may not be a swell idea. Raised beds of course also get a bit colder, so if bananas are a borderline thing in your neighborhood, again, it may not be the way to go. The best tiki bar is the one that's within stumbling distance of your bed The Humuhumu Room [ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2004-02-19 19:19 ]

Peat moss, peat moss, peat moss! Coming from up north, tropicals are not my specialty (yet!), and I haven't taken the time to actually look up what would be best for your bananas, but using peat moss to amend your soil is pretty much always the way to go. Its natural formation, when blended with your soil, provides ideal aeration and water retention/drainage. When you purchase a bale of peat moss for use in the garden, it's been pH balanced (peat moss is naturaly acidic, about 4.5, they bring it up closer to 7), and has had a wetting agent added (when it ges dry, it's naturally hydrophobic & oleophilic -- it's actually used for oil spill cleanup). The bales are usually sold in compressed form, and will have printed information on the bale for how much it will expand. To use it, empty some out into a wheelbarrow, spray down with water and mix it around, then mix it into your soil as best you can using a pitchfork. Make sure you go down deep enough for appropriate drainage -- this will depend on how deep the banana's roots will grow, which I don't know off the top of my head.

By far, the best & easiest thing to do is talk to your local garden center -- those guys live to help gardeners and are almost always extremely helpful & knowledgeable (especially at the mom & pop places). They'll understand things about the microclimate in your neighborhood, which can make a big difference, and they'll be able to help you select other soil amendments & fertilizers, and help you give appropriate year-round care. They can also help you select a good book on tropicals -- so many of the books out there are just fluffy crap. Again, tropicals aren't my arena, so I don't know what a good tropicals book would be. My favorite general books are the American Horticulture Society's A-Z of Plants, and its companion, the Enclopedia of Gardening. Dirr's Trees & Shrubs is another bible, it looks like there's a version for warm climates that would be good.

Good luck!

p.s. -- another option is to used a raised bed, which allows you to easily provide the very best soil. Bananas tend to not do very well in wind, so if the added height would expose them to more wind in your yard, that may not be a swell idea. Raised beds of course also get a bit colder, so if bananas are a borderline thing in your neighborhood, again, it may not be the way to go.

The best tiki bar is the one that's within stumbling distance of your bed
The Humuhumu Room

[ Edited by: Humuhumu on 2004-02-19 19:19 ]

Post #76955 by Humuhumu on Thu, Feb 19, 2004 7:17 PM