Does it take alot of water to raise a young banana tree. any advice / tips on raising bananas?

MUSA or banana can be grown by home gardeners two ways. You want a nice looking tropical plant that you can light up next to your pool at night, or do you want fruit to eat? because you can't have it both ways.


If you want the beautiful ornimental lush green, inviting tropical by the pool you'll need a different set of rules. protectiong it from everything that comes natural for the production of good fruit. ever see a banana tree in it's natural suroundings? it's a sad looking, shreaded, beat up, sorry looking thing. wind and rain rip those fat wide leaves apart in no time. but who cares, they want the fruit, to hell with how the tree looks! if you want it pretty instead of fruity, its all in the... locatation, location, location.


Plant out of the wind. make that out of a strong breese. protest from hot afternoon sun. lots and lots and lots of water and high nitrogen plant food and it should look fairly nice by the pool. with luck, a small bunch of tiny bananas the size if fat fingers may actually grow. but if you're looking for the those big, long, yellow things you buy at the store, forget it. at least anywhere north of a sign that reads ';welcome to the united states';. only but a few of the hardest members of the san diego rare fruit growers association, will ever come close.


I took a shot at the banana about 15 years ago. i clucked over my trees like a mother hen. i got bananas. two stalks of the sadest looking, stubby, greenish blackish, stringy tasting mush i ever ate. (sorta reminds me of their offical name... MUSA.) but what the heck, i had alot of fun. ( and isn't that what gardening is all about?!)


here is everything you ever wanted to know about growing bananas this side of panama city...





%26lt;www.ccmg.davis.ecu/gardenlink...





on the other end you'll hook up with some of the oddest, but knowlegeable master gardeners i every avoided at our meetings. most are members of the ';california rare fruit growers association';. these are hard working entheists attempting to grow all the rare tropical fruits that just won't grow in san diego. but they keep trying, bless them.


Good Luck.