Going Bananas

Have you ever thought about growing a banana tree? Well, I have!

In fact, I have four in my dining room right now. Last spring, I wanted to buy a Blue Java Banana Tree. To my dismay, a single six inch to one foot tree was going to cost me $40. But, for the same price I could get four baby trees. I chose the four smaller trees. Which are now as tall as my shoulder, about 3-4 feet of tree and about a foot and a half of container and soil.

I have figured out the secret to growing these babies in Iowa: only put them outside in the spring and summer, make sure they sit in a warm spot, and fertilize regularly with a weak liquid fish fertilizer. Don't forget to provide a bunch of soil so that it can turn the soil into plant. That is it! This is a picture of two different trees, not one. They are both as tall as my shoulder.

One of the reasons for me to sell them is I am out of room. And, when I bump into the leaves, they get damaged. As a result, I'm selling the biggest two in order to make sure I have room for the smaller two to get bigger and grow without being damaged.

4/15/25

It has been exactly six months since I last mentioned the banana trees. And...they have been deleted. A few weeks ago, it got warm outside and I decided to move them outside, but they were so heavy that I could not bring myself to drag them back in a third time in a week. So, I left them and they died. Oh well, it was a fun experiment and I learned a lot from having banana trees!

Another note: I had run out of room for them. I also found a germinated avocado pit in one of the plants, so I kept it.