How to Start Growing a Banana Patch

We grow a dozen different varieties of banana. In this vid I show you how we harvest pups from a clump of bananas then transplant them along my western fence line.
Get your Sleepy Lizard tropical fruit at: www.guacfarm.com

[@docgrowsfood]

The big underground "clump" is called a "corm", and botanically it's a rhizome or "true stem" (the above ground part with the leaves is called a "pseudostem"). Bananas are closely related to ginger and they grow the same way, but with ginger the rhizome is what we eat! Thanks for encouraging home growers to add bananas to their landscape. They are part of my "big 4" for food/calorie producing perennials in the tropics and subtropics: Bananas/Plantains, papayas, sweet potatoes, cassava. For my fellow Floridians wondering about banana varieties, I highly recommend Dwarf Namwah. It's a fast grower, heavy producer (of delicious fruit), compact size, and one of the more cold-hardy banana varieties (I've seen ones up in the panhandle that produce banana bunches).

[@SleepyLizard]

Thank you for the terminology and I agree with you about banana being a good food/calorie producing option. In fact after the lockdown in 2020 we significantly expanded our banana patches and also started planting sweet potato so we'd have enough food to live off if things continued to worsen. It's had a positive impact on our grocery budget. I'm eating a Dwarf Namwah in the opening scene of the vid. 💪

[@docgrowsfood]

@@SleepyLizard That's awesome! While I do love my annual crops, there's just something magical about those crops like sweet potatoes where you can plant them, leave them alone, and they just produce food in tremendous abundance where the only effort on our end is digging them up and processing them. I have a question for you actually. I have a grafted Brodgen avocado that got from a local nursery near Tampa. It was in a 1 gallon pot, maybe 18-20 inches tall. Planted it in spring 2022. After 2 years in the ground, it has grown maybe 4-5 inches vertically, barely has any leaves on it, trunk is still very stick-like and not robust. I know it's alive still because it has a tiny flush of leave growth and it's trying to push flowers right now, it's just not thriving. All of my other fruit trees (citrus, starfruit, a Florida Hass avocado, mango, just to name a few) are growing and producing fantastic, so I know it's not the soil or location. The only thing is it was definitely the smallest of all the other trees when planted (the others were mostly 7-15gal). Maybe it was a bad rootstock or something. I've sunk 2 years into this one and it's going nowhere fast. Basically my question to you is this: How long would you give an avocado tree before giving up on it?

[@SleepyLizard]

I don't give trees any time before I give up. Once I see trouble it's off to the shredder! That said, I don't plant in the ground until they've reached chest height which would be 7 gallon pot. with the whole trees spend year one sleeping, year two creeping and year three leaping...you're about to enter the "leaping" phase so maybe you wanna give it another year. or you can get yourself a 15 gal Brogdan and swap places

[@docgrowsfood]

@@SleepyLizard Thanks for the advice. Considering this is year 3 and it is showing some signs of life, I'll give it one more year to see if it leaps. If it doesn't take off this year I will scrap it and get a 15 gallon tree.

[@SleepyLizard]

@@docgrowsfood good plan and you can also dig up your current tree and try it out I the 15 gal.

[@ChrisBGramz4u]

My sister-in-law feeds her ducks and chickens Sliced/shredded Banana trees. I enjoy watching her with her big sharp knife going to work on a freshly cut banana tree, Old school skills.

[@SleepyLizard]

I bet them chickens and ducks taste good too

[@ChrisBGramz4u]

@@SleepyLizard yes they do, and their eggs.

[@Erelio]

Love your energy !

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you Erelio

[@dingdonglong803]

Another reason to grow bananas is they produce a lot of biomass, from the leaves to the stalks. They make for great mulch and chop and drop.

[@SleepyLizard]

yes

[@MichaelVanecekAuthor]

The big mass of stuff is called a corm, which is the heart of the banana plant. All fruiting culms sprout directly from the corm. The undesirable plant is a water-sprout that forms from a thin protuberance from the corm and is not directly part of the corm like the fruiting culms are.

[@SleepyLizard]

I'm learning a lot from the comments. thank you

[@lorenbush8876]

It's a miracle that you can grow anything with what you have to grow in. Thanks Tom

[@SleepyLizard]

it's surprisingly fertile. but so hard to dig in

[@andrewstillwell5332]

Love the double avacodo 🙂

[@SleepyLizard]

a squirrel must have got at it.

[@nateross14]

Bananas are probably the most amazing and under rated fruit to grow! Yes there are more fancy tasting fruits like Mangos, but if I could only grow one tropical fruit, it would be Bananas. Dwarf Namwah to be specific. Bananas to me are the equivalent of cheap Chinese products being imported.....because they are so cheap and plentiful, there's sort of a false economy with them that we take for granted because someone else is doing all the work and they're always available cheaply and plentifully. I predict there is a future Banana import shortage coming sometime in the next few years, and when they start to disappear from store shelves, their true value will start to be appreciated! Get your Bananas growing now! Build a greenhouse/Walipini if you're in a colder climate. Once you make the appropriate growing climate if you're in a colder growing zone, they are one of the easiest things to grow.

[@SleepyLizard]

I agree.

[@themangovista]

Definitely a must have 🍌🍌 Thanks for sharing 👊

[@SleepyLizard]

do you have a favorite variety banana?

[@themangovista]

Dwarf mahal 🍌because it doesn’t require much attention it’s a heavy producer, good flavor,short and sturdy👍

[@lamins.jammeh2538]

Fantastic presentation.

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you

[@MichaelRei99]

I want to move to Florida so I can grow bananas!!

[@SleepyLizard]

I just ate some from that bunch...so delicious

[@heychrome.]

Can you make a vid on how you plant the monstera too? Good vid btw

[@SleepyLizard]

will do

[@user-ur6gy4gm4b]

Amazing video! Keep up the great work!

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you

[@toconnor3606]

This was a great video!

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you!

[@JoseRuiz-vm8hr]

Another Great Video!

[@SleepyLizard]

thanks Jose

[@greatergood3706]

I chop up old stems, then put thin layer of arborist chips on top. The soil creatures eat the old stem to nothing in about 45 days. I got the rocky soil like Tom.

[@SleepyLizard]

gotcha

[@rosemarycividanes8364]

Sword sucker is the one you want to keep

[@SleepyLizard]

yeah that's what I've learned...the conical one.

[@billb744]

It was nice to learn about bananas. How do the bananas do as compost? Do they require fertilization and what kind. Thanks Tom! 😊😊Bill

[@SleepyLizard]

I hit them with 8-3-9 fertilizer when I want them to produce...once I get a few bunches going I back off so I don't get too many at once. I kind of rotate which patches I'm fertilizing. I don't like to use the stalks as compost because sometimes instead of decomposing they stay alive and sprout pups in the compost pile.

[@billb744]

@@SleepyLizard I push the browns into the grass areas, when mowing I use the bag and place it around the base of of the trees as compost, does amazing!

[@SleepyLizard]

@@billb744 oh if you mean the leaves, yeah I mulch them up. the stalks I just throw on a pile in the back corner and hope they don't start to grow again

[@steveandjenny149]

Well said 👍

[@SleepyLizard]

💪

[@nateross14]

One thing to be aware of with transplanting Banana pups, it's not crucial to have any roots on the pup corm when you dig it up....if you're going to directly transplant within a few minutes or hours, then trying to save as many roots as possible on the pup can help it establish faster if they get in the ground fast enough, but my experience buying pups online shipped to me is that any roots turn black and die bu the time they get to me. I just plant it and it grows new roots quickly.

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you for the tip

[@TheRealRavenQuest]

New subscriber here with a question: Can Bananas be grown in San Diego California? I've heard that Bananas require very tropical weather.

[@SleepyLizard]

Welcome to the channel! And yes you can grow bananas in San Diego. Look up the USDA hardiness zone for your zip code then google which banana varieties grow best in your zone.

[@docgrowsfood]

You absolutely can grow bananas in zone 9+ (San Diego is 10b), but the caveat is you will have to provide them with extra water. Here in Florida we get enough annual rainfall where they don't need any additional water, but in the desert southwest you will need to give them more than what your climate provides. But don't let that discourage you! Put them in range or your sprinkler system or put them on drip irrigation and enjoy the literal fruits of your labor!

[@ramirodiazguerrero2723]

Tom debiste darle el corte de la vida a los hijos de bananas eso asegura que estimulen el crecimiento y mejor enrraizado, pero fue un vídeo muy entretenido y didáctico

[@SleepyLizard]

que es el corte de la vida?

[@ramirodiazguerrero2723]

@@SleepyLizard a los hijos de plátanos y bananos se les llama colinos cuando los siembras deberías cortar la parte superior de éste. Esto se le llama el corte de la vida, esto inducira a la planta a echar nuevas raíces y a crecer de manera más rápida y sana

[@bijunp8139]

❤ from southern part of India 😂😂 cow dung and NPK chemical fertilizers using for Banana plants...summer is the worst thing... some sort of insects and fungal infection still I managing over hundred plants 😂

[@SleepyLizard]

sorry o hear about the insects. good luck!

[@IandiBoats]

Bananas propagate as a rhizome, so I believe technically it's a grass. 🙂

[@SleepyLizard]

interesting

[@steveandjenny149]

Banana circles.....I've got em, kinda get outta control when I'm lazy😂

[@SleepyLizard]

yep, like bamboo. they start to grow and migrate.

[@greatergood3706]

Chop and drop if you don't mind the untidyness 😊

[@SleepyLizard]

@@greatergood3706 yep...you've seen my vids...I'm 99% function 1% form 🤣

[@rosemarycividanes8364]

They are all connected to the mother

[@SleepyLizard]

yes

[@tropicalgardenchannel6765]

Great video! Love growing bananas in Florida🍌🌴 What is your favorite variety?

[@SleepyLizard]

my favorite is the Gros Michel

[@bidenisasnake9932]

Odd, I was told to harvest the Rounded leave pups and discard the Spear point pups.

[@SleepyLizard]

I don't know...I've never found any written documentation on it.

[@BAghz00]

Great information. I want to grow Gros Michel banana. Where can I buy some?

[@SleepyLizard]

Try Going Bananas in Homestead FL

[@jorgefiguerola1239]

Did you know that the standard yellow banana is called Cavendish?

[@SleepyLizard]

yep. and before that the industry standard was the grow Michele and it it delicious

[@jorgefiguerola1239]

​@@SleepyLizard According to Google, it is Gros Michel, Big Mike. Still grown. Cuba does but under the name Johnson. Ha!

[@sheckydiamond7533]

Try not to cut yourself with the machete.

[@SleepyLizard]

thank you for having my back

[@rosemarycividanes8364]

If they are dry it isn't because of the weather thats what i thought read up on banana weevil.

[@SleepyLizard]

😱

[@Abe8816]

can you please make a video about lychee

[@SleepyLizard]

ok I will

[@Abe8816]

@@SleepyLizard please do dome on seed starting, grafting/air layering and general care please! (just a few suggestions 😁)

[@michaelmoore7550]

How long after you plant them will they fruit?

[@SleepyLizard]

12-15 months

[@davidjslack]

Have you considered selling the baby Monstera plants?

[@SleepyLizard]

I've sold people cuttings.

[@greatergood3706]

Can Monstera deliciousa be grown in heavy shade and still produce?

[@greatergood3706]

How long before a cutting establishment and fruit production?

[@davidjslack]

@@SleepyLizard I’ll keep an eye out on your web site. I watch all your videos and hope to patronize your business for the awesome products but if nothing else a thank you for your content.

[@SleepyLizard]

@@davidjslack thank you David.

[@georgethomas7040]

How many bananas can you have in a day?

[@SleepyLizard]

I never counted but when we have a ripe bunch I eat them all day long

[@user-gg9mk3di2s]

Do you sell monstera deliciosa starter plants

[@SleepyLizard]

thanks for reaching out. I don't sell plants and trees online only fruit. if you are local and would like to come for a cutting of monstera I can sell you one.

[@user-gg9mk3di2s]

Thank you for your response I'm in Golden Gate Estates and I don't make it over to Miami anymore,,, I found one on eBay it says it's from a fruiting plant hopefully it'll work out

[@pamsam2284]

Where are you?

[@SleepyLizard]

Homestead FL

[@HoneyBerighthere-Saysarath]

Just let mother nature do it's thing dude. Do not cut anything. Wait 5 years.

[@SleepyLizard]

Do you not consider human beings part of nature?

[@marcrowe4364]

Be afraid

[@SleepyLizard]

😱

[@marcrowe4364]

This is not good