banana admit plants that require tropical conditions as well as those that grow in temperate areas . Related to ginger and the doll of paradise flower , the banana may not look like an herb , but that ’s how it is classified . Not only is it an herb , but it has an secret medulla oblongata , or rootstalk .
Anatomy of the Banana Plant
Like a tulip or other florescence bulb , most of what you see when you look at a banana is leaves . The so - call tree trunk of the bananatreeis in reality a tightly packed bowl of parting . The leave-taking come out from the pith of the “ trunk . ” This structure – experience as the pseudostem – derives its strong point from the overlapping curve of the folio stems .
Banana Relatives
If you liken banana to their relatives pep and bird of paradise blossom , you ’ll quickly see similarities . Each has a knobbly hugger-mugger rhizome from which go forth spring . Ginger rhizomes arm from the independent root , each producing leaves . The bird of paradise flower grow thick , distorted rhizomes in similar fashion to what is called the antecedent lusterlessness of a banana tree .
Climates for Bananas
Commercial edible bananas are tropic fruit , although some mixture can begrownoutdoors in the US in USDA Zones 10 and 11 . Plantains , or preparation bananas , have a slenderly wider reach and are grown in much of the American south . decorative bananas are often grown indoors or in containers , but in the first place as foliage works .
How to Grow Bananas
The banana is a wakeless feeder , particularly during the menstruum when it is throwing up leaves and developing a prime stalking . It needs :
Reproducing Bananas
Although non - edible banana tree varieties can be grown from seed , most growers choose vegetative propagation . The plant throws up fall guy from its main bulb , or rootstock , which can be divided from the female parent flora and replanted in pots or the ground . you could also replant the main electric light in new potting soil , although soft touch typically grow better .
Propagating New Plants
The root great deal , or mat , of a banana plant includes the bulb / rootstock , suckers and roots themselves . In the matured plant , this mat can grow five feet bass and spread over 30 foot . Suckers can be narrow-minded - leave ( steel sucker ) or broad - leaved ( piss patsy ) . The former are a better choice for propagating new plant life .
Storing Banana Bulbs
If you live in a cooler climate , you could comprehend and store the bulb in a sour quad where the temperature does not dangle below freeze . turn out off low foliage and wrecking bar the bulb out of the ground . Cut off roots that extend out of the sol pile – they ’ll moulder . Place a fictile garbage bag over the root word people and move to storehouse . Do not irrigate unless roots seem very juiceless and wilt .
