Growing Bananas in Jamaica

Cool Running Boat Cruises knows that people love gardens and gardening. We were curious to find there are some people in what we consider cold countries, as in they get winter and snow falls, where some gardeners plant bananas outside.
We were more interested, however, in writing about how to plant a banana tree indoors and were really surprised to learn that you can actually grow bananas at home in your living room.

Best Sellers in Walmart!

Cool Running Boat Cruises blog writer also found out bananas are the bestselling item at Walmart in the United States. But, going back to growing a banana tree. We see that you can grow one in a pot inside or in a pot out in your garden.
If you go for growing a banana plant indoors, you might try a dwarf banana plant. Your banana plant (Musa spp.) is a perennial, meaning it will live for more than two years. It is not a tree but herbaceous plant.
If you are living some distance from Jamaica, like abroad, you’re banana starter kit may need to be ordered from your local garden store, or you can mail order one over the Internet, even from Amazon.
You will receive a corm, something like the one in the photo. As the plant grows remember to transfer it carefully to ever-larger pots. As you will see from the video link we found at the bottom of this article you can also grow a banana plant from seed.
Banana corm via WikiMedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banana_corm.jpg
In looking for some quick tips Cool Running Boat Cruises discovered that bananas need well draining soil. It is suggested that after watering you need to let the soil dry out over a few days before giving it another helping.
Bananas need lots of bright, indirect light. When you think of all those banana trees planted up against each other in Jamaica you get the idea of one plant helping protect the other from the direct sunlight. A nice friendly image really.
Surprisingly, you are not to cut off the dying down leaves, because as they turn from green to brown the plant absorbs the nutrients.
If you concentrate on the dwarf varieties you can expect to eat bananas from your own tree. You are limited only by the height of your ceiling and the amount of humidity you are willing to put up with, as they need a lot.

The shortest varieties grow to 2.4 meters or 8 feet and the taller ones 4.6 to 15 meters.
For a lot more information on growing bananas indoors go here (http://www.weekendgardener.net/fruit/grow-bananas-indoors-011001.htm).
If you want to try growing one from seed this is a fun video from Mr Eastcoastman https://youtu.be/1B4fMbJic6U Photo of banana tree by Marian Szengel via WikiMedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Banana_Tree_01.jpg