Growing Your Banana Fruit

Bananas usually take over a year or more before they will flower and produce a crop. They frequently bloom in the desert temperatures but fruit can often be stunted and bland as a result of under-watering and lack of proper fertilization. Quality may also suffer when the flowering stem is surrounded in a dense banana grove or in close proximity to other hungry and thirsty garden vegetation. However, tasty fruit can certainly be achieved in the hottest regions of Arizona.

If you are successful in producing bananas, make sure you protect the bunch with artificial shade so as not to expose to extreme sun. And make sure you protect the tree from wind as the extra weight could cause the tree to break and therefore, destroy all of your hard work (this has happened to us once, and needless to say, it was heartbreaking!)  After a stalk of bananas has developed, it may take awhile before the fruit is mature enough to pick. Cut the stalk at the yoke when the ribs on the bananas have practically disappeared and have the appearance of a supermarket banana. Hang it in a dark, sheltered spot to ripen or leave it protected on the plant. Pick a “hand” at a time as desired to ripen on the kitchen counter like any other banana.

After your fruit is harvested, cut the mother plant which bore the fruit at ground level, as it will never produce again. But don’t worry, new growth will take its place and you can start the growing process all over again.

"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments."
— Janet Kilburn Phillips

Back to: Caring For Your Banana Plants