For those new to banana plants, here are a couple tips I have learned over the years. Start young banana plants in rich highly organic soil, keep the soil damp to the touch but not drenched. Also keep the plants in temps between 70-90 deg. F with full to mostly full sun. If you buy a tissue cultured plant more time will be required for that plant to grow to a mature size vs. a division or corm from the mother plant. Very small plants will do best in partial sun until they get some size on them.
Once the plants become large fertilize heavily as banana plants are heavy feeders. What type of fertilizer to use? I like organic fertilizers such as seaweed, cow, horse or chicken manure. A good commercial fertilizer I like is a slow release 10-10-10 with minors. I have found that on mature banana plants you can almost never over fertilize a banana plant. A very heavy application with granular fertilizers will kill the weeds but will not kill the mat as most mature banana plants will only consume what they need. There is some variability with different varieties but generally speaking with these growing conditions one can expect flower and fruit within 1.5 years. Once the fruit emerges generally 4-6 months are required for the fruit to mature to an edible size.
Have fun!
