Quote:
Originally Posted by TrailGaiter
I am a first time banana grower in southern WI (zone 5). I am still (not so patiently) waiting to plant my two pups I ordered outside....they are doing quite well, and as soon as a new leaf unrolls, a new one is starting to pop up, so I imagine they're happy, despite some brownish/drying on some of the lower leaves. Probably from being inside. I am putting them outside on nice days for some sunlight, preparing them for when I can put them in the ground, and keep them by a window. Needs to be a west-facing window...to keep my cats from chewing on them.
Anyway...I'll most likely need a banana-suitable fertilizer for them, and am wondering if anyone can suggest what to use, and if I can order online? I'm not sure if I'll find anything locally in stores. Should I wait to fertilize till I get them in the ground (hopefully in another week or two)? I want to do right by these guys, I can't wait to watch them grow!
Thank you!
Angie
|
Try chicken manure, it has been referred to as the rocket fuel of fertilizers and it does not kill the microbes in the soil like regular bagged fertilizer. As for pH, frankly, I have not bothered with it since I got a pH testing kit when I was 14 or 15.
In the exceedingly poor soil of the Florida Keys, I had bananas next to Barbados cherries, next to star fruit, next to mangoes, ferns, Key Limes and so forth. All got the same treatment, chicken manure and kitchen scraps. Not a disease to be found and nary a hostile insect in the lot of them. I left the caterpillars on the Key Lime because they become butterflies and their bite injects a little tannic acid into the plant, which helps with its health.
