Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

This is a 15-month-old Blue Java mat grown from a 1.5 ft tall water sucker, and she has to be the happiest banana I have ever grown. I've been using her as a garden/yard waste dump by building a pile of organic refuse around her, and the results I've gotten from this have blown my mind. It's crazy how you can grow such strong plants with such a simple and sustainable technique.



I established her with a soil amendment of chicken manure, dry organic fertilizer with mycos, azomite, JADAM microorganism solution, and wood chip humus - plus a warm season cover crop cycle. Ever since the cover crops finished up about a year ago, I basically just been piling garden refuse around the base of the bananas. Crop waste, green manure, old potting soil, fruit and veggie scraps, cardboard, paper bags, graywater, and even a rotting wicker basket and some heat treated pallet wood.

Since planting I fertilized her twice with some leftover 3-3-3 organic fish and kelp fertilizer I had just to free up shed space, but she probably didn't need it. All this organic material has been composting down around the mat, and the soil is now rich and crawling with worms, centipedes, sowbugs, and all sorts of other little critters. See pic of the base of the mat with shears for scale and a pic of the topsoil underneath. All the perlite is from the old potting mix I have chucked around her.





I tossed some old rotting sweet potato tubers in there recently and they have also sprouted and taken root. It seems like they will make a great friend for the banana, as I know they do well in part shade in SoCal.

The daughter that came up last season is almost as thick as the mom now yet is only 2/3 as tall. The whole mat has popped out eight pups since March and the mom is about to throw out her first flag leaf. So stoked for fruit!



I wish I had thought to try this earlier. This is such a fantastic and low effort way to deal with compostables using all of our favorite plant. Has anyone else done this? How has it worked out for you?

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

That's quite a plant, nice going! I very much like the idea of composting in place (I am making the assumption that's what you are doing), certainly saves transport time. Are you using all your organic material, i.e. yard debris, kitchen scraps, etc, or are you selective?

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Thanks! Yes that's exactly what it is! I use whatever compostables I have on hand that would work in a cold compost bin or a worm farm. This is at a school garden I maintain for work so I don't get a lot of kitchen scraps there - they have separate composting infrastructure for cafeteria food. If I had a lot of food scraps on hand, I would just be sure to cover them up with additional mulch so they don't attract rodents.

Sometimes I'm also able to snag some tree trimmings from landscapers, and I just make sure not to use any foliage from allelopathic trees like eucalyptus or pepper tree. I have a tiny Sunjoe electric wood chipper I run the smaller branches through, and logs I throw down whole or use as edging for the fruit tree beds there.

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

i have been getting into the Korean natural farming as well
watching chris trump on youtube
i made FAA and plan to capture some IMO but have not gotten around to it yet
thanks for sharing

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Nice! I highly recommend trying JADAM - the preparations are a lot easier and
simpler. He made a video on the JADAM microorganism solution (JMS) that's worth checking out.

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

I've been doing this for about 2 yrs as well. I realized bananas need rich soil, the only time that it becomes a detriment to add plant waste is when it's piles and piles of rotting citrus fruit like from a big farm. I add everything and anything too, including guinea pig poop and my urine. I haven't needed to use fertilizers at all this year and this tall namwa mat has the largest rack of bananas we've gotten so far. When I dig into the soil it's full of worms where previously I never saw any night crawlers. SO much better for the environment to not need bags and bags of fertilizer that run off into lakes and streams.

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Amazing! Totally agree! Those are some really happy looking Namwahs.

Yeah I imagine too much citrus would be an issue. I've added citrus a little bit at a time to worm bins/compost piles and it's usually fine. I wouldn't throw more than a dozen lemons at a time on a banana clump though.

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Here she comes!! :drum: :lurk:

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

That looks very good! That's what I do and it has worked well. In Florida with the hydroponic like sand, wood chips from a tree company are very good to hold water and build soil!

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Update time! Official fruit count is 88. Really excited to try them.

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Time for another update! That first bunch is still hanging and is just about ready. The fruit are looking gorgeous, and have filled out very nicely. I should be able to harvest them just in time for winter. :woohoonaner:





The big daughter has just thrown out a flower bud too. The timing of this one is a bit unfortunate since there is cool weather around the corner, but I am extremely impressed by the yield. 12 hands with 184 fruit total!! This seems on the high end for Blue Java, no?



Even though we have a very high chance of losing fruit over the winter here, especially if they are at an earlier stage of maturity like this, I have decided to give this one a chance. If I get unlucky and lose the fruit, I am sure they will make great fermented plant juice fertilizer.

The mat has continued to grow quite a bit too, and I have still been consistently piling garden waste around the base. I have lost count of the number of pups, and have already cut back one of the larger ones to make mulch. There are probably around a dozen and a half on there. I will be separating many of them in spring. I've been leaning a lot towards leaving more pups on the plant so that I have a high chance of getting one to flower in late spring/early summer, which is the ideal time for ensuring proper fruit development here. I think this is a good strategy for maximizing fruit yields in a subtropical climate such as mine.



We have our first rains of the wet season set to arrive next week, and it looks like we will be getting a lot of precipitation this time around thanks to El Nino. I am wondering how the mat will respond to all of this moisture given that it's growing in a huge pile of compost. Waterlogging can be a real killer of bananas here, but if anything, I imagine all of that extra soil organic matter would help.

More updates to come, so stay tuned! :08:

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

What a beautiful tall plant! I need to read your original thread again to better study everything you've put on it! We started out our plant by just dumping the day's compost on it, too! I remember seeing a video by "David the Good" saying that the bananas that have done the best for him are the ones where he directed his kitchen sink drain pipe to them. Heavy feeders! :)

Re: Using bananas as a garbage disposal = super happy bananas
 

Great technique and impressive plants!! This is how i grow mine too, very satisfying seeing the soil improve and the plants respond