While organic food fetches a high price for farmers, many Berea residents don’t realise they could be harvesting their own organic produce from their gardens. In this four-part series, Glenmore resident, Deon Braun shares tips to grow fresh produce at home. This week, Braun shares his tips to grow bananas.
BRAUN described the bananas as the ‘original fast food’.
“It’s the world’s most-eaten fruit. And it should be growing in your garden,” he said. “The banana was the Bitcoin of the 19th century, creating huge wealth and investor excitement in plantations cut out of rainforests in central and South America. Like cryptocurrencies, the banana, as we know it, was engineered by man. Evidence of the earliest bananas indicates they were being cultivated in Papua New Guinea nearly 7 000 years ago. All edible bananas today (there are more than 1 000 varieties) come from either one or two crossed Musa species, which had small seedy fruit” said the Glenmore gardener
Perfect for Durban
For Braun, the beauty of the banana is that it’s easy to grow in Durban – a fail-proof source of up to 30kg of fruit. Braun has harvested more than 120 bunches in his garden since 2005.
Braun noted that dwarf Cavendish and the Lady Finger, or Namwah, are the two most common banana varieties in South Africa.
“The Cavendish produces the large curved fruit you buy in the stores. The ‘dwarf’ refers to the plant height (around 3m to the end of leaf tip from the ground), not the size of the bunch or fruit. The Lady Finger/Namwah variety is 6m to 8m tall and lanky, with very long leaf stalks. It produces fruit with a sweeter and denser flesh than Cavendish. It’s the variety I prefer, but its downside is that it can lean once it bears, which might require some propping up with 50mm PVC pipes or bamboo,” he said.
Also read: Glenmore resident shares tips to grow papaya
How to grow them
Braun said bananas love moisture, rich soil, and sunshine.
“For the best results, you’ll need a sunny area of 2×2 metres, a way to give your plant regular water (preferably rainwater), and a thick covering of mulch to keep the soil surface from drying out.Your plant will fruit in eight to 12 months, depending on its size when planted and the attention you give it. Lots of water and compost equals a happy plant, and fruit sooner. Banana pups transplant easily and bounce back fast,” said Braun.
With regular water and feed, a banana plant will take eight to 10 months to produce fruit.
“It will depend on the plant’s size when planted, as well as the conditions you provide. Good moisture (but not waterlogged), warmth, regular feeds of compost or diluted urine for potassium and nitrogen, and lots of sunshine will get you a big harvest, sooner. The banana needs time to build its size before it’s solid enough to carry up to 25kg of fruit. Weak plants will produce smaller bunches,” said Braun.
Bananas can be eaten ripe or dried in strips using a dehydrator while green or semi-ripe bananas can be cooked either soft or hard.
“A microwave does fantastic banana chips, with no need to remove the skin if well washed beforehand,” said Braun.
Also read: Glenmore resident shares tips to grow your own food forest
Fun facts
According to Braun, bananas are technically immortal. Once the mother plant fruits, it dies. However, several new plants will grow.
“It’s best to remove all but one of the daughter plants from each mother plant, as they can crowd around the mother and slow her growth,” he said.
The bad news is that bananas grow vigorously, which can overwhelm garden spaces.”You need to manage them regularly, using a spade to remove emerging plants. Their expanding trunks (known as pseudostems) and suckers can cause concrete fences to buckle and break, so keep them spaced at least 2m from building structures,” concluded Braun.
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