Wild bananas can be grown from cuttings or seeds into beautiful plants. Practical tips for growing from seed lead to successful results. Hobby gardeners experience this natural wonder up close in their own home.
Offshoots or Seeds?
With the sweet plantain, the seeds were bred away step by step. Propagation takes place via offshoots that are removed from the mother plant at regular intervals.
Very ripe bananas have small, brownish dots in the middle. These are quasi testimonies of the original banana seeds. These cultivars are also known as parthenopcarpic.
Wild banana varieties with seeds:
- Ensete glaucum (snow banana)
- Ensete ventricosum (ornamental banana)
- Musa coccinea
- Musa ornata
- Musa velutina (pink dwarf banana)
- Musella lasiocarpa (Yunnan dwarf banana)
appearance of the seeds
In wild bananas, seed formation occurs after fertilization. Many seeds are formed in the berry.
These are lenticular to irregularly spherical. Its black coloring is reminiscent of dark beans. Depending on the wild variety, they are larger or smaller than a dime. Various seeds are commercially available. The largest are found in the Ensete glaucum (snow banana).
Successful sowing
The hard inner shell of the seeds is filed down with a file. Alternatively, you can use sandpaper. Now they are placed in lukewarm water for 2 to 3 days.
In these tropical conditions, small plants develop at a constant temperature between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius. A special focus should be placed on the choice of plant substrate.
rule of thumb:
The younger the seeds are, the shorter the germination period. Hobby gardeners can expect about 2 to 4 weeks.
tips and tricks
In the meantime, high-quality seeds can be purchased in many shops. However, gardeners who are in a hurry should prefer offshoots.