If you want to plant a Indian banana, you will find it in local tree nurseries and online shops. But the tree, which originally comes from North America, is not exactly cheap to get there. The idea of multiplication quickly comes up. But how can this succeed?

Indian bananas are easy to propagate from seeds

Feasible propagation methods

Even if a mature plant is available. The propagation of cuttings, which effortlessly helps us to obtain new specimens in many types of plants, is in vain here. These three methods promise more success:

  • Propagation from seeds
  • finishing
  • Propagation by root cuttings

Propagation from seeds

You can grow the Indian banana from seeds. However, this is associated with some effort, since it is a cold germ.

Some internet shops offer seeds for sale. Ten of them are priced under five euros. You can also get seeds from a ripe Indian banana, but you have to remove the flesh from them.

  1. Place the seeds in sand and store them at a temperature between 2 and 6 degrees Celsius for 8 to 10 weeks.
  2. Then sow the seeds in potting soil.
  3. Place the growing pots (€16.68) in a bright place and at least 20 degrees Celsius warm.
  4. Wait patiently for germination. This takes place after about 60 days, sometimes later. The root develops first, followed later by above-ground shoots.

tips

The sown trees should be grafted after about two years, otherwise they will produce rather small fruits.

finishing

The grafting of an Indian banana is the common method of propagation when it comes to getting a cultivar. An Indian banana must already be available as a starting point, as well as a scion of the desired Indian banana variety.

However, it is not always easy to get a suitable rootstock and a scion. So it may be that the expensive purchase of an Indian banana that has already been processed is the better alternative. To make matters worse, the refinement requires professional skills and therefore a hobby gardener can certainly fail.

Propagation by root cuttings

The Indian banana has fleshy roots. Therefore, it can be easily propagated by root cuttings:

  • Begin propagation in the fall
  • Cut off finger-thick pieces of root from the mother plant
  • pound in wet peat
  • store cool and frost-free until winter
  • cut into pieces about 8 cm long in winter
  • stuck in sand-peat mixture
  • Sprinkle a 2 cm thick layer of slightly moist soil over it
  • refrigerate initially
  • Keep soil moderately moist throughout winter

As soon as the roots have visibly sprouted above ground, the pots are made lighter.

Category:

Vegetable garden