No edible garden in USDA Zones 8 to 11 would be complete without a stand of nutritious, delicious bananas. Even those gardeners in colder zones can grow Banana plants in pots and still harvest this favorite fruit. Either way, the Dwarf Cavendish Banana is an excellent choice for the home food grower. Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants reach heights of between 8 and 10 feet tall, and they can take temperatures as low as 20ºF. Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants are easy to grow, add a tropical look to the garden, and produce pounds of full size, sweet fruit.
Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants have deep green leaves that can be as wide as 18 inches and as long as 4 feet. The vivid green leaves have dark red streaks when young, and larger, older leaves become solid green. Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants perform best in full sun and like rich but drained soil. Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants grow a main stalk that lives until it bears fruit. The base of the plant, or psuedobulb, produces replacement stems that become the next fruit-bearing trunks. This perpetual replacement allows you to have new fruiting Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants for years, and perhaps indefinitely.
The more direct sunlight your Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants get each day, the better. Plant new Bananas in a location that gets at least 8 hours of direct sun daily. As long as the ground drains, you would be hard-pressed to water Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants too much or too often. Dig a hole that is twice as large as the Dwarf Cavendish plant’s root ball, and backfill with a mixture of half soil, and half compost or manure. Water Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants at least once per week.
Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants need plenty of food to make their nutritious crop. Fertilize the plants once every three months with vegetable or fruit tree fertilizer. Be sure to water the fertilizer in well. You can also feed Dwarf Cavendish Bananas compost or any vegetative material at any time. Mulch the ground around the Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants with grass clippings, raked leaves, compost, hay, or trimmed plant material to provide constant nutrition for the growing banana colony.
Fruit & Harvesting
When heavy bunches of bananas are ripening, the Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants may require support, but the small effort is well worth the amazing harvest. Prop leaning, fruit-bearing banana stalks up using wooden stakes and cordage such as ¼-inch rope. The system need only be temporary until the fruit is harvested and the expired trunk removed. Dwarf Cavendish Banana trees grow smaller than their full-sized relatives, but the fruit they produce is the same size. A fully mature and ripe Cavendish Banana is 5 to 7 inches long (many grocery store bananas are Cavendish).
When growing bananas at home, the bloom will emerge as a large flower from the growing crown of a mature tree or pseudostem. As the fruit matures, bananas form in groups called “hands”. Each banana tree grows fruit only one time. Once a single banana pseudostem grows a banana bunch, the fruit is removed and that trunk is cut down. Cut the pseudostem trunk off as low to the ground as possible. Compost the old tree and new stems will grow to make the next blooms.
Growing Zones
Advice
Bananas grow in groups of multiple stalks called mats or stands. In order to grow the most and highest quality fruit, you should actively manage the number of trunks in each banana mat. The perfect Dwarf Cavendish Banana mat consists of three pseudostems. The oldest and largest stem produces the current or forthcoming crop. A second, medium sized trunk is allowed to grow as a replacement. Finally a third small pseudostem is grown to be the mid-sized trunk’s replacement. Once the banana stand has three such trees, be sure to remove any more suckers that appear. Doing so lets the available roots give energy to the fruit and replacements.
As you manage your Dwarf Cavendish Banana colony, pay attention to the growth habit of the new pseudostems that arise. Keep the “sword suckers”, which have a pointed shape and very narrow younger leaves. The sword suckers will grow up to make bananas. Dig off and compost the “water suckers” which have short stems and wide younger leaves. Water suckers merely use up the mat’s resources, and will never produce fruit.
FAQs
Are Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants good for growing in a container?
Yes, Dwarf Cavendish Bananas are a great choice to grow in a pot. Pot up into larger pots until the mat is growing in a 10 to 15 gallon container with drainage holes.
How do I know if I will like the taste and consistency of Dwarf Cavendish Bananas?
If you have ever eaten a banana from the grocery store, it is likely that you have had a Cavendish Banana. Dwarf Cavendish Banana plants grow the same fruit on a smaller tree.
Can Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants take cold temperatures?
Dwarf Cavendish Bananas are somewhat cold-hardy plants and can live through short periods of low temperatures down to 20ºF. The leaves or stems may be damaged, but new trees should regrow to replace them.
How tall do Dwarf Cavendish Banana Plants get?
Dwarf Cavendish Bananas reach heights between 6 and 10 feet.
0 reviews with a 2-star rating
There are no reviews with a 2-star rating yet