Growing bananas is one of the best ways to add beautiful foliage and power-packed nutrition to the edible landscape. The delicious Nam Wah Bananas grow on Dwarf Trees that reach 10 to 12 feet tall and can be grown in the ground in USDA Zones 9 to 11, or in pots within Zones 4 to 11. Nam Wah Banana Plants are fast growing and produce large clusters of Bananas, also called racemes, which can weigh 70 pounds or more. Nam Wah Bananas are 4 to 6-inches long, yellow when ripe, and have silky, sweet, cream-colored flesh that can be eaten fresh or cooked.
Nam Wah Banana Plants like full sun, plenty of water, well drained soil, and can be fed often with compost and periodically with fertilizer to produce fruit each season. Each plant grows a mat of psuedostems, and the fruit-bearing stalks are replaced with new stems to provide a continual cycle of new fruiting trunks. Add some Nam Wah Banana Plants to your fruit garden or potted patio oasis today and easily grow this popular healthfood right at home.
Nam Wah Banana Plants will live in areas with shade, but the best spots for bananas get 6 or more hours of daily direct sun. Direct sun helps the plants grow more leaves which are needed to fuel the growth of their large banana clusters. Plant new Nam Wah Banana Plants in rich soil that drains well and give them plenty of water. Water new Banana plants once a day for the first week, then water deeply once per week. You can also add raked leaves, grass clippings, or any organic plant material to the plant bases at any time.
Like all Banana Plants, Nam Wah Bananas are continual feeders and so they can be given fertilizer once per month. Use fertilizer formulated for citrus or palm trees, and reduce the amount by half of what the fertilizer directions suggest. For example, if the Banana Trees are ten feet tall, and the fertilizer suggests applying one cup per foot of tree height, then apply 5 cups of the product. Always water fertilizer in well and then add more mulch to keep the ground moist. Also, every part of the Banana Plant can be composted.
Banana Fruit & Harvesting
Nam Wah Banana Plants bloom large flowers that open in layers to reveal small bananas that grow larger and ripen over a few months. The clusters consist of segments called hands, which are made up of 8 to 12 bananas each. Each Nam Wah Banana raceme can contain 10 to 12 hands or more. Nam Wah Bananas are slightly smaller than most grocery store bananas, and are considered one of the highest quality dessert bananas, with sweet creamy flesh.
There are countless ways to use Bananas, from eating fresh, to baking into breads, to freezing and blending into smoothies. Banana leaves can also be used to wrap meat and fish for cooking. Green bananas are often cooked for use as a side dish, or chopped and added to stews. Nam Wah Bananas are versitile and can be used for cooking when green, baking while fresh or once frozen, and eating out of hand when ripe.
Advice
While Banana Plants are commonly called trees, Banana Plants are actually tropical herbacious plants. These plants grow multiple pseudostems from pseudoblubs. Each pseudoblub and its colony of pseudostems is called a mat. Mature pseudostems produce fruit, while the smaller, upcomming trunks are retained to replace the stems that have produced Bananas. Once an individual Banana stem grows fruit it dies and is removed to be replaced by the next largest trunk.
When growing Nam Wah Banana Mats to make fruit, the best arrangement is a mat with three pseudostems. The largest trunk will produce fruit. The next largest trunk will replace the fruited trunk. Then the smallest trunk will replace the middle trunk. While three pseudostems are growing, all other sports that emerge should be removed to compost or grow other mats. Once the fruit bearing trunk is harvested, select a new sport to become the next replacement. Be sure to only let “sword suckers” grow, and remove all “water suckers.” Sword suckers appear as pointed trunks with narrow leaves, and these will grow fruit. Emerging water suckers have short, wide trunks and wide leaves, and these will never grow fruit.
FAQs
Can Nam Wah Bananas be grown in containers?
Yes, Nam Wah Bananas can be grown in large pots with drain holes. Use rich, well-draining soil and place the container in full sun.
How are Nam Wah Bananas cultivated?
Nam Wah Bananas are usually cultivated by sports that emerge as suckers from the main plant’s pseudoblub. Bananas can also be grown from tissue culture cultivation in a sterile environment.
Will Nam Wah Bananas survive cold temperatures?
Nam Wah Bananas can survive freezing temperatures if the underground bulb system lives to grow more trunks, even if the pseudostems die back.
How much room do Nam Wah Bananas need?
Nam Wah Bananas grow to about 10 feet tall and the leaves cover a 10-foot diameter area. Provide each mat with 15 feet of space on all sides if possible, to allow for weeding, watering, mulching, and harvesting the fruit.
What others are saying
There are no contributions yet.