Bananas love as much water as you can give them.
When I was younger, I remember seeing bananas growing right at the end of a canal in South Florida, the water reaching a foot above their root ball during high tide, then receding again during low tide.
They were flooded half the day, every day. Probably longer than that during times of heavy rainfall – yet they were happy, healthy and bore heavily.
That is, until one of the neighbors decided to “clean up” the canal by ripping out the entire clump.
Typical.
I took a picture of a banana right on a canal in Eustis just this last month.
There was a larger clump as well but I couldn’t get a good picture.
Bananas. Love. Water.
Water is the top limiting factor for bananas. After water, they love nitrogen.
Give them a wet spot with tons of fertility and they’ll go crazy. Plant bananas in the middle of a dry sandy yard and you’ll be lucky if they live.
I cover creating a banana circle as one part Compost Everything: The Movie that’s soon to be released during the Home Grown Food Summit (GO SIGN UP HERE RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW!!!) in just a couple of weeks. The combination of high fertility and lots of water makes them go nuts… or should I say, bananas.
I was at a friend’s house recently and had to film this particular patch of bananas growing in a year-round swamp.
Check it out:
For more on growing bananas, check out my plant profile on them here.
45 responses to “Bananas Growing in Standing Water”
Thank you for this inspiration! Our yard gets terrible drainage, and I was trying to figure out what I could plant that would thrive when things get soggy. As of yesterday, this yard is now host to banana trees! I can’t wait to see how they do!
That’s great, Jenny! You can also grow elderberries, taro, malanga and cannas under those conditions.
I grow banana trees in water. They have been in water here since 2007. I have water gardens. I am zone 6 in Missouri. In the winter they are put in my basement sitting in water by a window. The coldest it gets in basement is 50*F. I also grow musa basjoo hardy bananas in my yard.
That’s awesome – thank you for the field report.
Thanks for the info. I’m new at growing them and was afraid I had killed them
Love this so much…. I just got a parcel of swampy land and I was thinking what I could plant on it…with this piece, I think I would go for bananas. Also, on the land, I have a good number of matured raffia palms there. Could you please tell me the usefulness of these trees there on the land.
I recommend taro as well, all around the bananas.
For the raffia, you could try making rope. I’ll bet the leaves would make a good mulch, too.
I’m just a student, but can a banana grow on water? or near water?
They like growing right next to water. If they’re flooded for long periods of time, they may rot, however.
There is an area that remains under water for about 3 months with depth of water of about 1.5 feet during that period. Is it possible to grow bananas in such condition
With the advent of Donald Trump I’m rather reluctant to delve into American forums for fear of being ridiculed since I happen to be from a ” shithole country” kkkkk))) :). That aside, I seek advice and opinions on bananas and swamps. My farm has 3 hactares of seasonal swamp. It’s a foot deep during March to July. The water seems to be well oxygenated because I see plenty little fish and toads in there(the water is clear as crystal and stagnant as third world economic growth). Our temperatures are about 26°C all year round with a max of 33°C summer days and a minimum of 15°C on a chilly winter night. Yeah that’s cold for us here in Zimbabwe. Can I go ahead and plant some bananas on this piece of land and expect reasonable productivity or I should just forget about it. I’m very tempted to plant because if I happen to plant and if the bananas happen to do well then I can expect good financial rewards with very minimum effort. I will greatly appreciate all contributions.
It’s no problem that you’re from Zimbabwe, so long as you stay there and help Make Zimbabwe Great Again. Unless you’ve seen from the inside how immigration has messed up the US, you can’t appreciate what Trump is doing.
I’m not sure how your bananas will do with that much water all the time – that’s pretty high, but if the water is oxygenated… you know, probably the best thing to do is to plant about 20 trees and let them go through the swamp conditions for a year as a test. You might also try digging ditches in between higher mounds upon which you plant the banana trees. Experimentation is really going to give you solid answers. Good luck – I hope you prosper. If bananas don’t do well, you could always go with taro instead.
PS
26°C is 79°F which is our average temp
15°C is 59°F which is our minimum temp and it’s very rare
Stay there is your comment ??? Appreciate what tRUMP is doing pathetic
Sad! Low energy!
(NPC identified)
Bananas love water, and I’ve seen them grow in and near, they love full sun too.
As far as US immigration system, there is none. Not trumps fault but he made it worse with his misplaced xenophobia. Without immigrants the US would not exist, would not have grown, and would collapse without immigrants due to the low birthrate of only 1.74
I completely disagree. The more the original Protestant, liberty-minded immigrants are displaced by third world invaders, the worse this nation will become until it resembles the nations from which the immigrants came. The dirt is not magic.
I COULDN’T DISAGREE WITH YOU MORE.
The USA used to be great and today it is at best a developing nation, IMO one of those third world countries you obviously think you are so much better than…
Well, take your worthless passport, and stay on your rock, because the real first world closed the doors on US, and you will likely not even travel to one of those third world places you despise so much anytime soon…
Grow up!
You obviously have no understanding of history.
It is largely falling to pieces due to the last 100 years of immigration.
Question: was mass German immigration a net positive for the Roman Empire?
And how about the “Native Americans?” How did mass immigration work out for them?
Thomas, do you realize you are arguing for DtG’s position on immigration? He is saying it used to be great but the more immigrants that come from radically different cultures, the more third world we become. And you said the same but you haven’t figured out the why of it. Think about things a bit more. Have you been to other “first world countries” as you call them? I have. I’ll pass.
P.S. He’s been to a third world country fairly recently helping out with agricultural consultation and moved back from a second world country. He is neither stupid, nor ignorant. If you read more here, you’d know that.
You are a forever trumpsters whatever it takes….
I used to be one too (sadly), but I have learned!
You, however, have no idea about the world.
And what you think the primitive indians without comparable weapons had to do with immigration is beyond me.
The USA had it made.
It was untouchable, had free money since the US$ was the defacto world currency.
Not all trumps fault, but he swiftly accelerated the USA’s demize due to his incompetence and his utter failure to negotiate.
Today, we can no longer travel to the first world.
Our $ lost 10% in value and we have more debt than ever, more than we can ever repay ($15k more per citizen this year alone).
Our unsustainable death spiral has accelerated and is likely beyond repair now, we don’t even have diplomatic relations with Germany anymore.
Our exports were dire when he started his raign, today, they are non existent
Not to China, not to Europe
Tourism fell victim to his blunderous covid handling (or better said lack thereof)
Agriculture fell victim to his ridiculous trade war with China
We have double digit unemployment and people are on the streets in just about every city.
We’re not even part of shaping tomorrow’s world health policy since we left the WHO (not that it matters much since we’re not allowed to travel anywhere, they don’t let us in in any of the first world countries!!!)
Our environmental protections are gone.
We all but lost the postal service.
I can hardly think of a part of the USA that didn’t get trashed because of the orange buffoon.
Next we’ll see inflation through the roof, China cutting us off of cheap stuff, and German cars will become unaffordable. Unemployment will remain up, and that measly wage of $12 per hour will not buy anything anymore due to the devaluing of the dollar.
But you will have every excuse in the world and vote for that idiot again because you are also an uninformed xenophobe that knows nothing about the world (nor history, btw the Romans also succumbed to their decadence and they had no immigrants, they were conquering and the undisputed leaders too once, and another undisputed leader were the Agyptians, they succumbed to their royal xenophobia, i.e. Inbreeding)
Go back to watching your fox propaganda and don’t try to think for yourself…
You really have no idea what you’re talking about. When did I even mention Trump?
Hahaha
Maybe I don’t, but at least I’m not full of racism and xenophobia….
And unlike you, i have and am traveling the world!
BTW
You mentioned YOUR ruler on January 18, 2018 – 1:39 pm, and you can’t hide it
I just came back from four years of living in the Caribbean as an ex-pat, with a stint in Indonesia. You are a moron.
Your obsession with Trump is ridiculous.
https://freethinkingministries.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/NPC-crowd-485×282.jpg
And I have no reason to hide the fact that I will vote for The God Emperor next month. It’s just fascinating to see how he gets inside your tiny mind.
Take pity on Thomas Hafenwit. He is obviously retarded or a pathological liar. Either way, he needs firm adult supervision.
I think calling him a god explains well enough whonis obsessed…
I had s feeling you used to travel, I just got back from Switzerland and will leave again on the 16th
You however are stuck here because of your “god” mishandling the hoax that landed him in the hospital now (if his story is even true that he has covid)
You can’t go to the Bahamas or Canada even, let alone the first world you seem to have been so proud of having been a member of ….
You need to take your meds and get offline.
Switzerland isn’t that nice. I was rather disappointed, actually. Expensive, but not particularly nice. Of course, being a very expensive place to live is how they keep the riff-raff out.
Actually, it’s a really good thing you’ll be out of the country when The God Emperor, the Golden Caesar of the Cherry Blossom Throne, wins his second term.
Your super duper idiot will claim fraud and his buddies and party hacks he installed will rubber stamp any bs argument …
Sadly it will not lead to peace nor prosperity, just as his reign has. That idiot inherited a stable, declining but generally peaceful country, and in a mere 4 years destroyed most economic prospects and tumbled just about every city into a street war and rebellion
Why you would want more of same is incomprehensible, but you just go back to listening to your foux propaganda and don’t try to get out into the real world too much.
U ignored that your passport won’t get u anywhere anymore, but it doesn’t matter, it’s a good thing that you stay put!
Do you enjoy the Chinese immigration into Tibet?
Also, Fox News is just leftist propaganda. Not worth watching.
China has it’s problems and i think how they treat the Uighurs is abominable.
How the USA is treating Julian Assange, the torture in it’s jails, the wars for oil and soil which amount to an average of 1 new war (invasion) per year since 1776 is equally abominable.
Considering that the USA has more of it’s people in jail than any other country (0.71% an absolute world record by any measure), removes it’s rights to try to police other countries’ human rights violations.
It’s worth adding that many of those are forced to live in squalid jails (not that the Chinese jails are any better).
I agree that fox is just propaganda, mostly right wing to ultra right though (seldom left).
Not to worry, the left has it’s slew of propaganda outlets as well.
The corruption is the Problem in the USA. It robs all of us, not just Americans, of the chances to make things better, safer, more affordable, less toxic and more human.
I live on 3 continents, of those the USA is the only country where i had a senior official downright demand a bribe before approving my plans.
I got him fired, but it took years of court actions.
The Philippines is also corrupt, I’ve experienced it as well, many, many times. They were always low ranking officers though, and it is relatively easy to clean the stall.
I have done that as well.
Corruption in the USA was bad 30 yrs ago when I got started here, but since then it has gotten from bad to worse and worst.
Just a decade ago, selling a senatorship for a million (Blagojevich) got you fairly fired.
Last year selling an ambassadorship for a million (Sondland) got a brief mention, and that was the end of it, and nothing more will ever happen, it was squarely swept under the rug!
And so we have a former coal lobbyists (Wheeler) in charge of the EPA, the former “environmental protection Agency)…
There is a reason why the USA is the “richest” country yet filled with people earning a mere fraction of the rest of the world (about a quarter to half of what the Swiss take home depending on what state you look at), and corruption is the only reason why.
The Swiss make a lot because they’re cost of living is way, way higher. A few years ago, a meal at McDonald’s cost $20US. Switzerland is overrated.
Well, 30 yrs ago my wife moved to Switzerland from California.
She ended up getting a job at macdonald’s, she got paid $17 and hour….
Even today, the best you can expect to get paid is $12
In Mexico you can have a big mac for half of what it costs in the USA, the employees only make $3 an hour.
With your logic you would choose to live and work in Mexico, is that what you meant?
Provided you live in California, other places you may get as little as $7.25/h, barely twice what it is in Mexico
Perhaps you need to study some economics?
That does sound interesting.
I never got my master’s degree, but if anything I think I’d study environmental engineering, oncology or cell biology. I think stats and economics are too dry for me.
Okay okay…I can see we have loads of completely uninformed “citizens” of USA in regards to immigration and Trump.
We can not allow for people to flow unimpeded into the states.. There is a process and my mom and her parents did it with pride and so can anyone else who wants to live here imo. Trump has been a wonderful president and to say he hasn’t, tells me you are only listening and being brainwashed by mainstream media. Obama signed
the propaganda Bill and since then every news media on TV HAS RUN WITH IT.
I have 5 banana trees and I live in scottsdale, and I have a pond that is covered with sun screen …that would be not enough sun for them would it i would think maybe if the bottom of the pot was barely in the water maybe that would help with it not getting rotted?
Thanks for the banana knowledge!
1) There’s a lot of passion in this thread…
2) Thank you for showing bananas can be grown in soggy areas. I’ve tried following “the rules” and my babies are not happy. We have a section of the yard that is perpetually wet and sunny so I’ll stick ’em there and see how they do.