UNITED STATES—Banana trees, much like palms, arboriform yuccas and cordylines, are herbaceous trees. They develop no secondary xylem, or wood. What seems to be trunks are pseudostems, which are just leaves in very tight bundles. These pseudostems grow from subterranean corms, which can grow rather big. Each pseudostem is monocarpic, so dies after bloom.
Although they are very easy to grow, banana trees are not very popular. They can be too easy to grow and become overwhelming. In some climates, frost can ruin their foliage for part of the year. In some exposures, their foliage can get shabby from wind. Some expect generous and frequent applications of fertilizer. All want generous and frequent irrigation.
These characteristics are contrary to growing banana trees merely for appealing foliage. Realistically, that is what most are for. Those of the Ensente genus are fortunately easier to maintain, but fruitless. Their lushly huge leaves are spectacular, relatively durable and generate much less debris. However, after a few years, they die without generating pups.
Ensete are fruitless. Musa are fruiting . . . generally.
Banana trees of the Musa genus generate fruit, although some are primarily ornamental. A few produce delightfully colorful fruit that is too small, seedy or starchy to be palatable. Musa are more pervasive although less popular than Ensente. While Ensente come and go, Musa are reliably perennial. Several produce enough pups to potentially be invasive.
Musa, unlike Ensente, therefore develops colonies of a few to many pseudostem trunks. A few new trunks can replace each old trunk faster than they can deteriorate after bloom. Removal of deteriorating old trunks promotes growth and fruiting of new trunks. So does culling of congested new trunks. They propagate very easily by division with intact roots.
Because banana trees are tropical, they are unfamiliar with the seasons here. They grow fast with warmth but very slowly without it. They bloom randomly though. Flowers that try to bloom during autumn may stagnate long enough to rot through winter. Late fruit can do the same. Fruit that begins to develop early is much more likely to finish prior to autumn. Some cultivars develop faster.
Highlight: ‘Karpooravalli’ Banana
‘Cavendish’ and its variants have always been the most familiar types of banana locally. They are the most popular that are available from produce markets. From nurseries, they remain the most commonly available cultivars. A few other options are only beginning to become available. A few of these could be more reliably productive within local climates.
‘Karpooravalli’ has been available here for quite a while but remains uncommon. Those who are familiar with it often describe it as wanting ‘only sunshine and water.’ It tolerates soil of inferior quality better than other cultivars and craves less fertilizer. Within rich soil, it may crave none. It should likely stay away from fences that its pups could sneak under.
‘Karpooravalli’ is supposedly the sweetest of the Indian bananas. Although its fruit is a bit shorter than more familiar bananas, it is often a bit plumper. Ripe fruit is yellow with pale green blush, and delightfully aromatic. Foliage is more resilient to wind than that of most other cultivars. It can stand more than 15 feet high on its very vigorous pseudostems.
Tony Tomeo can be contacted at tonytomeo.com.
