Many DIY gardeners have been testing out unusual methods of fertilization with items that usually end up in the compost heap. One of them is the humble banana, or banana peels to be more precise.
Ever wondered what will happen to your roses, once you sprinkle them with dried and chopped banana peels? Will they transform and grow more quickly? Unfortunately no, even though some will make bold claims to back up that story.
But, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply banana peels on your roses, or any other plant in your garden. Just because we are about to bust this myth, it doesn’t mean that there are no interesting secrets hidden inside the skin of banana peels.
Busting the Myth for the 100th Time
Some will claim that the N-P-K ratio (Nitrogen – Phosphorus – Potassium) of banana peel is 0% – 25% – 42%. This is a misrepresentation, so don’t fall for it. This article explains how dry mass calculations ended up being misrepresented in many sources online.
Just to remind you, Nitrogen makes leaves green, Phosphorus is good for roots and blooming, while Potassium is great for several different aspects of plant’s life, which we will mention in a moment. Some of the remaining elements of banana peels are Calcium, Manganese, Magnesium, Sodium, and Sulphur.
Yes, banana peels have relatively high potassium content, but unfortunately, very few of its functions are related to the flowering of the plant. As you can see in the paragraph above, this role is reserved for potassium’s close friend phosphorus.
Nerd Alert: Plant Physiology Throwback
The main role of potassium is to transfer nutrients between cells and enable water regulation inside the plant. Water in plants travels opposite to the direction of gravitational force, thus needing a lot of energy to transfer all necessary nutrients between the cells. It uses the plant’s vascular system called the xylem.
If a cell in the plant has a lot of nutrients and less water, then we say that the cell system has a higher osmotic gradient. In that case, the cell will expel the nutrients and take in more amounts of water.
Vice versa, when the cell is rich with water but lacks nutrients, the system has a lower osmotic gradient, and it will substitute the water for nutrients.
However, the transfer of the water won’t happen by itself. The inner cell osmotic gradient is necessary in order to pump the water throughout the system.
Potassium as a positive ion (K+) enters into the cell system, increasing its overall salinity level. Once the cell has more salt than necessary, the plant’s overall osmotic gradient becomes negative, sending the signal to the closest cell to “pump” the water into the Potassium-rich cell, so that the osmotic gradient can come back to balance. This enables overall water flow in the system.
Besides taking part in the process of osmosis, Potassium also activates different enzymes (more than 50 of them actually), enabling important processes such as photosynthesis and respiration.
Potassium is also a part of plants’ DNA, playing a key role in the process of cell-wall thickening. This strengthens the stems and protects the plant from diseases, providing it with resilience towards temperature extremes, pests, and pathogens.
How to Make Banana Peel Fertilizer?
Do not throw away banana peels. Instead, you can make a fairly powerful fertilizer out of them. There are two viable and easy methods:
Method 1:
Fill the glass with water, and put banana peels inside. You can put several peels, depending on the banana size and the peel surface.
If it happens that you have many banana peels, you can also put them in a larger space, such as jars, or even barrels.
Whatever you decide, be sure that the water level inside the glass, or jar, is just above the banana skin line. If you don’t do that, the banana skin will become moldy, and ruin the process. It is best to expose filled glass to direct sunlight and leave it like that for a week.
Be sure to check the container from time to time since the water will evaporate. Just keep adding additional water until the process is complete.
Method 2:
The second possibility is just to leave banana skins directly on the sunlight and wait for 8 hours. In the meantime, the peels should become black and crispy.
How can you tell they are ready? Focus on the sound. If you hear cracking when you try to break them, you did a good job!
If they are still elastic like rubber, put them in the oven. This way you will make additional drying, but be careful, don’t burn them completely.
The oven should be set to 100-150 degrees. Once the peels are crispy enough, grind them up into a powder. Keep the process natural, it should be easy enough to not need any kitchen appliances unless you’ve got some serious quantities to grind.
Some people just like the good old mortar and pestle, that’ll do the job just fine.
How to Use Banana Peel Fertilizer?
There are different ways of using powdered banana peels as a fertilizer. You can apply it directly to the ground, or dig a mini-trench around a bush of roses.
The depth of the trench shouldn’t be more than an inch.
Why Timing is the Key to Success
Be aware that the banana peel fertilizer is a slow-releasing fertilizer; be sure that you apply it 3-6 months before the season.
If you are expecting a quick effect from this fertilizer, you’re in for a disappointment.
Other Uses
Once you are done applying the fertilizer to the soil, seal any leftovers in the jar and store it in a dry place. The potential moisture if left unsealed can ruin all of your hard work.
An additional tip is to use banana peel fertilizer as a homemade tea, one tea-spoon with hot water can help you if you have problems with diabetes, fatigue, high blood pressure, and especially insomnia. Be advised that most bananas have been sprayed with long-lasting pesticides. Those all end up on the peel, so do your research before drinking tea from this product.
The banana peel tea is rich with amino-acid tryptophan, a precursor for the sleep hormone melatonin, and the mood influencing neurotransmitter called serotonin.
Conclusion
Will banana peels improve the flowering of your roses? No. As you were able to read in the text, the banana peels are mostly rich with potassium, an element that doesn’t really affect the flowering of the plant, or at least not as much as other nutrients. Potassium does boost the plants’ other physiological processes:
- Water regulation and nutrient movement inside the plant.
- It makes the plant’s cell walls thicker, making them resilient to different bacteria and pathogens.
- It activates more than 50 enzymes crucial for the plant’s growth, especially the stem development. If the plant lacks Potassium, the process of photosynthesis (usage of the sugar for plant for growth) will be drastically slowed down.
Even though banana peels won’t help the flowering of your roses, these are the main reasons you should use them anyway, since it will definitely support the overall wellbeing of your plant.