Are you wondering how to use banana peel for plants? If you want to know the benefits and how to best use the banana peel after eating the fruit, I have you covered in this article. I mean does not love bananas? It has a lot of benefits, especially in your garden!
If you notice, this post is all about banana peels. If you have compost, I know you already toss banana peels into your bin. However, you should know that there are several other ways to use banana peels – either as a natural fertilizer or a natural pest repellent in the garden.
Banana peels are good for home gardens because banana peels actually contain 42 percent potassium (K), which is one of the three major fertilizer ingredients—along with nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P)—shown on fertilizer labels as NPK. Potassium aids in moving nutrients and strengthening the plant’s overall structure.
Nutrients in Banana Peel for Plants
Potassium helps plants transport water and nutrients between cells. It both strengthens plant stems and deters disease. Potassium is particularly crucial to the creation of flowers. Potassium also improves the flavor of fruits. Plants can even become more drought-resistant with potassium. Can you imagine?
You must know that plants develop poorly when their potassium levels are low. As a consequence, the protein level of the plants may also increase.
In other words, potassium is great for plants, especially the ones that bear fruit and flowers.
Banana peels also have the following nutrients that may help your plants thrive vitamin B6, vitamin B12, magnesium, manganese, and fiber.
Why are bananas good fertilizers?
You might be surprised, but bananas are great fertilizers not because of what they contain but because of what they do not. They have no nitrogen at all. While nitrogen is necessary for plants, too much nitrogen will produce an abundance of berries and fruits but few green leaves.
This basically means that plants like tomatoes or flowers benefit greatly from the potassium-rich banana peels. Calcium, which is also included in banana peels, guards tomatoes against having blossom end rot.
Banana peels include a small amount of salt, which promotes water movement between cells. It also has manganese, which facilitates photosynthesis. Even residues of sulfur and magnesium, which are used to create chlorophyll, can be found in them.
Banana peels are also very to work with. You may just bury the banana peels close to your plants, where they will deteriorate and release their nutrients.
By putting banana peels in a container with water, banana peels can also be used to brew tea. After letting this steep for a week or two, you will have a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer. Unlike solid or powdered fertilizers, this liquid fertilizer immediately enters the roots and nourishes the plants. This is called foliar spray. Foliar spray is where the fertilizers are sprayed directly on the leaves so the nutrients are absorbed quickly.
Read more: Foliar Spray: Benefits of Foliar Feeding For Plants.
How do you use banana peel for plants?
There are a lot of uses for banana peels in your garden. I listed some below.
- Banana Peel As a Spray-On Fertilizer: Banana peels can actually be used as a spray-on fertilizer. They can be used to create a foliar spray that will provide extra nutrients for your plants. You will only need Epsom salt, banana peels, and water. Most gardeners who do this also add eggshells which provide lots of nutrients as well.
Read more: Eggshells for Plants: Benefits and How to use it in the Garden
- Banana Peel as Compost Tea: This is simply banana peel water that you use for watering. Just add some banana peels to a pail of water, cover it, and leave it there for a few days. After a few days, you now have a mineral-rich banana tea that will organically add nutrients to your flower and vegetable beds and encourage healthy development.
- Banana Peel Encourages Blooming: The key ingredient that plants require to develop large and vibrant flowers is potassium, which is present in high concentrations in (you guessed it right) banana peels.
Additionally, potassium helps to transmit water and nutrients between plant cells and shields them from illness. To do this, just cut the banana peels into little pieces and use them as mulch.
- Banana Peels Fortify The Soil: Planting a banana peel in your garden soil will provide it with an immediate boost of nutrition. To do this, just simply create a trench that is around three inches deep and long enough to fit the peels. Put some soil on top of them and lay them out flat.
For fast decomposition, make them smaller by grinding the banana peels. Cutting them into smaller pieces increases the surface area of the banana peels and enhances their decomposition. They will gradually release essential nutrients including phosphorus, calcium, potassium, and iron.
- Banana Peel As A Fruit Fly Trap: Use banana with the peel if flies are the major issue in your garden and you are seeking a non-toxic technique to get rid of them.
It is also very easy to do. Banana peels only have to be chopped up, put in a plastic container, and then vinegar. Then make a few holes in the lid that are big enough for fruit flies to fit through. They will be drawn to the smell of the vinegar and banana, enter through the holes, and eventually drown and pass away in the liquid.
- Banana Peel For Aphid Control: Banana peels can be used to control aphids (although there is no conclusive evidence, you can still try them).
For this one, you need to use a dried banana peel or a banana peel that has been cut. Around the base of the impacted plant, either drapes or bury the chopped-up peel or dried pieces 2-4 inches deep in the soil.
Why is this effective? You should know that aphids hate the fragrance of ripe bananas, so they will swiftly disappear from the damaged plants.
- Banana Peels As An Addition to Compost: One of the best applications for banana peels is to add them to the compost pile because they are biodegradable and decompose quickly unlike other organic fertilizers.
Now, to avoid attracting raccoons and skunks, only add them chopped, soaked, or as a semi-solid slurry. Do not add them whole.
- Banana Peels Attract Butterflies and Birds: Put ripe banana peels on an elevated platform to attract birds and butterflies to your yard. Know that butterflies can improve the pollination of flowers. Birds, on the other hand, can disperse the seeds.
In order to make the fruit more alluring and accessible to the insects, you may also cut them into pieces or poke a few holes in them.
To do this, just place the banana on a platform above your plants because it will probably attract bees, wasps, and caterpillars as well.
- Banana Peels are Great Fertilizers for air plants: Unlike typical plants, common air plants and epiphytic perennials do not develop roots to grow in the soil. Instead, the air around them serves as their sole source of nutrition. Therefore, the air around them should be rich in nutrition.
It is a wise idea to spray your air plants with banana water to make sure they receive the necessary amount of nutrients for the plants to thrive.
For this, mix or process banana peels until they are smooth. Then, rehydrate the paste with water and spray it over air plants.
- Banana Peels Turned Banana Vinegar As A Feed Your Plants. A brief foliar spray or application of banana vinegar is beneficial for acid-loving plants like gardenias and azaleas.
You should start by putting leftover banana peels to ferment and wait for two weeks. After that, you can now use it as a foliar spray.
You have to consider diluting it with an equal amount of water if the mixture smells strongly of vinegar in order to prevent burning the plants.
- Banana Peels Prepare Your Garden Bed: Banana peels are the ideal soil amendment material for constructing garden beds because of the nutrients they contain.
To use banana peels in soil amendment, simply cut them up and scatter them among the prepared soil.
These cut-up banana peels will encourage microbial development, allowing the helpful worms to aerate the soil and enhance its quality.
- Banana Peels Establish Air Plants: Add banana peels to the base of beautiful air plants before placing them. Mount the entire plant over it after adding some mulch to cover it.
The peels will function as compost and decompose to produce a variety of nutrients that will help the plants for a while. Some gardeners add seaweeds to give more nutrients.
Read more: Benefits and Uses of Seaweeds For Plants
- Banana Peels Fertilize Tomato Plants Well: If you have tomato plants, I am telling you now to add banana peels for them to flourish and yield a plentiful harvest. The tomatoes benefit from the potassium, iron, and calcium that banana peels add to the soil.
- Banana Peels Feed the Seedlings: Every time you plant seedlings, make it a habit to chop up a few banana peels into pieces and bury them in the soil. Remember to put them just below the topsoil of the garden bed or at the bottom of the containers.
This technique will provide the cute little seedlings with a much-needed injection of nutrients. Spraying them with banana peel water or banana peel tea is another option.
- Banana Peels Amend Potting Soil: When preparing flower and vegetable beds for the winter, you can actually use decomposed banana peels directly as a soil additive. To prepare this, the banana peels should be chopped and added to the potting soil.
Should you decide to add the full peels, make sure to carefully bury them deeply under mulch. This is important to prevent mammals from going into your gardens.
- Banana Peels Boost blooms: Banana peels are loved by flower-bearing plants. For instance, roses require calcium, phosphates, magnesium, and sulfur to develop to their maximum capacity, and remember, banana peels are a rich source of these nutrients.
In addition to strengthening the plant’s general defenses, these components also encourage the growth of flowers with more color.
How do you prepare banana peels for plants?
Banana peels can be used in a variety of ways in your garden to support the growth of your plants. To make banana peel fertilizer, think about utilizing one or more of these techniques:
1. Add banana peels to your compost. Banana peels may easily be added to your compost bin or piled together with other organic waste products like eggshells. Some also use coffee grinds to make a fertilizer that is rich in nutrients.
2. Blend banana peels into a fertilizer slurry. To make a slurry of nutrients for your plants, you can pulverize your banana peels using a food processor, mortar, and pestle or run them under running water. This slurry can be side dressed by burying it in a small hole in the ground close to the plant.
3. Make a banana peel fertilizer tea. Banana peels can be kept for at least a week in a mason jar of water or any container to produce a nutrient-rich and insect-repelling tea. Spray the mixture at the base of your plants after removing the peels and diluting the mixture to make it less acidic.
As an alternative, you can soak the peels for up to a month or two to create a more acidic tea for plants that love acidic environments, like blueberries. The banana water serves as a pesticide that helps deter garden pests like aphids as well as a liquid fertilizer or compost tea.
4. Plant the peels directly in the soil to drive away pests. Simply chop up a banana peel into tiny pieces, bury the chopped peels in the dirt, and place the chopped peels on one side of the plant. The banana peel bits will degrade more effectively and more efficiently the smaller they are. This is true for any organic materials that you want to compost.
How do I water my plants with a banana peel?
Your plants love banana peels because they are rich in calcium (Ca), potassium (K), and phosphorus (P). As a result, you may already be aware of the advantages of utilizing banana peels in your garden, whether in compost or just chopped up and scattered around the roots of your plants.
Making “banana water” is a fantastic additional method (and the easiest) for obtaining healthy components from banana skins. This organic fertilizer, often known as banana tea, is really easy to produce and a fantastic natural tonic for all plants, including indoor plants, flowers, and vegetables.
Here are the simple steps on how to make banana tea.
- The first thing that you need to do is to chop up the banana peels and put them in a big dish or pail. After that, submerge the banana peels in water. You have to make sure that the banana peels are fully submerged. The recommended ratio is about one-third peels to two-thirds water.
- The second step is to soak the mixture for two to three days. Soaking this and giving the mixture some time allows the minerals and other nutrients to be extracted. After two to three days, you can now strain the mixture into a bottle.
- The last step is to use the mixture as is for your plants. There is no dilution needed. The fun thing is that the soaked peels can be given to your worms or put in the compost.
Note: Due to fermentation, the bottles may slightly bulge; nevertheless, you may easily let your bottles “burp” by sometimes unscrewing the lid and letting it breathe.
How can you give banana peels to plants?
Banana peels can be thrown under your plants (just a little below them) and allowed to decompose there. You might want to brew homemade banana water for your plants if that is luring pests or bugs.
Banana peels can also be buried in the ground next to your crops or plants to keep them below the surface. They also tend to degrade more quickly in this manner.
How long does the banana peel to decompose in the soil?
All of us know that bananas are biodegradable. That is why some people think it is okay to just throw them in the bushes or streets. Unfortunately, no. Remember that banana peels can take up to at least two years to decompose when out in an open space.
This method of discarding banana peels not only results in an eyesore and waste but also invites animals to consume the leftover food. Keep in mind that animals can start to change their behaviors and start looking for food close to populated places, for instance, on a roadside where they risk being run over by a car if they are drawn to abandoned food waste, especially in the wild.
Always pack up your waste, whether actual garbage or biodegradable food scraps.
Now, in the garden, banana peels will usually take around 6-9 months to decompose if and only if the compost pile or pit is well-maintained. By themselves, banana peels can decompose in two years. Just to reiterate, banana peels are biodegradable, but they decompose very slowly.
Why Do Banana Peels Decompose Slowly?
Banana peels, particularly those with thick peels, still break down, but not as quickly as you might expect. Now, bananas have a high potassium content, so they keep their freshness longer than other fruits. Maintaining the fruit’s moisture level may keep it fresher for longer.
Aside from potassium, bananas also have a lot of water inside. That is one of the reasons why the peels take a very long time to break down. They are wet. Now, microbes require moisture in order to develop and procreate. There are several bacteria inside rotting bananas so these bacteria eat the banana peel, and this procedure requires a lot of time.
Where Do Banana Peels Decompose Quickest?
If you want to hasten the decomposition of banana peels, the best location to put them is the compost pile or pit. It is just the best place for banana peels to degrade. No questions asked.
Also, compost piles are spacious enough and offer adequate airflow for the banana peels to break down. If you do not have a compost pile, you may try burying your banana peels in a dig, hole, or container in your backyard.
Does Banana peel attract pests in my garden?
If you leave banana peels just on top of your soil, gnats, ants, and fruit flies are likely to come around. It may also attract bees which can be dangerous to you and to your pets.
Take note that a bee that infiltrates your home is likely to get angry around the decaying banana and sting you if you get too close since the aroma of decaying bananas is comparable to a defense hormone bees emit.
Which plants like banana peel?
Most plants like banana peels. In particular, tomatoes, flowers, peppers, roses, air plants, banana trees, and ferns, among others, love banana peels. As mentioned, banana peels also have calcium that can prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes.
Which plants DO NOT LIKE Banana Peel?
There are no plants that hate banana peel since plants ultimately need potassium. Again, it is a macronutrient, so plants must consume them in huge quantities.
However, based on my personal experience, you should avoid putting banana peels in your indoor plants. Let me explain why.
After using banana peel as a foliar spray for three days, I immediately noticed stains on the leaves of my plants. Although these stains are not harmful to my plants or me, I dislike them because they affect the aesthetics. Also, I am just not sure if there are long-term effects.
I also started noticing little gnats flying around the soil. The banana peel attracted the gnats to go inside my home, which is a big problem because they might affect my other plants.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Zany Plant World
Succulent and Houseplant blogJoin me in exploring the beautiful and colourful world of succulents and houseplants, one plant at a time! Zany Plant World blog aims to help newbies and fellow plant enthusiasts grow healthy and happy succulents and houseplants at home. Turning your house into an urban jungle oasis that can give you the zen vibes that we all need in this crazy and busy life.