In all households, where there is a garden, compost is certainly collected from food scraps, which makes an excellent natural fertilizer for all plants in the garden. Another natural fertilizer that more and more gardeners are discovering is banana peel, which, due to its high potassium content, contributes to the growth of plants and large flower heads.
Using this type of fertilizer reduces the need to purchase fertilizer. For example, the compost obtained from banana peels, egg shells or coffee grounds is mixed in a blender and placed near the roots. Thus, the biological decomposition of bananas will release nitrogen, potassium, magnesium and phosphorus, which plants adore, coffee will act as a nitrogen injection, and eggshells will provide calcium.
There are many benefits of banana peel for your garden, especially the flowering species in it, but also the ways in which you can use it, so read the useful recipes below.
Liquid organic banana peel fertilizer
Natural liquid banana peel fertilizer is easy to make, and all you need is more banana peels and a bucket of water. First, you need to wash and peel the bananas and dry them thoroughly.
Put banana peels in a bucket of water and forget about it for a few days. After a few days, you will receive tea that is rich in minerals, and which will ensure better growth for your flower and vegetable beds.
When you water the plants, it would be best to make a mixture of old water and fresh water in a ratio of 1:5. In order to achieve the maximum effect of this fertilizer, it would be ideal to dry the bark in the sun.
Banana peel for flowering
Potassium is particularly good for flowering, especially for flowers that have large flower heads, such as ornamental onions and peonies. Potassium from banana peel facilitates the transfer of nutrients and water between plant cells, and protects against disease by making plant stems stronger.
You only need to cut the banana peels into smaller pieces and grind them in a blender. Then move the mulch around the plants that you want to feed and place the paste where the roots are.
Banana peel for soil acidity and iron content
Some plants like blueberries, rhododendrons and gardenias like acid. For this purpose, vinegar is used, in which banana peels must be soaked. This mixture will increase the iron content and acidity of the soil, due to which the plants will grow better and develop healthy and strong leaves.
Banana peel for indoor plants
And while the banana fruit is very useful for humans, the peel can be an indispensable fertilizer for indoor plants. However, if you prepare the fertilizer and do not follow certain rules and precautions, you can do more harm than good to the plants. In order to avoid such a negative result, it is necessary to know some features.
To begin with, you need to peel the banana and wash its peel thoroughly, because if you don’t do this, the plants will receive some of the chemicals, but not the useful substances. It is a fact that banana peels have a coating of wax, like many other types of fruit, to make them look more attractive to customers. Another reason for covering the fruits with wax is that the fruits are not damaged during transport. However, it should be borne in mind that many manufacturers use ordinary wax, and some use carcinogens that are not safe.
Likewise, many suppliers use a chlorine and ammonium sulfate solution to remove the milky juice from the banana. It goes without saying that soaking the banana peel in such a solution does not add any beneficial properties to the peel. Some suppliers even use ethylene to make the fruits ripen faster, and this can be quite a dangerous substance that negatively affects the work of the human hormonal system.
If you can, always choose organic bananas, which will be a better and safer fertilizer for your plants.
Banana peel for greenhouse and greenhouse plants
The method of fertilizing with banana peel is very popular in Russia and is also great for fertilizing plants in greenhouses and greenhouses. Although the banana peel has a very intense and unpleasant smell when it decomposes, many researchers confirm that irrigation with such a mixture improves the structure and microflora of the soil in which the plants are planted. However, not all gardeners accepted this alternative and unfortunately remain faithful to chemical fertilizers from the store.
The magnesium present in the banana peel is very useful for weaker plants that need strong food, and it is most useful for pink flowers.
Banana peel fertilizer for pink flowers
This fertilizer is also easy to prepare. First, you need to thoroughly wash the banana peel. Then the bark must be thoroughly dried in one of these convenient ways. Using an oven, dehydrator or in natural sunlight. Drying the bark is necessary in order to obtain a dark brown or almost black color of the bark, but also to make the bark quite fragile.
After the bark has dried, you can grind it in a coffee grinder. If you left the bark to dry in the sun, let the process unfold naturally and don’t rush it.
You should mix the powder that you will get after grinding the bark in a coffee grinder with the soil. It is best to take a ratio of 1:10. This kind of fertilizer is added to the plants when transplanting, and it is sprinkled on top of the pot in a larger quantity. Do not use fertilizer more than once a month.
Banana peel fertilizer with distilled water
Cooking this kind of fertilizer is recommended only for professionals, because they know best how attractive the banana peel is to various bacteria. In order to avoid many mistakes, it would be good to think about cooking this fertilizer step by step, and the procedure follows below.
It would be best to use distilled water, and if you don’t have it, tap water should be boiled for at least ten minutes. When the banana peel is filled with water, the container should be tightly closed and placed in a dark place.
A good tip can be that if you put the jar or container containing the mixture in a cardboard box, the infusion will be protected from fermentation.
Before using the fertilizer, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1, and tap water can be used for this.
Although there are many benefits of banana peels, there are also some unexpected and possible side effects. Despite the relative ease of preparation of the fertilizer and its high effect, it can contribute to the appearance of side effects because the smell of banana peel can attract various pests such as ants and fruit flies. This kind of fertilizer is an excellent weapon against aphids, if you rub the leaves of domestic plants with the help of a tincture made from banana peel.
Recipe for liquid banana peel fertilizer
Experienced gardeners and experts believe that it is most correct and effective to prepare and use the aqueous extract prepared in the following way. It goes without saying that the first step is cleaning, washing and thoroughly drying the bark, which must be natural.
The peel of about 3 or 4 bananas should be placed in a container with water that has a volume of three liters. After five days, the tincture should be filtered.
After filtration, the plants can be watered with the tincture, and this type of liquid fertilizer can be stored and kept for about a month, as long as there is no sign of fermentation.
Use of fresh banana peel
Banana peel for plants can also be used fresh. Many gardeners prefer this method because of its practicality and ease. After you have thoroughly washed the peel, you need to cut it into small pieces. The easiest way to do this is with scissors.
You should bury the cut pieces of banana peel in the soil to the maximum depth so that the peel is not covered with potential mold.
The disadvantage of this recipe is that it is difficult to determine the exact dose or amount of bark. Only experienced gardeners can tell how much fertilizer will be most effective for which plants. With this problem, it is best to remember that it is better to put less than to overdo it, because there is always a possibility that the plant will react negatively to an excessive amount of fertilizer.
In order to achieve the maximum effectiveness of the fertilizer, you can mix the bark with nitrogen fertilizer in equal amounts.
Banana pulp for feeding plants
Banana pulp can also be very beneficial for plants. The cellulose in the banana is thought to be a quick and easy way to help a plant that is in particularly bad shape. It is necessary to break the flesh of one banana with a fork and pour this mixture with a small glass of water. The slurry prepared in this way should be poured at the roots of the desired plant.
If you’ve been throwing banana peels in the trash, don’t do it anymore because it’s an excellent fertilizer for your houseplants, as well as compost for the garden you may have on your terrace or balcony. The benefits of banana peel are multiple, and now you can use them in the right way.
Photo: stevepb/Pixabay