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Question:
I am concerned about the banana plants in the yard of our recently purchased home. We have over twenty-five ten to twenty foot banana trees in our back yard and our atrium that is surrounded by the slab of our house. Can the roots of these banana trees damage the house slab? Can the roots of these banana trees damage the walls of our swimming pool in the back yard? The banana plants are growing beyond the pool apron of concrete surrounding the pool about ten feet from the sides of the pool. We like their appearance but are concerned about their potential damage to our pool and house structure! I know that there are many varieties of banana plants. Ours seem to be all of the common ornamental variety that one buys at any nursery here in the Houston area. What growing zone are we in- here in the Houston area? If the banana plants are not harmful, what are their general care and maintenance guidelines?
Answer:
Banana plants are overgrown herbs growing from a corn and are not trees. Their root system is composed of fibrous roots and pose no danger to pool or house. See this PLANTanswers Web site for an article on growing bananas:
aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu...
This is what it says about their culture: "Culture - Weed and grass competition should be eliminated prior to planting. Mulching is useful to prevent weed regrowth, but turfgrass may need to be controlled by hoeing or with herbicides. Irrigation should be applied periodically to thoroughly wet the soil. Avoid standing water, as bananas do not tolerate overly wet conditions. Fertilization requirements under Texas conditions have not been researched. However, it is reasonable to presume that nitrogen will be the only limiting nutrient in most situations. For new plants, one quarter cup of ammonium sulfate (21-0-0), watered in, after the plant commences regrowth should be applied monthly for the first three to four months. The rate can be increased over time to two cups per month when fruiting begins. Established plantings of several plants together should receive about two cups of ammonium sulfate every couple of months throughout the year.
Cold protection of the top is possible by use of coverings and heat sources, but such is not often practical. However, in colder locations, soil can be banked around the trunk just before a projected cold spell to better protect the underground buds, which will allow the plant to regenerate in the coming spring. Unprotected but well-established bananas across South Texas, with some exceptions, regenerated after both the '83 and '89 freezes. Some people dig the entire plant, rhizome and all, remove the leaves and store the plant, dry, in a heated area over winter. To assure survival, it is easier to dig small suckers, severed very close to the parent rhizome, and pot them for overwintering indoors. Pruning is normally practiced only to provide suckers for propagation, as most banana plantings are allowed to grow freely in mats of several plants of varying age and size. For fruit production, some pruning would be desirable to limit the number of plants per mat to 5 or 6. Suckers can be quickly dispatched with a sharpshooter or machete when they are only a few inches tall; however, the sucker must be severed from its mother plant underground.
After fruiting, the mother plant which bore should be cut off near ground level, as it can never produce again. The old trunk will quickly decompose if cut into three or four pieces, with each piece then being split lengthwise. Use the remains in a mulch bed or compost heap. After a major cold period in which there is no doubt that bananas were killed to the ground, cut the plants off at ground level within a couple of weeks of the freeze. Dead bananas are not very attractive and they are much easier to cut off before decomposition starts. Tattered older leaves can be removed after they break and hang down along the trunk.
