February 14, 2023, 17:44 – BLiTZ – News To enrich the soil in a pot with nutrients, ingredients can be effective, the benefits of which even experienced flower growers are not aware of. So, banana peel can become a high-quality and economical top dressing for planting. The public news service found out what are the features of banana fertilizer for houseplants.
It should be noted that banana pulp is not suitable for feeding indoor crops. It has a viscous structure, and when it rots, it becomes an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, mold, aphids, and fruit flies. Therefore, only the skin is used to prepare fertilizer.
Benefit
Banana peel contains many vitamins, amino acids and antioxidants. The composition of this exotic fruit contains a large amount of potassium, which can maintain the health of the plant. Banana is useful for root development and flowering, as it contains phosphorus, and calcium in its composition enriches the soil with oxygen, which is important for proper root growth.
Preparation
Choose the most ripe bananas for preparing top dressing, preferably black or brown. During the cultivation of fruits, they are sprayed with chemicals, and therefore the peel should be washed very well with running water without the use of detergents or soaked for 10 minutes in a soda solution to wash away toxins that are dangerous for indoor flora.
Varieties
Banana fertilizer can be used in different forms:
To prepare ground fertilizer, the skin must be cut into pieces, dried in the sun and ground in a coffee grinder. The resulting powder is added to the substrate for home planting or used in the form of a suspension for foliar feeding, mixing with water.
A solution made from banana powder is an effective pest control.
To prepare the infusion, soak 1-2 peels in warm water and insist under the lid for 2-4 days. The resulting infusion is combined with water in equal proportions and potted plants are watered with the finished solution. Such a tool is especially useful for orchids and the Decembrist. If you regularly water with this composition, then the growth of plants will noticeably accelerate.
If black mold has formed in the container during the preparation of the infusion, the solution should be destroyed so as not to endanger the plants.
To prepare useful compost for top dressing, chopped peel is combined with the ground, poured with a special Baikal agent and left under a lid for a month. Then a repeated similar procedure is carried out, and in two months the compost will be ready. It is placed in flower pots, and sprinkled with a layer of soil on top. Manipulation is recommended in spring and summer.
fried peel
To prepare fried fertilizer, banana peels need to be fried in a pan and chopped. Ready fertilizer is added to the flower pot once a month.
fresh skin
Before planting a plant, you can put a fresh banana peel in a container, which will subsequently rot and turn into a valuable fertilizer for plant nutrition and the active development of its root system. When transplanting flowers, fragments of fresh skins are laid out on a drainage layer, a lump with a transplanted plant is placed on top, and the free space is covered with soil. Photo: freepik.com
Recommendations
Check out a few more tips for using banana peel fertilizer for houseplants:
The composition of the skin contains a very small amount of nitrogen, which is very important for indoor flowers, so it is recommended to mix banana fertilizer with a nitrogen-containing nutrient. Fresh banana skins can be used to remove dust from stems and leaves. This method of cleaning will give the plant a radiance. It is desirable to water the flower with banana fertilizer in the evening, while the soil should already be somewhat moist. Banana top dressing can harm some plants. So, it should not be used to feed cereals, bulbous flowers and fruit trees.
