Growing Bananas from Seed

One of the most rewarding plants to grow from seed are bananas. My banana seeds arrived from McFayden yesterday. This is the 4th year I'm growing bananas from seed. The remarkable part is that this giant banana plant, pictured here toward the end of the summer, started as a seed on my light table in February.

While I'll save banana plants from year to year - I also like to have at least one or two from seed. The best germination rate I've had was 80% - and the worst was 0 from a batch of seeds from Chiltern. This is the first time I've tried any seed from McFayden, so I'm interested to see how they do. I start my banana seeds in soil-less mix in a 4" pot that I keep in a tray covered with a clear plastic dome. My basement is a little on the cool side, so I run a heating cable under the tray to help with germination. The first signs of life will be in about a month. Fingers crossed, all five will sprout and I'll have enough for a grove!