You probably know that banana peels can provide your plants with many useful nutrients. But did you know that flowering perennials, including roses, particularly benefit from it? In this article we explain why you should fertilize roses with banana peels and what exactly this does.
What are the benefits of banana peels for roses?
Why buy fertilizer when you canMake it yourself at home from leftoverscan? Every hobby gardener should ask themselves this question. Yes, purchased fertilizers often work faster and cannot always be replaced with home remedies. But we can at least try to limit their use and do something good for nature. You just need some basic knowledge and experience and it will soon work.
Banana peels are fantastic for roses because they are rich in potassium, an important nutrient that helps roses thrive. Potassium strengthens the plant's cell walls, increases its resistance to disease and promotes flower formation. The shells also contain other nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium and magnesium that promote healthy growth.
Hobby gardeners also swear by using banana peels in the garden and as...Fertilizer for roses. This trick appears every year in both blogs and social media, and not without reason: because it works! However, opinions differ when it comes to its application. In the end, the result is the same - the roses grow healthier and produce many flowers if you also fertilize with banana peels. Here is an overview of the methods.
Bury the shells completely into the ground
This is the first and easiest method that requires almost no effort on your part. All you have to do is bury the bowl or bowls completely into the soil at the base of the roses. Simply dig a little soil away from the plant, place the entire banana peel in the hole and cover it with soil again. The shell should sit deep enough to decompose into the soil more quickly. Alternatively, you can cover the bowl with some mulch.
Crushed peels at the base of the roses
The home remedy is supposed to have a faster effect if you first chop the peel with secateurs and then scatter it around the base of the plant. The pieces are worked flat into the root area and then the plant is watered. The banana peels soon rot and release their nutrients into the soil. This method also works well on hydrangeas and clematis.
How many banana peels per plant?
To successfully fertilize the roses with banana peels, it is enough to work around 100 grams of crushed peels per rose bush flat into the soil.
Make your own liquid fertilizer from banana peels
There is also the option of making a liquid fertilizer from the banana peels. This takes a few days, but the nutrients are then released directly into the soil when watering. The shells soak in water for up to 10 days to release their nutrients.
This is how it works:
- Place banana peels in a bucket or large plastic bottle and cover with water. Leave to soak in a dark place for at least a week. Be sure to protect it from sunlight. You can continue to add bowls by adding additional water.
- When the banana water is ready, remove the peels. To be on the safe side, you can dilute the liquid fertilizer a little before watering the plants. The peels can then be buried in the garden or added to the compost.
Faster version:
- If you urgently need fertilizer, you can pour one liter of boiling water over about 100 grams of crushed peel. The broth steeps overnight and the remaining peel is strained off the next day. The resulting mixture is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5 and used to water the roses.
Do you have orchids? The banana fertilizer is perfect for flowering houseplants.You can read more about it here.
Dry banana peels and use as mulch
If you have a lot of banana peels, you can also dry them and use them as mulch with grass clippings and pieces of bark. To do this, the crushed shells are left to dry in an airy place. They should never be stored in closed containers or bags as they can become moldy. The dried peels arebest in spring around the rosesdistributed so that they can slowly release their nutrients until summer.
Regular or organic bananas?
An important point when using banana peels as fertilizer is to only use organic quality bananas. Why is this important? In most banana plantations, the perennials are treated with fungicides to prevent fungal diseases. This has little to no effect on the fruit, but it does affect the peel. This preserves it and prevents it from decomposing so quickly. The fungicides used are released into the soil when the shells are used as fertilizer and can have a negative impact on soil diversity. Therefore, it is recommended: To produce a nutrient-rich, organic potassium fertilizer, only use organic bananas.
