Dallas Morning News – September 25, 2018
Banana Information You May Not Know
It’s this time of year when I get lots of questions about growing banana plants – how to prepare them for winter, how to overwinter them and how to get them to survive long term in the landscape in north Texas? Bananas grow without too much trouble and offer a pleasant tropical effect, but they seem to be a mystery to some homeowners and gardeners.
They are actually easy to grow. Full sun is best and they like ample moisture and fertilizer – organic fertilizer of course. Management in the fall is simple. Just wait till the first hard freeze. At that point, cut the freeze-damaged mushy tops all the way to the ground, cover the stumps with shredded native mulch and the plants will regrow the next spring. Simple as that.
If you are interested in getting edible fruit, those of you here in north Texas need to move south – unless you have a big greenhouse. Even if you can’t grow edible fruit, understanding the fruit of this tropical plant that you buy at the grocery store might be helpful.
The health benefits of the banana are numerous. They are high in potassium, which helps maintain normal blood pressure, and fiber, which helps prevent heart disease. Unripe bananas are green. Not only are they safe to eat they have more health benefits than the riper yellow banana. However, they also have some drawbacks that might make the yellow banana a better choice.
Bananas are picked when they are only 75 percent ripe to prevent them from splitting open during shipping. As bananas ripen they gives off ethylene gas. This gas is such a powerful component of the ripening process that it can be used to ripen other produce, such as tomatoes, if placed in a sealed container with bananas.
Green bananas are higher in starch than yellow bananas. Yellow bananas, by contrast, are higher in natural sugars such as sucrose, glucose and fructose. This is because the ripening process converts the banana’s starch into sugar. The type of starch contained in green bananas is resistant starch, which makes you feel fuller and helps you burn fat more quickly. Drawbacks of green bananas include stronger taste and waxy texture. Green bananas contain proteins that limit the body’s ability to digest complex carbohydrates.
So – for a tropical effect in the garden, plant some banana plants along with hoja santa, rice paper plant, elephant ears and other large textured plants and buy some green bananas next time you are in the grocery store – you might lose some weight.