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Using Banana Peels as Orchid Fertilizer
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Aug 24, 2021
3 reasons Banana Peels Should NOT be used in Orchid Care Banana peels have been known to do wonders in gardens as an organic fertilizer. Their ability to enhance flower growth is phenomenal and well-known in garden centers. Banana peels have been used for a long time as a method to avoid harsh chemical treatments which produced good organic material that both houseplants and outside garden plants need. Yet, when it comes to orchids, is fertilizing with banana peels the best way to go? Although banana peels have a high concentration of potassium, banana peels should not be used in orchid care due to 3 things: (1) the ethylene gas that ages their development, (2) the fungus that grows in the cultured banana water, and (3) the natural attraction of ants and aphids.
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There is a lot of controversy when it comes to using banana peels in orchid care
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This usually happens because we know that banana peels are high in potassium
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And sometimes potassium is a fertilizer. That's hard to get a hold up
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So if you use banana peels in gardening and your houseplants, then you automatically think, well, hey, this is going to be a great fertilizer for my orchid
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I'll show you why that's not so true. Hi, I'm Amanda Matthews and thank you for watching my video at Orchidaria, where I share my tips on how to grow orchids indoors since my climate outside isn't that great for orchid care
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So let's get into what is this whole banana organic fertilizer thing
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First, why do we get this idea that using banana peels in orchid care is good
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Well, there was an article yet to be known who wrote it that said that banana peels have an NPK of zero
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I think it was 13, 42. Now that last number 42 is the potassium in banana pills
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That is, I still have not found the original author of that
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I do not know who wrote it, but it's not that much, but I can tell you it's a lot
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So what I did is I went after scientific studies to show what exactly is in the banana
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So in the banana, we will have potassium, calcium, sulfur, iron, magnesium, bromine, other things, but the highest percentage is actually potassium
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Because the banana peel has been broken down into its properties and 78% of the dried banana
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was found out to have potassium. We already know that in crops, banana peels do an excellent job
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There also are many videos of using banana peels in a soil. That does not transfer into orchid care for three reasons
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The first reason is that there are several ways to make banana peels
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And one of the first ones is you get the dried banana peel and you cut them up into little squares and you add water to them
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Now you're going to leave this banana peel in this water for about a week
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And this is going to create a honey colored water with bubbles on top and probably a glossy white top
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to it. So after you cut your banana peels, you're going to put water in there. And you're
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going to leave that for a week You not going to touch I guess I should have taken the sticker off But anyway you going to leave that for a week and it going to ferment
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Then you add that water because the potassium is a very mobile element
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It's going to leach straight out of the banana peel into the water
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And that makes a great tea for your orchid. The problem is not the water with the potassium
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The problem is that it fermented. So in here it's going to create a
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whole bunch of bacteria and fungus and you're transferring that to your orchid pot. The lack of
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humidity inside the other household plants will actually kill the bacteria and fungus in time. The
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orchid pot does the contrary. The humidity will be a perfect place for that fungus to actually grow
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and develop. So you're transferring, you're giving the orchid a problem that it wouldn't have
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otherwise. So it's not exactly because of the banana peel. It's because of the microorganisms that
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this whole leaving it in one week in this water will provide. The second way to do your banana peel
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is to apply it directly to the vase. Now I've seen articles say this and I am totally against that
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and that is for two reasons only. Now just keeping these banana peels here has created a
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whew, the smell that is hard to, I mean, this is my home office, believe it or not, and
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this is where I do more normal work. And the smell is just so overpowering. Banana peels when they
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ripen, they produce a gas called ethylene gas. And ethylene gas is the main cause of
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bud blast. If you have your orchids in the kitchen, make sure they are away from tomatoes
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away from bananas, away from anything that will ripen and release this ethylene glass
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Orchids also naturally produce ethylene gas, and that is a problem in shipping
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So if you have a closed orchid, if you have your closed orchid and it stays in shipping for about a week
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it's going to release this gas just like we release carbon dioxide. But if we're in a closed room, that carbon dioxide becomes too much, and we also pass out, die, and stuff like that
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The ethylene gas will do the same thing in a closed environment is going to raise two
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high and that orchid is going to die. Now this is where the bananas gets kind of complicated
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because the potassium in the bananas is going to stimulate the orchid to produce a flower spike
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It going to stimulate the whole reproductive cycle of the orchid So everything that involved pollination seeds blossoming flogens everything about that is really going to give it a boost But what the
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ethylene gas does in this potassium mixture is that it's going to stimulate your orchid to grow
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way too fast. In other household plants that are fast growing, that's awesome. I mean, you can
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really give them a boost. Their flowers are going to be larger. That is proven. The blossoms are
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going to be more vibrant. They are probably going to have a longer flower spike that is also proven
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But when it comes to orchids that are slow growing, what that does to the orchid, this whole
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potassium overload, because bananas are extremely high in potassium, they are going to
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force your orchids to produce everything related to this reproductive cycle. So it's going to use huge blooms
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It's going to get that inflorescence out. But what if your orchid is not in your reproductive phase of its life
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It's working on roots. It's working on leaves. That's the problem with bananas
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Because you're forcing the orchid to produce a flower spike. You're forcing it to use all its energy and it will not focus on the roots
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It will not focus on the leaves. It will only focus on the flower spike
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and keeping those orchids open longer, giving a long, healthy spike, that is what the bananas do
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So your orchids will stay in bloom, but then after they wilt and fall off, which is the natural cycle
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your orchid will most probably die because it's used so much of its energy and it stopped focusing on the leaves
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It stopped focusing on the roots. It stopped focusing on having a healthy orchid just to focus on the spike and on the flowers and on the blossoms and on the seeds
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So that's where it gets confusing. You can see the reasoning behind this because people put the banana on their orchid and then all of a sudden, wow, flower spike
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Or wow, look at that blossom compared to the others. Yes. You know, it's think of it like this magic trick that they're aging the flower
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and actually killing the flower. So yes, you're going to get faster flower spikes
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You're going to get longer, but they're also going to kill the orchid in the end
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And there was one study that I saw with strictly phallinopsis, not with other orchids
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but strictly phallinopsis I think it was eight of them they tested At the end of their cycle when they tested they gave them an overdose of potassium every orchid died Listen to this
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Every orchid died. Now, the study is on the website at Orchidaria
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You can click it and look at it. I linked to have all my sources right there
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So keep the peels away from your orchid. Do not put your peels on the orchid
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That was the second method, and that's why I'm against it. There's another reason, too, about the second method that I don't like
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actually putting the banana peels directly, you know, near your organ, on your orchid or whatever
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it attracts ants. The third way of actually using the banana peels, if you want to use them, if there is no fertilizer
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with potassium near you, get this banana peel. Instead of putting it in water like this, you were going to bake it
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And you can use it also out in the sun, either one. With the ideas, you're going to get this down to a very thin, crispy banana, which
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which is all black and it just crumbles, it's leathery, and then you've turned that into a fine powder
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This powder, you're going to add water to it and no, I do not know proportions
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I don't. I mean, whenever banana peel is done, you know, just use it
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Add water to this fine powder that's going to be black. You're going to add it to it
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Let that, you know, mix up and then water your orchids with that
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Do not do this during cycles that are not in flower, that are not, don't have a flower spike
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If your orchid has no roots, do not use this. Do not use them for a leafless orchid because it will totally mess up the whole cycle of your orchid
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If your orchid is in the flowering cycle and you need more potassium, this third method actually does work
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It is excellent for your orchid. So those are the three ways
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but my suggestion would just be make a banana smoothie and use your bananas elsewhere
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and try to find a potassium a fertilizer that has a high potassium while it's flowering
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that would save you so much because it's great to have an orchid with the help of potassium
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but not that much help that bananas are really an overload so thank you so much for watching
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If you haven't seen the video of the free Excel sheet, you can go to this video right up here
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and I'll show you where to get that so you know you can keep track of your orchids
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And in this video, I talk about the NPK of orchid care and how to get that fertilizer up and running
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Thank you so much for watching and happy cultivating
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