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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 of
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So if you use banana peels in gardening and your houseplants, then you automatically think
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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 Z
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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 be 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 going
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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 and that makes a great tea for your orchid
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The problem is not the water with the potassium. The problem is that it fermented
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So in here it's going to create a whole bunch of bacteria and fungus, and you're transferring that to your orchid pot
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The lack of humidity inside the other household plants will actually kill the bacteria and fungus in time
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The orchid pot does the contrary. The humidity will be a perfect place for that fungus to actually grow and develop
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So you're transferring, you're giving the orchid a problem that it wouldn't have other
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why. So it's not exactly because of the banana peel. It's because of the microorganisms that this whole
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leaving it in one week in this water will provide. The second way to do your banana peel is to
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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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who, the smell that is hard to, I mean, this is my home office, believe it or not, and this is
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where I do more normal work. And this smell is just so overpowering. Banana peals when they ripen
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they produce a gas called ethylene gas. And ethylene gas is the main cause of bud blast. If you
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have your orchids in the kitchen, make sure they are away from tomatoes, away from bananas
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is 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 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
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and we also pass out, die, and stuff like that. The ethylene gas will do the same thing in a closed environment is going to raise too high and that orchid is going to die
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Now, this is where the bananas gets kind of complicated 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 blossominges flamethrins 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 way
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too fast. In other household plants that are fast growing, that's awesome. I mean, you can really
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give them a boost. Their flowers are going to be larger. That is proven. The blossoms are going to be
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more vibrant. They are probably going to have a longer flower spike that is also proven. But when it
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comes to orchids that are slow growing, what that does to the orchid, this whole potassium
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overload, because bananas are extremely high in potassium, they are going to force your orchid
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to produce everything related to this reproductive cycle. So it's a lot of the
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going to use huge blooms, it's going to get that inflorescence out. But what if your
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orchid is not in your reproductive phase of its life? It's working on roots. It's working
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on leaves. That's the problem with bananas because you're forcing the orchid to produce
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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 and keeping those
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orchids open longer, giving a long, healthy spike. That is what the bananas do. So your orchids will
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stay in bloom, but then after they wilt and fall off, which is the natural cycle, your orchid
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will most probably die because it's used so much of its energy and it's stopped focusing on the leaves
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It stopped focusing on the roots. It stopped focusing on having a healthy orchid
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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 and actually killing the flower
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So yes, you're going to get faster flower spikes. 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 Orchidera
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You can click it and look at it. I link 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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of actually putting the banana peels directly, you know, near your organ, on your orchid
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or whatever. It attracts ants. The third way of actually using the banana pills, 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 with it
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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
