Comments on: Bananas for Mulch Production and Erosion Control https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/ Making healthier choices. For you, your family and community, and our Earth. Wed, 08 Oct 2025 05:56:09 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Kate https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/2091 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-2091 In reply to WT.

Hi WT, thanks for commenting. Banana trunks absorb and hold a lot of moisture, but I don’t think they’re heavy/dense enough to use similarly to sand bags. They do certainly do all the things you mentioned in your previous comment, though 🙂

]]> By: WT https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/2090 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-2090 I wonder if banana trunk segments can be used in hurricane prone areas as flood control–similar to sandbags.

]]> By: WT https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/2089 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-2089 The great thing is banana tree material breaks down so quickly! I cut down several trunks and placed them in the veggie beds and they broke down into black gold in just over a year! Not to mention the dry leaves for the compost piles and the green leaves for mulching. And it makes fruit! What a useful product!

]]> By: Kate https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/1468 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-1468 In reply to Tyler.

You’re welcome, Tyler, thanks for commenting 🙂

]]> By: Tyler https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/1467 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-1467 Thank you for this. I have just purchased property in Costa Rica and have 800 banana trees on the land. I’m still learning, a year in. And this gave me more to work with and think about. Kudos!

]]> By: Kate https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/434 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-434 In reply to Clare.

Wow! Thanks Clare! Very inspiring 🙂

]]> By: Clare https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/433 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-433 In reply to Kate.

As a ‘vego’ cooking tip, you can cut the banana flower into 4 quarters, crumb/batter each piece and fry (or oven bake) them and they actually taste quite a bit like chicken or fish – depending on the flavouring you put into the batter (if you want a more fishy substitute, try adding dill, salt and seaweed sprinkles to your flour for batter and serving with a tartare sauce and lemon wedges – for a chicken substitute, try adding some paprika, salt, mustard powder and nutritional yeast to your flour for batter). And if you have any leftover the next day, try putting it on a sandwich with a little mayo and salt and I’ll bet you can’t tell the difference between that and a ‘real’ chicken sandwich! Banana flowers are actually an amazing food to experiment with and they are packed with a dense nutritional profile, too.

]]> By: Kate https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/432 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-432 In reply to Peter Carroll.

Peter, I never pay attention to how long it takes from start to fruit, but I do recall our first ones taking longer than I had expected. I would say next summer is a safe bet, but ask someone more knowledgeable than me 😉 Thanks for commenting!

]]> By: Kate https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/431 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-431 In reply to Cris and Lee-Anne Geri.

Thank you Cris and Lee-Anne!

]]> By: Cris and Lee-Anne Geri https://arealgreenlife.com/bananas-mulch-and-erosion-control/#comments/430 https://arealgreenlife.com/?p=15401#comment-430 Trunks can be used to raise seedlings. lay flat and drill wide holes along the trunk at the desired spacing and to the desired depth, pop in suitable potting medium and the seed or tiny seedling, tend as usual without as much reliance on nutrition or water, when ready to plant cut the trunk up and plant the seeding and trunk piece intact…….or cut the trunk into pieces at the start and drill the pieces from the outside as above or stand upright and drill into the core and proceed as above….less planting shock, greater water retention ability and volume and a nutrition package. The only downside I can see is that more space may be needed for certain tyres of seedlings.

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