Banana Seeds in retail packets for the home gardener

Banana Plant Seeds

Growing bananas from seed info:

Commercially grown bananas that are cultivated specifically for consumption do not have seeds. Over time, they have been modified to have three sets of genes instead of two (triploid) and produce no seeds.

If you want to grow banana plants from seed, be aware that the resulting fruit will not be like those you buy at the grocers. They will contain seeds and, depending upon the variety, might be so large that the fruit is difficult to get to.
Bananas grown from seed are normally for ornamental purposes, we do however offer a few varieties that will produce edible bananas ( with seeds of course ), and they have a wonderful flavor superior to store bananas.

Bananas are one of the more difficult seeds to germinate in terms of time and effort required, especially compared to vegetable and flower seeds most gardeners are familiar with, but they can be germinated at a decent rate if one is diligent.

The first thing to understand is that banana seed take a long time to germinate! Nature has built in natural germination inhibitors to insure they do not germinate in the wild too soon.

We have been germinating banana seeds in our germination trials for over 25 years. The normal germination range in our greenhouse trials varies from 1 to 6 months. We have had some varieties germinate in just a few weeks, only to have the same variety take several months during the next germination trial, you cannot predict how long they will take to germinate.
The basic things to remember if you are germinating banana seeds are:
1. Always soak seeds before sowing. We recommend 24-48 hours.
2. Use a well draining soil mix. A mix that holds water will rot the seeds in place.
3.Soil temperature must be at least 68 degrees or warmer for part of the day. But, seeds need alternating temperatures for germinating. We found that just putting a heating mat under the seeds and leaving temperature constant was not nearly as effective as heating the soil for a few hours a day, then allowing it to cool.
4. Keep soil damp, but not wet! Wet soil will rot seeds quickly. Placing the seed tray inside a plastic bag is a good way to keep moisture constant.
5. Be very, very patient. Seeds can easily take several months and in most cases will. We only offer seeds from the latest harvest and have them tested before making them available to our customers. Due to the long germination time of these and the difficulty germinating them, we do not offer a replacement guarantee on these seeds, please consider this before purchasing.

AW24 Thailand Black Stem Banana ( Musa balbisiana atia )

Please click on this photo to see the large image that details the wonderful color of the stalks!
This is a wonderful, fast growing banana with tremendous ornamental appeal. The picture shows 2 year old plants started from seed growing on one of our bayou properties on the Gulf Coast. The more exposure to sunlight, the darker the stem gets. Will grow to a massive 18 feet or taller outside, or can be grown in a container where growth will be limited by container size. Very cold hardy, probably down to 15 degrees if mulched heavy, and loves hot, hot weather as well!

SF404 Yunnan Banana ( Musa sp. "Yunnan" )

This beautiul banana grows to about 15 feet tall and is one of the hardiest species for cold winters as even the leaves can tolerate a bit of frost. Features huge, long leaves that grow to several feet. New leaves have red coloration on their undersides. Sought after as an ornamental and for its cold tolerance.
A beautiful, high altitude banana from China's Yunnan Province and Arunachal Pradesh in India that has proven to be a very interesting cold tolerant species that will thrive under similar conditions as the legendary Musa basjoo and M. sikkimensis, even though not quite as hardy. It is a slender stemmed, extremely fast growing plant with large leaves supported by waxy white leaf stalks. Some confusion surrounds the introduction of this banana into cultivation: and it now turns out to be a new species, described in 2007 by Markku Hakkinen as Musa yunnanensis.
Considered hardy to zone 5. Exact hardiness is unknown. It may be close to as hardy as Musa basjoo, and has reportedly tolerated temperatures down to 10F. Upon freezing weather the plant will die back to its base, but quickly grows back once weather warms up.

Image:Forest & Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 US , via Wikimedia Commons

JB137 Edible Banana ( Musa x balbisiana )

Also called Frenc Plantain. The grower assures that these seeds will produce quality bananas, though with seeds of course. Musa × paradisiaca is the accepted name for the hybrid between Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Most cultivated bananas and plantains are triploid cultivars either of this hybrid or of M. acuminata alone.
Fruits are full of seeds and are sweet and succulent when fully ripe and are widely eaten out of hand, though they are very versatile and are used in a wide variety of other ways. They can be baked, cooked, dried for later use etc.
Zones 9b and higher outside.

SF174 Royal Sweet Banana ( Musa paradisiaca royalii )

According to our grower in Brazil, this is one of the best seeded bananas for eating fresh ( but it will have seeds of course ). A fast grower and yields large "bunches", requires same maturing time as other bananas.

2050 Thomson's Edible Banana ( Musa thomsonii )

A subtropical species native to the Himalayas in Bhutan and northeastern India. Its pseudostems can reach a height of up to 15 feet. The fruits are sweet but have seeds. The new leaves often have a red flush on the reverse side. Rather cold hardy for an edible variety, should survive down to zone 7b.

Image: By Toffel [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], from Wikimedia Commons

IP320 Dwarf Chinese Banana ( Musa acuminata dwarf )

This banana is grown not for their fruit but for their ornamental foliage that lends an exotic and tropical aura to the home or the garden. Musa acuminata is a dwarf variety that typically grows to about 4 to 6 feet tall. Extremely suitable for containers or gardens, it makes a much more manageable plant than other species.
The fruits are about 5 to 6 inches long, which are smaller than the common desert banana. They should be allowed to fully ripen before eating, and of course contain seeds.

2742 Cheeseman's Banana ( Musa cheesmani )

A nice addition to the ornamental banana line. The pseudostems are densely clustering, dark reddish brown, with a waxy white bloom towards the leaf stalk. The leaf is bright green above with a pale midrib and grayish below with a conspicuous purple brown midrib.
Although M. cheesmani has been described half a century ago, we believe this enormously attractive and colorful banana has been introduced into cultivation only recently.
This is a wild type banana plant from the rainforests of Northeast India. Giant, long green leaves . Hardy outdoors in zones 9-12 otherwise grow as a container plant for the yard or deck. Will tolerate mild colder weather. Produces small whitish - green fruits. Should be grown as an ornamental only. Price per pack: $3.95

TRZ131 Musa Ensete

This bush type banana is cold hardy into and north of USDA Hardiness Zone 8. Regardless of your climate, you can always enjoy banana type bushes in containers or in greenhouses or as tender perennials. If you crave amazing, tropical, bold-textured foliage and exotic flowers in your garden, you should try growing your own banana bush!
Musa ensete is one of the hardiest types of the Musa family and has very large seeds. This small tree is ideal for conservatories, patios, or as a large potted plant. Only grows about 6 feet tall and is grown for its foliage; unfortunately, no bananas on Musa Ensete. Decorative, huge leaves rivalling any expensive mature house plants. Grows 3 feet in the first four months after seed germination!
Sow anytime of year after soaking the seeds for 24 hours in lukewarm water. Use a peat based seed compost and sow 1/4 inch deep. After sowing, seal the seed container inside a polythene bag in order to keep the compost moist. Germination is slow and erratic and can take 1 - 6 months at 80F. As each seed germinates, transfer it to a 3 in pot of good free draining compost, taking care not to damage the fragile roots. Pot on as required, the larger the container the larger the plant will grow.
Grow Musa ensete bush in warm, well lit conditions. During summer they can be stood outside or planted in the border but should be brought into well lit frost free conditions for the winter when it should be kept moderately dry. Some discoloration of the leaf ends may occur through the winter months but this won't harm the plant.
Zone 8 or higher outside, but often grown as a houseplant or patio plant.

2208 Blood Banana ( Musa zebrina )

This is a dwarf cultivar that is commonly cultivated for both commercial fruit production and ornamental applications. It typically grows to 5-6’ tall and makes a much more manageable container plant or houseplant than the other species. It is best noted for its large green leaves splashed with burgundy-red blotches and for its reddish trunk-like pseudostem. Zone 9b or higher outside, but often grown as a houseplant or patio plant.

Z2306 Velvet Banana ( Musa velutina )

Good container type of banana with dark green leaf blades to 3 ft. Produces erect spikes of white flowers, followed by softly hairy, pink fruit. Good for zone 9 and higher outside.

W255 Burmese Blue Banana ( Musa itinerans )

This is a good cooking banana as well as a beautiful ornamental plant, best suited for zones 9-10 outside, or patio tubs in cooler zones. An exquisite new species of musa from a origin of Burma, it's bananas are shiny 6" to 8" in length with a pinkish-purple haze giving them the appearance of iridescent blue. A short growing spp. 8' to 10' with a beautiful golden yellow trunk. 14 to 16 bananas per hand, leaves are lightly pleated with light burgundy purple on the undersides and darker throughout it's midribs when leaves are young. It is used medicinally and for food in many cultural tribes of Indonesia. Heavily seeded. Very rare and one of a kind!

TRZ098 Musa acuminata subsp. acuminata

One of the ancestors of today's fruit bananas. Very robust and fast growing. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are from this species, although some are hybrids with Musa balbisiana. This variety produces smaller bananas than seen in supermarkets, and of course they have seeds.

JB282 Darjeeling Banana ( Musa sikkimensis hookeri )

Wow! A rare and little known large banana species, new to cultivation, that sports a massive pseudo-trunk to 14 feet tall and 18 inches in diameter., tinged with red, and purple new leaves and leaf-midribs. A percentage of plants even exhibits beautifully dark red mottled leaves. The Darjeeling Banana is very hardy to cold coming, as it does, from mountain forests up to 6,000 feet in the Himalayas of NE-India. First trials outdoors in the US, Britain, Germany and Switzerland have shown an excellent resistance to cold and frost. Like all bananas, it is extremely fast growing, given rich soil and an abundance of water. The fruits have a sweetish pulp but are hard and contain a few large seeds. An absolute novelty that shows great promise as an ornamental for the temperate as well as the cooler tropical garden. We think this plant that has more potential than any other cold tolerant Musa in cultivation at the moment. Zone 8a and warmer.

IP333 Daj Giant Banana ( Musa sikkimensis daj giant )

A bit of question about the botanical name of this one, many think it's correct name is Musa griersonii, we are not sure so we will stick with the name most commonly associated with it.
A tall banana from the cool Himalaya region. Grows to 18′ and is hardy to 40 degrees. A beautiful banana, the leaves feature a purple hue to the reverse and a silvery bloom to the pseudostems. This is a very ornamental plant.

A note from one of our customers:

( "I was astonished when i recieved my seeds today. I expected it to take at least a week to get here. You have a very good service and i hope you stay in business for a long time...If im ordering seeds, its going to be from you." Thanks, A. Hill )

Jim's Plant Growth Stimulator

Please note that this is not a plant food or fertilize, this is a combination of natural ingredients intended to improve plant growth. Many greenhouse growers and commercial farms use a combination of these ingredients in their growing process. We have been using this formula in our gardens, fields and greenhouses since 1992, and we use it on everything we grow. We would not make this available to our customers if we did not firmly believe that it does enhance the growth and health of plants that it is applied to.
To see the results for yourself, we advise using it on some plants and not on others and see the difference.

Note: We only ship this product to addresses inside the USA. The following ingredients are used in making Jim's Plant Growth Stimulator:

Gibberellic Acid
Gibberellic Acid is a member of a type of plant hormone called Gibberellins, which regulate the growth rate of plants. It was first discovered in Japan, in 1935 as a result of the study of a condition common in rice plants called "foolish seedling" disease, which caused the plants to grow much taller than normal. The effects of gibberellins weren't widely understood until years later.
Gibberellic Acid is EPA approved, and is commercially used to grow most fruits and vegetables we eat.
B1 Vitamins and Plant Hormones
We add a blend of plant vitamins and hormones to stimulate plant growth and allow the plant to absorb food from the soil quicker and also assimilate micronutrients that they may not normally be able to absorb due to various soil conditions.
Micronutrients
All plants benefit from micronutrients, so we've added a humic acid base with Boron (B), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo), Sulfur (S) and Zinc (Zn) in our solution.
Other ingredients
We also add a natural detergent additive that causes the sprayed on solution to "stick" to the plant leaves until the solution is absorbed by the plant, this detergent also discourages insects from feeding on the leaves for a short time after the solution is applied.
Each 8 ounce bottle of JPG01 Plant Growth Stimulator makes 16 gallons spray-on solution, you can also use a drench and pour it around the base of the plant if you prefer. The bottle comes with a 1/2 ounce measuring spoon, simply mix a half ounce of plant growth stimulator with a gallon of water and spray onto the plants, or drench the soil around the plant. :
Spray plants weekly, best to apply in early morning/late evening. Start spraying when plants are young. Can be sprayed onto vegetable plants upto harvest. Mix 1/2 ounce stimulator with one gallon of water.

JPG01 Plant Growth Stimulator

$15.95

Banana Fruit Facts from the California Rare Fruit Growers