Best Guidance for the How to Grow & Care Blue Java Banana

Blue Java Banana is delicious! Yes, you can grow and eat your custard if you have a blue java banana tree.

Yes, the fruit on the tree is very magnificent. It starts blue and ripens to a creamy yellow tint. To top it all off, it tastes exactly like vanilla ice cream. What is the blue java banana, and are you familiar with it? In our guide, we tell you how to grow them!

Blue Java Banana Overview

Blue Java Banana Plant Care

While a good start is necessary, caring for your blue Java banana plant is easy. Before we move on to Java banana care, check out this extensive resource for basic guidance on caring for them:

Sun and Temperature

You must allow your banana trees sufficient sun. They like 8 to 12 hours of sunshine each day. Thus, make sure your bananas receive enough sunlight.

Compared to other banana cultivars, blue java bananas can withstand significantly lower temperatures. They can even withstand 20 degrees Fahrenheit with a protective covering on, thanks to their extreme cold tolerance.

USDA growing zones 9–10 are ideal for their growth, while USDA growing zones 8–11 are also suitable. If the daily temperature stays between 50 and 90 degrees and rarely drops below 30, your blue coffee should thrive. If given enough water, it can readily withstand heat and endure days in the 100s.

Water

Tropical species, such as bananas, require regular quenching and do best in warm conditions. Keep in mind, though, that they cannot stand in the water. As a result, to prevent water pools during rainy seasons, the soil must completely drain.

If you’d like to be extra careful, deep-soak using a soaker hose wrapped around the base. Water your coffee bananas frequently as a result, unless it is exceptionally rainy. With the understanding that the soil drains properly, you can repeat this every other day.

Soil

Potting mix with enough drainage is required for growing blue java bananas. The root systems of banana trees are prone to fungi that cause illnesses like pythium, which can lead to root rot. Moreover, they are vulnerable to overwatering the soil, which also causes fusarium-induced banana wilt.

If it’s not feasible, we advise solarizing your soil a few months ahead of time to lower the chance of pathogen invasion. Following that, we advise using peat moss, coconut coir, worm castings, and 20% of its perlite for drainage.

The most important component, if you choose to use high-quality compost, is adding sandy soil rather than clay. The ideal pH range for neutral to slightly acidic soil—what your blue java plant prefers—is between 5.5 and 7.0.

Fertilizing

It is possible to apply a high-phosphorus fertilizer in the early stages of growth. It will work with an 8-10-8 or a balanced 10-10-10. Use younger plants diluted to a strength of about 65-75%. For younger bananas, apply a tad less granular fertilizer than for older ones.

Switch to a high-potassium fertilizer as soon as the tree reaches fruit-bearing age, or anytime the true stem starts to emerge. Try to get a 10-10-15 or 10-10-20. That way, it will promote fruiting. The plant will fall dormant during the winter, so there’s no need to fertilize.

Pruning

Blue bananas require less pruning, which is one of the best things about cultivating them. Yes, there needs to be some pruning, but it’s not too difficult. When a leaf starts to wilt, it usually releases its grip on the main stem and comes off the plant with ease.

The mature stalk, once it has completed ripening and established its real stem, still needs to accomplish one more thing. For all pruning tasks, use sterile pruning shears or loppers. As a result, make sure your bananas get adequate sunlight.

Propagation

If you can find the blue java seeds at all, they are quite erratic. The majority of plants grown in culture have undergone such extensive hybridization that they hardly ever yield seed, and the majority of that seed is infertile.

Therefore, the best option is to either purchase a tissue-cultured plant or carefully remove a pup from the corm of the blue java plant. It’s a little challenging because you don’t want to break the corm too much, but with a little caution, you should be able to cut through the corm and move the pup.

Fruiting

Make sure not to remove any leaves from the real stem right above the first blossom to appear. It helps produce fruit by shielding the blossom from the sun.

Your bananas will continue to develop and form under the fabric. It is doubtful that new bananas will form when the flower’s petals stop peeling upward to reveal more bananas.

The real stem will need additional support because of the weight of the banana bunch as it forms. For supporting the stem against the excess weight, a board with a U-shaped cutout makes an excellent and simple prop.

Harvesting and Storing

How do you harvest a banana for ice cream? Although handling the blue java fruit requires some caution, the effort and time invested will be well worth it.

Harvesting

When the banana’s skin turns a gentle yellow tone instead of remaining blue, the blue java fruit is ripe. The banana is ready for harvesting when the petal ends are crisp and dry.

If you have someone close by to hold onto the bunch, it will weigh more. Take care not to sever the skin of any of your coffee bananas as you proceed, and chop off each hand with a sharp knife.

Storing

You should typically consume the top bananas in a group first. Compared to the other types, blue java ripens more slowly, but, like all bananas, it ripens quickly after harvest. It will eventually seem as though every mature banana has appeared at once!

Skinning them and freezing the fruit is the easiest way to keep them for extended periods because of their gummy quality. Spooned into a paste, frozen pulp can make a tasty and nutritious dessert in place of traditional ice cream.

Troubleshooting

What issues with your ice cream plants are most likely to arise? Let’s discuss that!

Pests

Numerous pests can irritate both you and your banana plant.

Mealybugs will also land on the vegetation. Use an alcohol-dipped cotton swab to gently remove any minor eruptions by pressing them to release. Handle bigger infestations with insecticidal soap. As one might expect from its name, the coquito, also known as the banana fruit-scarring beetle, attacks fruit directly. Collect mature beetles with sticky traps.

Root-knot nematodes can seriously harm the root system of your kind of plant. To combat them and the coquito larvae, use helpful nematodes.

Black weevils, commonly known as banana stalk borers, are the last group we will discuss. Pyrethrin should be used to eradicate them since they pose a severe risk to your plant.

Diseases

Fusarium oxysporum is the worst disease that affects any variety of bananas. This fungal pathogen is deadly to your plant and produces the terrible Panama disease, often known as banana wilt. Even though there is now no known treatment for this illness, it can spread through contaminated soil, wind, water, or equipment.

Aphids on bananas are the primary carriers of banana bunchy top disease. The plant may grow narrower leaves as a result of this disease, which causes leaves to curl upward. Over time, leaves can also get rigid and brittle.

And lastly, a strain of mosaic virus developed especially for bananas exists. It has no known cure, just like any other form of the mosaic virus. Here, it results in fruit and leaves with streaks. Eliminate diseased plants.

FAQ

Are blue Java bananas grown in the UK?

Unfortunately, in the UK, you’ll probably want to think about growing them in a dedicated greenhouse. In the cooler climate, they will grow, but you probably won’t receive much fruit.

Are real blue java bananas?

Yes, indeed! This article would not have been written if it hadn’t been.

How do bananas taste when paired with blue java?

The most popular comparison is with vanilla custard. It tastes just like bananas, but it also has overt vanilla undertones.

Reference

Wikipedia.org