Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree
Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Cavendish’
Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree
Musa acuminata ‘Dwarf Cavendish’
How are the heights measured?
All tree, and nothin' but the tree! We measure from the top of the soil to the top of the tree; the height of the container or the root system is never included in our measurements.
What is a gallon container?
Nursery containers come in a variety of different sizes, and old-school nursery slang has stuck. While the industry-standard terminology is to call the sizes "Gallon Containers", that doesn't exactly translate to the traditional liquid "gallon" size we think of. You'll find we carry young 1-gallons, up to more mature 7-gallons ranging anywhere from 6 inches to 6ft.
How does the delivery process work?
All of our orders ship via FedEx Ground! Once your order is placed online, our magic elves get right to work picking, staging, boxing and shipping your trees. Orders typically ship out within 2 business days. You will receive email notifications along the way on the progress of your order, as well as tracking information to track your plants all the way to their new home!
Why are some states excluded from shipping?
The short & sweet answer is: "United States Department of Agriculture Restrictions." Every state has their own unique USDA restrictions on which plants they allow to come into their state. While we wish we could serve everyone, it's for the safety of native species and helps prevent the spread of invasive disease & pests. We've gotta protect good ole' Mother Nature, after all.
About Me
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The Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree is a real banana plant grown for its heavy crop of full-sized fruit. Properly grown you will harvest large bunches of bananas from your tree and enjoy properly-ripened bananas, not the artificial ripened fruit you find at the store. If you live in a warm area the Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree is an easy and attractive plant to grow in the garden to enjoy its tropical beauty and to harvest your own fruit. It needs a rich soil and plenty of water, as well as a warm, sheltered spot to grow in. It will very quickly grow from 5 to 9 feet in height with large leaves and create a wonderful tropical look in your garden. Remove the old stems at the ground once they have produced that bunch of bananas.
- Full-sized bananas on a dwarf plant
- Easily grown outdoors in warm regions
- Attractive pot-plant in cooler areas
- Beautiful big leaves give a tropical look
- Grow your own tropical fruit
For indoor growing, use a large pot and a rich but well-drained potting soil. Make sure the pot has a drain hole and do not leave it standing in water. Plants can be grown indoors all year round if they receive lots of sun, or place them outside during the warmer months, when night temperatures are above 50 degrees. Bunches of fruit that form in summer will continue to ripen indoors, and are usually ready shortly after Christmas.
- Plant Hardiness Zones 9-11
- Mature Width 6-8
- Mature Height 10-12
- Sun Needs Full Sun
The Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree produces large bunches of full-sized bananas and is the right variety if you want a real fruiting tree, not just one that is nice to look at. It can be grown outdoors in zones 9 and 11, so if you live in areas that are basically free of frost you can enjoy your own bananas ripened right on the tree. If you live in colder areas you can easily grow this plant in a large pot indoors and no special treatment is needed to get plants growing indoors to produce fruit. So no matter where you live, producing your own bananas is not only possible but actually easy.
The Dwarf Cavendish Banana produces real fruit, just like those in the store, not small, ornamental fruits as some other banana trees do. Left to ripen naturally on the tree the flavor and quality of the fruit will be far superior to the artificially ripened fruit that is sold in stores, and you will know exactly what treatments have been given to your plant. This tree is easy to grow and will usually produce fruit within a year or so of planting, so you won’t even have long to wait to enjoy them.
The original Dwarf Cavendish Banana was grown in England from plants brought from China in 1834. They caused a sensation and young plants were shipped around the world to establish plantations of banana trees in many places. Bananas had been grown for thousands of years in Asia but the Dwarf Cavendish variety quickly became the standard for what a good banana should be.
Growing Dwarf Cavendish Banana Trees
Bananas are not actually trees, but more like giant grasses, with the bases of the leaves wrapping around themselves to make the trunk. The Dwarf Cavendish Banana will grow from 5 to 9 feet in height and will produce young plants around the base so it quickly develops into a clump. The large leaves are at least 2 feet long and appear to grow from the top of the stem.
Knowing When Your Bananas are Ripe
When ready to flower, the Dwarf Cavendish Banana will produce a flowering stem from the top of the plant, which bends down as it develops. At first it looks like a giant pod, but the layers quickly open to reveal the flowers. In a few days, bunches of fruit form on the thick, hanging stem. It then takes around two months for the fruit to mature and ripen, when the lowest fruit will begin to turn yellow and can be picked for eating. A single plant can produce almost 100 bananas.
If you have never eaten a tree-ripened banana, you are in for a treat, as this fruit cannot be compared to those available in stores. Once the fruit has been picked, the stem will die and should be cut out at ground level. However, by then several new shoots will have grown up around it and these will quickly develop into new trees and produce more fruit, so you will always have new bunches developing.
Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions
The Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree like rich soil and a warm, sheltered sunny place. So add plenty of rich organic material to the soil when you are preparing your planting spot. It also likes plenty of water so keep your plant really well-watered at all times. This also helps to raise the humidity, which banana trees like too. Put plenty of mulch around the plant to feed it and to keep the soil moist. Outdoors your tree will grow mostly during the warmer parts of the year and once the temperature falls below 450F growth will stop until the warmer weather returns.
Growing in a Pot or Container
To grow your Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree in a pot, choose a large pot with drainage holes and plant your tree in regular tropical-plant soil with some extra perlite added. Water it well after planting and water again when the soil is just beginning to dry a little. Use half-strength liquid fertilizer every week during the growing season.
Plants in pots can be kept indoors permanently in a warm sunny spot, or moved outside during the summer months. It is best to bring outdoor potted trees indoors before the weather turns cool, and to finish ripening the bunches of bananas.Don’t put them outside until the weather is warm again, so that the growth of your plant is not stopped by the cold.
Buying Dwarf Cavendish Banana Trees
The Dwarf Cavendish Banana Tree is a special, heritage variety that must be grown directly from correctly identified parent plants. Our plants are produced in this way, so beware of cheaper plants that may not be the correct variety and will not give you those big, yellow bananas you want. Our Dwarf Cavendish Banana Trees are guaranteed authentic and are suited for growing outdoors or indoors. We constantly receive new plants so that we can send our customers the best quality, so supplies can be limited. Order your trees now to avoid being disappointed and missing out on the fun of eating your own home-grown bananas.
