Many are interested in: on which tree bananas grow. It turns out that the favorite food of Russian residents can grow not only in hot African countries, but also in regions with relatively cold climates. Such a plant is azimine (annona triple). This is a banana tree that can be grown in a tub at home, as well as in the open ground in the climate of the Crimea or the Caucasus. This plant is sometimes called a Mexican banana for the elongated shape of the fruit.
A banana tree of this species is not only an ornamental and fruit plant, but also a medicinal one - its leaves and seeds are actively used for medical purposes.
The homeland of the pawpaw is the countries located in Central and South America. Today, the Mexican banana has spread in France, Spain and Italy. And in Russia, the plant was introduced back in the last century. Its advantage is high frost resistance. A banana can tolerate temperatures up to minus thirty degrees, and flower buds that swell in early April are not at all afraid of spring frosts.
The Mexican banana tree in favorable conditions develops up to several meters, in the homeland it reaches ten meters. However, if necessary, it is easily deformed and takes dwarf forms.
This ornamental plant has a wide pyramidal crown and smooth bark, and large leaves reach 10 cm in width and 30 cm in length. When growing azimins in the garden or on the balcony, it should be borne in mind that with strong winds, large leaves of the plant can be damaged.
Indoor banana tree has large monoecious red-violet flowers with a diameter of up to 4 cm, the corolla of which consists of six petals, and a cup of three leaves. Azimina flowering begins in the spring before the leaves unfold and lasts for three weeks. This plant is cross-pollinated, so at home it requires artificial pollination with cotton or a soft brush.
Fruits reach twelve centimeters in length and grow up to five centimeters in diameter. They gather in branches consisting of eight or more fruits. Rich in sucrose and fructose, the banana pulp has a sweet, delicate taste and strawberry-pineapple aroma. The fruits of azimina are composed of trace elements essential for the human body, which are also found in persimmons and tropical bananas. The indoor banana tree has a whitish-yellow flesh that resembles butter to the touch. Subject to the correct cultivation technique, a crop can produce from 25 kg of fruit from one tree.
Yellowing and falling of leaves begins in mid-autumn, and new ones grow in late spring after flowering. The buds appear in the sinuses left over from the leaves of past years. A few pestles grow on the azimina flowers, which makes it possible to form up to nine fruits. Pollination is performed when the pollen becomes loose and acquires a brownish tint, and the ends of the pistils become sticky and greenish-glossy. Cross-pollination requires two plants. The fruits of the plant ripen within a month.
A banana tree loves the light, but light shading will be required during the first two years. An adult plant prefers sunlight. Seedlings develop at a slow pace, but with an increase in the light period to sixteen hours, a tree can grow up to one and a half meters in three months.
The pawpaw is regularly watered from spring to autumn, the soil cover should be moist all the time, but water stagnation is not allowed.
The banana tree grown from good varietal seeds under favorable conditions begins to bear fruit after 4 years. Seeds germinate eight weeks after planting. A grafted plant can begin flowering in two years, but it is very difficult to do.