Have you ever thought about the magical results you can get for your plant without even stepping out of your backyard? Solving the complex problems of one plant using the majestic properties of another plant available in your garden is one of the most beautiful feelings that a plant lover can get acquainted with.
Talking about this symbiotic relationship between plants, we actually have one such example to introduce and familiarize you all with. We bet you’ll only thank us after knowing about this amazing hack!
While it is true that any and every problem faced by your cucumber plants can easily be restored by adding in the banana peels of your plant, there are certain considerations that you need to keep in mind before putting this DIY plant hack into use.
As we move forward, you’ll get to know a lot more about the reasons that banana peel is the ultimate best friend of your cucumber plant, what methods can be followed to extract the maximum out of your banana peels, and how to take care of your cucumber plant. So without any further ado, let us begin!
How Banana Peels Help Cucumber Plants?
Banana peels make for an ideal gardening ingredient, mainly because of the nutrient profile they contain. They are composed of 42 percent of potassium. In fact, banana peels have very high sources of organic potassium.
Potassium helps plants to transport nutrients and water between cells. Potassium strengthens plant stems and also fights diseases. It is very important to create flowers, and even make fruit (and berries!) It tastes better.
Potassium will make your plants resistant to drought. This is important because without enough potassium content in plants, their growth reduces and becomes very poor. Banana peels even grow the protein in your plants.
The skin of bananas or leaves is rich in nutrients, making it an excellent source of natural fertilizer for your yard and garden. They are a good fertilizer because of what they do not contain. They do not contain any nitrogen at all.
Potassium-rich banana leaves are best for plants such as tomatoes, peppers or flowers. The banana leaves also contain calcium, which prevents the decaying of flowers from tomatoes. (Source for NPK ratio)
Manganese in banana leaves facilitates photosynthesis, while sodium in banana leaves facilitates the flow of water between cells. Recently, traces of magnesium and sulfur are found in peels that help elevate the chlorophyll.
Also Read: How Often to Water Cucumber Plants?
How to Use Banana Peels for Cucumber Plants?
After learning about the boon that banana peels can be in growing and taking care of your cucumber plants, it is only natural to crave learning how to use them in the most effective way possible.
The good news is that there are not one or two ways in which you can add the magic of banana peels to your garden, but there are multifarious methods that you can employ to get the best results for your cucumber plants.
Make a tea out of those peels
Have you ever heard of compost tea?
The functions it serves and the components it uses? A banana peel tea is something very similar to that. The tea made of these peels use the essential nutrients that are extracted out of the fruit to provide an instant mineral boost to your cucumber plant.
You can easily make it. All you need is a mason jar, some water, and the peel of just one banana. Fill the jar with water, throw in the peel and let it sit in there for at least 48 hours.
After a period of 48 hours, you can safely remove the peel from the jar and discard it. The leftover water can be used to fertilize your cucumber plants in as efficient a manner as you want them to be.
Adding chopped peels to your garden
A more direct way of including banana peels into the growth process of your cucumber plants is to perhaps chop some of the peels of an overripe banana and add them as it is to the potting mixture.
You can chop them into small pieces of any size you desire and spread them evenly across the garden, favoring not only the cucumber plant but also other plants in your garden.
Also Read: How Long Does it Take for Cucumber to Grow?
Make a compost pile
This method is ideal for those who want no additional work to be done with the banana peels. That’s right, in order to make a compost pile out of your used banana peels, you just need to keep stocked some peels for a few days and throw them in a biodegradable pit for a couple of days.
After some time, you can see the pile change its color to brownish black with a certain strong stink.
That’s it! In a few simple steps, the matter of your compost pile made of banana peels is ready. You can either spread the compost with your weekly fertilizer sprays or scatter them throughout your garden to see amazing results.
Also Read: Are Eggshells Good for Cucumbers?
Making a powdered fertilizer
In Order to prepare a powdered banana peel fertilizer for your cucumber plants, you just need to dry your banana peels for a few days and grind them into fine powder.
Next, you can mix it with the potting soil, or add some liquid into it to convert it into a spray fertilizer version.
Adding the entire banana peel
Another easy way of incorporating banana peels as an essential ingredient of your cucumber plant growth regime is to let the banana peels dry for a while and plant them with the soil in the ground.
To do so, you’d require trenching a hole in the ground a few inches deep before planting cucumbers.
Next, you’d need to layer the hole with a few banana peels before adding the soil mixture. That’s it! Your cucumber plants will reap the benefit from beneath the ground, without you going an extra mile!
Also Read: Best Fertilizer for Chilli Plants
Few Important Cucumber Plant Caring Tips
Cucumbers are very active and healthy. Once established, your cucumber crop will flourish and bear fruit in abundance. Cucumbers are adaptable to most growing areas and are easy to grow for early growers.
Here you will learn the best way to grow cucumbers – including where, how, and when to plant them – to get the best yield.
Remember, it all narrows down to the conditions that you provide your plant. If they are right, it is only a matter of time before you have a yield of ripe and good cucumbers in your garden.
Depending on what you are going to use it for and how big you want it to be, some will be ready in as little as 50 days.
It can take up to 70 days for some species, and it will take longer if they are attacked by disease, drought, or low temperatures.
Also Read: How Long Does it Take for Okra to Grow?
Soil Requirements
There is no hard and fast rule to choose the right type of soil for growing cucumber plants in your backyard. Cucumbers thrive in any kind of soil that provides them with a fertile enough ground to grow and thrive.
If you want to get the best results for your plant, the ideal condition is to add some age old compost to the top most five inches of your soil and wait for a week to get results.
Ideally, cucumber plants grow best when they are kept at a soil temperature that does not go beyond 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally, if you want to germinate your cucumber seeds, a warmer temperature soil would be more suitable.
Watering
It is a universal fact that cucumbers are the richest source of hydration and are practically made of water. The answer to how much water a cucumber plant needs to grow to its maximum potential lies right there in this fact.
In order to meet their heavy watering needs, it is important that you water them upto two inches of the soil each week. You can exceed this limit if you feel that there is little or no rain in your surroundings.
Must Read: How Much Sunlight Do Cucumbers Need?
Weeding cucumber plants
Weeding is one of the most important practices to undertake if your cucumber plants or backyard suffers from serious pest and disease issues. When you are watering your cucumber plants, carefully inspect them of any scar or cut. If you observe anything unusual, weed your plants to keep the diseases at bay.
If the problem persists, consider removing the cucumber plant yield to avoid the disease spreading to other important plants of your garden. Cucumber beetles are the most common insects prevalent in cucumber plants that are responsible for the spread of the bacterial wilt disease.
Conclusion
Now you know that the peels you thought of as being garbage can actually be the most important ingredient when it comes to taking care of the cucumber plants in your garden. Follow the aforementioned easy garden hacks to convert your banana peels as an effective medicine for your cucumber plants.
If you want to about more such hacks and easy DIYs that are not only cost-effective but can also inspire the creative gardener in you, read out more of our blog!