Banana skin??

[Sienna]

So a friend of mine said that a piece of banana skin (about the size of a postage stamp) is great for your orchids and encourages it to flower?? Is this true? Has anyone tried it? can I continue my normal fertilizing routine?

[ronaldhanko]

Ripening bananas give off ethylene gas and will often initiate blooms in bromeliads, but I have never heard that they have the same effect in orchids.

[kiki-do]

i had heard that bananas and their peelings are very harmful to orchids. I either read it somewhere, or someone told me to keep orchids away from bananas. It's because of that ethylene gas.

[ronaldhanko]

Ethylene gas will damage the flowers on orchids by making them wilt, but as far as I know it will not damage the plants.

[Baz in Oz]

Sienna, I haven't heard of the banana skin thing with orchids but it works with stag horn ferns because the skin is rich in potassium.

Baz

[Sienna]

hhmmm interesting. Thanks for your responses...might give it a miss then?!

[Orchid126]

Banana skins are rich in potassium, as Baz says, but they don't do well on the inert mediums we use for orchids. They do better on the soil for regular house plants where they can decompose faster, or outdoors around the roses or on the compost heap.

[Ray]

The reason ethylene gas is used to "force" bromeliads (like pineapples) is precisely because it is toxic to them, so they bloom in a last-ditch attempt to procreate and carry on the gene pool.

I'm quite certain that it would work with orchids - other stresses do - but it seems to me that "threatening" your plants is not the way to go...

[PaphMadMan]

Originally Posted by Ray

The reason ethylene gas is used to "force" bromeliads (like pineapples) is precisely because it is toxic to them, so they bloom in a last-ditch attempt to procreate and carry on the gene pool.

I'm quite certain that it would work with orchids - other stresses do - but it seems to me that "threatening" your plants is not the way to go...

Ethylene is NOT toxic to plants in the concentrations used to 'force' bromeliads. It is a naturally occuring plant hormone that plays many roles, including initiation of reproductive growth in some species. Many ripening fruits produce ethylene, which promotes ripening in other nearby fruit. Ethylene from ripening fruit can also prematurely age flowers - it often plays a role in the natural aging and loss of leaves and flowers. None of this is harmful to the plants. It is just part of the natural control of the cycle of growth.

It would take more ethylene than a small piece of banana peal could produce to have any effect at all on most plants. It might act as a very minor source of nutrients as it decays.