How to Care for a 'Walha' Banana Tree

Enrich and layer the soil around the base of the Walha banana with compost. If first planting Walha into the garden, create a soil that is 50 percent compost or well-rotted manure mixed with native topsoil. Already growing banana plants benefit from a compost mulch that's maintained across the year at a continual depth of 2 to 4 inches. Spread the compost mulch 3 to 5 feet away from the basal clump of banana stems.

Water the soil to keep it evenly and constantly moist from spring to fall, when frosts do not occur and air temperatures stay above 65 degrees Fahrenheit. A warm soil, with a temperature higher than 70 F, increases the growth of the Walha banana and high humidity ensures the leaves do not develop dry, brown or yellowed edges. Do not overwater to create a soggy soil condition. In winter, once temperatures cool and frosts might occur, keep the soil barely moist to slightly dry to prevent root rot.

Scatter well-balanced slow-release fertilizer granules, such as 10-10-10 around the mulched area surrounding the Walha banana in spring. Apply new dosages across summer as prescribed on the fertilizer's product label. In the heat of summer, bananas respond with fast, lush growth when the soil is warm, moist and fertile. You may opt to apply a water-soluble fertilizer every two to four weeks in summer as well as maintain the compost mulch and use granular fertilizer.

Chop off banana stalks at ground level once a hand of bananas are produced and harvested. A machete or long knife most easily cuts the dense, fibrous stalk bases. Stalks naturally die after bananas are formed. Cutting the destined-to-die stalk allows the roots to send resources to the replacement plantlets sprouting from the base of the plant.

Trim off any yellow, dead or wind-tattered leaves as desired during the growing season with a bypass pruners.

Retain any frost- or freeze-damaged leaves and stalks on the Walha banana over the entire winter. Prune away this dead tissue in spring after the threat of frost passes. Delaying pruning allows the cold-damaged leaves and stems to buffer lower living tissues from repeated freezes. Even if the plant is fully killed back to the ground, Walha banana rejuvenates in mid to late spring from the rhizomes or corm-roots that were insulated in the soil. Once danger of frost passes, cut back the dead tissues to expose sunlight to warm the plant clump. Begin increased watering and fertilizing once new growth is spotted from the roots.