Banana! That amazing fruit is popular with Minions and small kids everywhere. It’s tasty, nutritious, and easy to eat, but can you compost bananas? Can you compost banana peels?
Yes, you can. They are great materials to compost, rich in nutrients, and they decompose well (ever seen your bananas turn black on your counter when you forgot about them?) Bananas are a great source of calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphates, potassium, and other nutrients. All of these help your plants grow and prosper.
How to Compost Bananas and Banana Peels
Bananas are one of the easier fruits to compost. You simply toss them into the compost pile. Make sure to remove those stickers off of them, any bands that the store added, or anything else that isn’t the banana. If you forget, at some point when turning your compost, you’ll see random stickers in the compost. Not the end of the world but easier to remove it when you add the banana.
Then you can toss the banana or the peel right into the compost. You can cut up the peel if you want, but it’s unnecessary. They decompose fairly quickly.
Make sure to turn your compost periodically and mix the peels and bananas inside the compost to help them decompose more quickly. Proper aeration is important to the decomposition process as with most compost materials.
Composting Bananas with Worms
If you’re using vermicomposting, bananas are a terrific addition. It turns out that Minions aren’t the only ones who like bananas. Worms love them too.
How Long Do Bananas Take to Decompose
Both bananas and banana peels tend to decompose pretty quickly. Bananas will go a week or two before they are no longer recognizable. Just the act of turning the compost will often break them up inside the compost.
It takes a bit longer for banana peel, which is nature’s way of protecting the banana. They will usually take a few weeks to decompose.
Can I Compost Bananas and Banana Peels?
Not only can you compost bananas and their peels, but you also should. They are a wonderful source of nutrients and one of the easiest foods that you’ll compost. They tend to degrade quickly, especially on kitchen counters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can You Compost Rotten Banana Peels?
Of course. Rotten banana peels have already started the decomposition process for you. Adding these to your compost and they will break down even a bit more quickly than adding fresh banana peels.
Can You Compost Banana Leaves?
If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere warm and grow your own bananas, you might have banana leaves. These are compostable too. You can add them to your compost pile as additional green material (or brown if you dry them out.) You can cut them up, or rip them up to help them decompose more quickly, but otherwise you can just add banana leaves to your compost directly.