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[The Clam]

So I just finished my experiment today to test the viability of banana peel based fertilizer and figured I would share it.

My Method-

1. 7 Banana peel's were burned occasionally applying rubbing alcohol to help keep it hot.

2. 6% vinegar was acquired

3. The banana peel ashes were weighed and came out to 22.93 grams of ash.

4. I approximated there to be 9.63 grams of K2CO3 (potassium carbonate) in the banana peel's and did my measurements based on this. This was incorrect and the total weight is yet to be discovered though "eyeballing it" I would say it will be more or less a gram. Im not sure if I lost some during filtering or to spillage or if im actually 100% wrong on the weight but I will post it when it's dry so stay posted.

5.To the ash 161 grams of 6% vinegar was added and a quick and hot reaction was observed.

NOTE: This was small scale but if I had more ash and vinegar, it would have gotten very hot very quickly and would have melted through my plastic reaction vessel so add this VERY SLOWLY.

6. This was filtered 3 time through toilet paper (I had nothing better) until an apple juice colored liquid was left.

7. I evaporated this but it could have been boiled off.

What was recovered was dirty crystals of potassium acetate of an (will update once completely dry) unknown weight.
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From what I have heard potassium acetate is the best absorbing potassium salt and im assuming the most ecofriendly due to the acetate being an organic molecule and more likely to break down into a simple carbon based molecule. I may be wrong and by all means, correct me if I am. Also, just a quick side note: If you want to purify and get rid of any other water soluble contaminants (shouldn't be a problem if your using it for plants) my thoughts are that you could dissolve the chemical in a small amount of water and add acetone slowly until  potassium acetate crystallizes out and the water/acetone solution could be disposed of in the appropriate way.

If I made any mistakes, please let me know and of course don't forget, this was educational purposes only and please don't attempt to recreate unless you're confident in your ability's and if you do, im not responsible for any harm that may come to you or your property or anyone else.

Thanks for reading
-The Clam-
   

2 Likes ONandONandON and nikshaz like this.

[Mangrove]

just grind it up to mush in a blender and mix the goop into a soil medium.

[The Clam]

The ash or acetate?

[The Clam]

UPDATE: unfortunately I could not get that stuff dry, so the weight is unknown but I will defiantly see how well it works once I use it in the future.

[jjdude96]

i found this while eating a banana now i have to try it!!!

[The Clam]

Its defiantly worth trying id say instead of adding vinegar, just filter until the solution is clear and stick with the potassium carbonate, its probably better.

[Mangrove]

What if you just ran it through a blender and added the goop to your compost heap or mixed in with soil? Or better yet: just eat it and add your own bannana-enriched excrement to your fertility blend  as Kurt Cobain famously demonstrated, everything is worth a shot.

[The Clam]

What if you just ran it through a blender and added the goop to your compost heap or mixed in with soil? Or better yet: just eat it and add your own bannana-enriched excrement to your fertility blend  as Kurt Cobain famously demonstrated, everything is worth a shot.

You could lol and it would probably work well, the only real plus from my method is it being water soluble and inorganic, in regards to eating it though, I don't think the peel would taste so good though I have heard of banana peel tea.

[Mangrove]

What if you just ran it through a blender and added the goop to your compost heap or mixed in with soil? Or better yet: just eat it and add your own bannana-enriched excrement to your fertility blend  as Kurt Cobain famously demonstrated, everything is worth a shot.

You could lol and it would probably work well, the only real plus from my method is it being water soluble and inorganic, in regards to eating it though, I don't think the peel would taste so good though I have heard of banana peel tea.

Or you cold just pulverize the raw peels with a pestle and mortar or blender and save yourself the time and energy--blender===instant fertilizer. also, if the banana peels degrade/brown/rot they may have more free nutrients due to decomposition of enzymes and macromolecular structures; I believe you are over-thinking this; just bruise/rot a few bananas, chuck em in a blender and whalla! You've just made bannana fertilizer tea.

1 Like BubbleCat likes this.

[The Clam]

Well the issue you run in to is with most organic nutrients, it allows for life to grow off it such as bacteria, fungus, flies and so on which wont work with most hydroponics system (I am working on an experiment regarding worm casting tea and hydroponics though to test the viability) or for indoor pots. I have indoor pots and I used an old banana peel that was going bad and it more or less inoculated my entire room with an army of fungus nates that stuck around for around a year. Outdoors though absolutely, I put almost all my fruit waste that I dont feed to the worms into the garden.

[Mangrove]

Well the issue you run in to is with most organic nutrients, it allows for life to grow off it such as bacteria, fungus, flies and so on which wont work with most hydroponics system (I am working on an experiment regarding worm casting tea and hydroponics though to test the viability) or for indoor pots. I have indoor pots and I used an old banana peel that was going bad and it more or less inoculated my entire room with an army of fungus nates that stuck around for around a year. Outdoors though absolutely, I put almost all my fruit waste that I dont feed to the worms into the garden.

Soooo why not use banana-infused fertilizer in your outdoor plants (or better yet, as an additive to your outdoor garden beds in order to make for healthier and more nutritious crops)? I wouldn't suggest using rotting (yet oh-so-fertile) banana flesh on indoor plants if the smell offends you; however, if blended juuuust right into a compost (or gardening soil) mix, it would make for a great additive to your spring gardens; all you need to preserve banana peels until spring is a freezer (which I assume you have) and 3-5 months' time to wait it out until spring rolls around. It should also be known that such a "freeze and thaw" method such as this would increase the free nutrient content in the peels as well.

TL;DR use bananas as a fertilizer for your outdoor-growing plants & garden; freeze the peels until springtime/planting season, then thaw/blend it into a liquid, mix it in with your gardening soil, and then plot some plants in that soil, take good care of them, and then feast upon the fruits of both of your labors.

[BubbleCat]

So far I do not know of an hydroponic system that does not allow the use of organic nutrients. To be completely honest: I considered putting an UV lamp into the circuit of mine to prevent issues but it doesnt appear necessary.

Anyways, oxygenation should keep all issues on the low, also not all bacteria and fungi are bad news and those who make it in oxygen rich environment usually are nothing to fear.

Lastly you are most likely not referring to the nutrients themselves attracting issues but not yet decomposed carbs proteins and fats in the organic solution. In such case my advice would be: Just dont use not yet decomposed organic fertilizer, give all the forms of life you dont want in your system enough time to feast and once there is nothing to feast on anymore sterilize the batch and there you go. Its like your fermented pepper sauce, once all has been digested it will not attract anything.

[The Clam]

Well the issue you run in to is with most organic nutrients, it allows for life to grow off it such as bacteria, fungus, flies and so on which wont work with most hydroponics system (I am working on an experiment regarding worm casting tea and hydroponics though to test the viability) or for indoor pots. I have indoor pots and I used an old banana peel that was going bad and it more or less inoculated my entire room with an army of fungus nates that stuck around for around a year. Outdoors though absolutely, I put almost all my fruit waste that I dont feed to the worms into the garden.

Soooo why not use banana-infused fertilizer in your outdoor plants (or better yet, as an additive to your outdoor garden beds in order to make for healthier and more nutritious crops)? I wouldn't suggest using rotting (yet oh-so-fertile) banana flesh on indoor plants if the smell offends you; however, if blended juuuust right into a compost (or gardening soil) mix, it would make for a great additive to your spring gardens; all you need to preserve banana peels until spring is a freezer (which I assume you have) and 3-5 months' time to wait it out until spring rolls around. It should also be known that such a "freeze and thaw" method such as this would increase the free nutrient content in the peels as well.

TL;DR use bananas as a fertilizer for your outdoor-growing plants & garden; freeze the peels until springtime/planting season, then thaw/blend it into a liquid, mix it in with your gardening soil, and then plot some plants in that soil, take good care of them, and then feast upon the fruits of both of your labors.

I do that to, I just have most of my stuff indoors because I more or less live in a cold bog. But either way, I just wanted to do it to see if I could and I figured id share the results.

[The Clam]

So far I do not know of an hydroponic system that does not allow the use of organic nutrients. To be completely honest: I considered putting an UV lamp into the circuit of mine to prevent issues but it doesnt appear necessary.

Anyways, oxygenation should keep all issues on the low, also not all bacteria and fungi are bad news and those who make it in oxygen rich environment usually are nothing to fear.

Lastly you are most likely not referring to the nutrients themselves attracting issues but not yet decomposed carbs proteins and fats in the organic solution. In such case my advice would be: Just dont use not yet decomposed organic fertilizer, give all the forms of life you dont want in your system enough time to feast and once there is nothing to feast on anymore sterilize the batch and there you go. Its like your fermented pepper sauce, once all has been digested it will not attract anything.

Well, im actually working on a project to grow root crops (tumeric, ginger, potatoes and kava) with worm casting tea via deep water culture or kratky hydroponics but I have never heard of it being done by others before. Also that's a good way to put it.

[SlowGrow]

Very interesting.. im going to try some experiments aswell..