You Might Not Want To Use Banana Peels To Fertilize Your House Plants. Here's Why

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Have you perused the best houseplants to add to your kitchen and committed to a few favorites? Then you're undoubtedly eagerly watching for those plants to really blossom, and wondering how you can ensure they live a long, healthy life. There is no better upgrade for both the aesthetics and atmosphere of your home than the addition of some colorful plants. Because we're always on the lookout for savvy plant-care hacks, we were excited to learn overripe bananas enrich plants and soil with their nutrients. But that's for outside gardens. What about houseplants — is it worth going fully bananas on this fertilizer approach?

Sadly, bananas don't bring the same magic to indoor plants. Outside, bananas whole or blended into a paste contribute their nutrients — potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorous — that are great for plant growth and health. They attract microorganisms that boost soil health, too, as they break down. They even bring birds and bees to your garden, which helps keep pests away. Indoors, though, these benefits flip. With no birds and bees to attract, bananas can instead put out the call to gnats, flies, and cockroaches. And while the nutrients that come from their decomposition are a great long-term investment in your garden, that process actually happens too slowly for one potted houseplant to get any benefits. Essentially, inside, bananas don't deliver nutrients but do lure bugs.

You can keep using your overripe bananas to help plants outdoors. They're most effective when composted, creating pest-free compost that's excellent for those plants and their soil. Inside, you want something more impactful that doesn't roll out the red carpet for roaches. To help your houseplants thrive, turn to the obvious answer — store-bought fertilizer. A product like TPS Nutrients Houseplant Fertilizer promises a proven blend of everything plants need, from nitrogen (which bananas don't have) to magnesium, iron, and zinc.

For sustainable, virtually free ideas, there are other waste products that help houseplants. Used coffee grounds get that needed nitrogen into the soil. Broken egg shells contribute calcium. You can give plants necessary magnesium with epsom salts, and molasses for iron and sulfur. Ground tree leaves mixed into the soil can also bring in their existing nutrients to help your indoor potted plants out. 

Fertilizing houseplants isn't actually do or die, but it is a good idea for prolonged plant health — it makes up for the lack of natural processes found outside, like organic matter breaking down in soil. It's best to fertilize every few weeks during the plants' growing seasons, likely spring and summer. If you see browning leaves, you're over-fertilizing and should scale back. Another natural process to mimic? Pollination, for indoor fruit trees, specifically — it's the most overlooked reason those plants don't blossom.