2 min readThere's nothing quite like growing your own tomatoes. From the fresh scent of the vines to picking perfectly ripe fruit, it's one of the simplest pleasures of summer. But there's a surprising ingredient that could make your harvest even better—and it may already be sitting at the bottom of your compost bin.
Banana peels are packed with nutrients that can support healthy tomato plants, encouraging strong growth while reducing the risk of problems such as blossom-end rot. Below, we explain why they work and how to use them effectively.
How Banana Peels Can Help Tomatoes Grow
The next time you eat a banana, think twice before throwing the peel in your regular bin if you're growing tomatoes.
“Bananas are naturally rich in potassium and phosphorus, which help support the plants with flowering and bearing fruit,” explains Richard Barker, horticultural expert and commercial director of LBS Horticulture. “They also contain calcium, which can help to prevent blossom-end rot in tomatoes.”
The best way to use banana peels to fertilize tomatoes is to chop them into smaller pieces and add them to your compost.
“This helps the nutrients in the peel break down so that plants can access them,” says Barker. The heat and microbes from composting will also break down any pesticides present on the peels.
Bananas are best used during transplanting or when the plants are flowering and fruiting, giving them an extra boost of potassium when they need it most.
…But There’s a Catch
Although making banana peel water for tomatoes and other plants is often recommended, it is not actually an effective method.
“This is because soaking the peels does not extract nutrients so that they are available to plants, and plants can only absorb nutrients that have been broken down by microbes and fungi,” explains Barker. “The water can also attract pests, as it is made from rotting organic matter.”
Similarly, adding fresh peels directly into the soil when planting is another popular suggestion, but it also has drawbacks.
“The nutrients will be unavailable to plants until the peels have broken down, and unless buried deeply, they can attract pests,” says Barker. For this reason, composting the peels first is the best way to release their beneficial nutrients.
It's also worth remembering that, while composted banana peels can give tomatoes a useful nutritional boost, they are not a complete fertilizer. Because they contain relatively little nitrogen, plants will still benefit from a balanced feed during the leafy growth stage, before switching their energy to producing flowers and fruit.
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