Can You Really Dust Your Houseplants With A Banana Peel? We Tried It, Here Are Our Results!

It seems everyone and their brother has plant fever these days, and the only cure is MORE PLANTS! We’ve mastered the art of watering, they’re all stayin’ alive. Now we’re onto more cosmetic issues, like: just how shiny and clean can I get my plants? Can I buff them with banana peels?

According to an old folk remedy (and a few people on YouTube) shredded banana peels draped all over plants can help to rid it of an aphid infestation. There are also quite a few accounts from plant enthusiasts who get the maximum usage out of a banana by using the peel to wipe down their plants. While I was pretty positive my sweet little plant wasn’t infected, I was curious to see if bathing it with a banana peel would make it shiny and happy, so I tried it! Here are my results:

It definitely took a dull leaf and made it shiny — but I’m not totally sold on the idea. The banana peels collected a lot of dust but also left behind little gummy dust balls on the leaves.

After cleaning the leaves with the peels, I chopped them up and tossed ’em in the pot for fertilizer. I read that roses loves banana peels, so I’m crossing my fingers my Alocasia will too!