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Originally Posted by Chironex
My guess is that it is due to shipping shock. As Patty said, future leaves will be the telltale of a happy plant. Stay the course and keep doing what you were. Judge it by the new growth. I would just keep an eye on it for rot on the new leaves. Gradually let more air to them each day now. One week of hardening should be enough to recover.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by momoese
Well, this will be interesting to follow!
If it were my plant I'd remove it and check for rot, clean if needed, let it dry some, then apply some fungicide/rooting hormone before replanting in some sterile media. If the rot has already started it won't matter how much air you pass over the roots.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harveyc
Thanks, Mitchel. From some things I've related to "brewing" actively aerated compost tea, harmful bacteria is most often grown in anerobic conditions so I believe that aeration would decrease or stop the spread of rot even if it has started. Since the pup had some fairly small roots to begin with, I'm afraid I'd break those off easily by removing it from the soil. I suppose I could wash the soil away.
I have not heard of the use of rooting hormone on banana pups. Have you used it?
Thanks for the ideas!
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Harvey,
I've ordered a couple of variegated bananas from Thailand and both of them croaked. First one, I planted in a peat based soil less medium, and shined a 40 watt lightbulb on the surface of the medium at around 1-foot away. The second one, I planted in coco peat, and hardly watered it because it stayed moist all the time, with no artificial lighting.
On all of my bananas, I dust the corms with Captan fungicide before I pot them up. I would agree with Mitchel, if it were my plant, I would re-pot the plant. I would gently shake off as much of the soil as I can, then dust it with Captan. After airing it out for an hour, I would pot it in a well draining medium, like a cactus potting mix. And here is what I think is the most important part that I did not do for the other bananas, I would put them on a heat mat, set at 85°F. The reason I think this is important is that, in realizing that the plant comes from a hot tropical area, where the ground is probably at least 80°F most of the time, when the plant is in the pot on the floor, the temperature of the potting medium or soil is probably even or 2-3°F cooler than the ambient temperature. At this temperature, when the soil is moist, the plant is sensing that the soil is wet because that would the wet temperature in its original "home". Hence, it will react like the ground is wet all the time. By raising the temperature of the medium, the plant senses the warmth, and the plant responds "like it was back home", and the need to absorb the moisture before it dries out by sending out roots.
As for a rooting hormone, you might try Rootone, though it might be a little expensive, unless you dust the corm with a small amount (1-tsp), before you dust it with Captan. Or, try a little Gibberellic acid powder mixed with some Captan. Only problem is, I don't how much to use any more since I haven't used GA3 in a while.
This is not to say that your aerating of the pot will not help. It will perhaps reduce the risk of fungus growth. And you need to make sure that the soil doesn't dry out. Without bottom heat, the plant may still respond like the soil is wet. Aerating the soil will cool it further.
If you decide to "stay the course", at least spray the plant with a systemic fungicide, e.g., Ferti-lome Systemic Fungicide, etc. Even after dusting the corms from Thailand with Captan, when the plants exhibited signs or rotting, I sprayed them with fungicide, but even this was to no avail.
I have two 4-foot Ae-Ae's (allegedly from Saipan! LOL) that are inside the house in 5-gallon pots. Their outer leaves have dried out, but the p-stems are still firm. One of them has a leaf actually slowly growing. When the temperature in the greenhouse is at least a constant 65°F, I bring them there and I will be putting them on the heat mat until I see obvious signs of active growth.