View Full Version : Goldfinger leaves don't look very good
ray0605
08-11-2012, 12:05 PM
Hello everyone, I am a brand new member and am hoping someone can give me an idea of what is going on with my banana plant. The older leaves look good, nice and green. The new leaves coming in are a little on the yellow side but they have this strip of straw coloring that looks dead. This strip starts out when the leaf is just coming in and is still straight. I will try to put pictures up once I figure out how to do it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
caliboy1994
08-11-2012, 01:43 PM
It could be a nutrient deficiency. With pics we'll know for sure.
RandyGHO
08-11-2012, 02:01 PM
My goldfinger has a few bad spots in its leaves as well. It was thought it was too much fertlizer. How big is your plant? What fertilizer are you using? Is it in-ground?
ray0605
08-11-2012, 02:18 PM
Thank you for the quick response Cali. I am going to attempt to add the photos here. Appreciate all your help.
Ray
Banana Gallery - IMG_0867 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50076&cat=2051)
Banana Gallery - IMG_0870 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50078&cat=2051)
ray0605
08-11-2012, 02:31 PM
Randy it is in the ground. Plant is about 3 and a half feet high. I planted it in chicken manure and add a fish emulsion every few weeks. Plant has been in the ground for about a month and a half. Leaves come in pretty regularly though it hasn't grown as tall as I thought it would. I figure since it's a dwarf that is normal
caliboy1994
08-11-2012, 03:39 PM
Some of my plants are suffering from the same thing! :ha: I believe it's a micronutrient deficiency, I think either boron or calcium. It could be from overfertilizing, that's how mine came down with it. Try adding some organics to the soil.
ray0605
08-11-2012, 03:48 PM
I will definitely look into that. I appreciate it.
RandyGHO
08-11-2012, 04:31 PM
Ray is a picture of my Goldfinger planted about the same time as yours. The P-stem is closing in on 5 feet.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50081&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50081)
ray0605
08-11-2012, 04:39 PM
Wow Randy that looks great. I'm envious. Any tips on how I could get mine to look more like yours? Also, how did you get the pic on the thread? Stupid question I know.
ray0605
08-11-2012, 04:43 PM
Planted mine June 30th. I have been watering about every 3 days give or take depending on the soil. Added the chicken manure and hit it with fish emulsion twice. I know next to nothing about fertilizer, been getting lucky with the rest of the garden but its this banana tree I seem to care about the most
RandyGHO
08-11-2012, 08:14 PM
I know what you mean. I am new to bananas too but I will share with you what I am doing. Probably the biggest difference is I use a 10-2-22 fertilizer. You want be able to find that exact mix since I mix it my self. Any fertilizer in the 10-10-10 will get them growing in the short run. On the goldfinger I am using 1/2-3/4 pound a month. It you might start with a 1/2 pound and see what happens. I tried a full pound and that was too much.
There are a lot of different opinions on fertilizer. I also had my soil analyzed at the local County extension agent for 6 bucks.
I hope that helps a bit.
ray0605
08-11-2012, 08:20 PM
I'll definitely give that a shot. If anything it will be another excuse to go buy more supplies. I am enjoying the looks every time I buy huge loads of fertilizer. I appreciate all the help. I'll keep the results posted.
RandyGHO
08-12-2012, 06:19 AM
I did a lot of internet searching on fertilizer. A ratio of NPK of 10-5-20 is a middle of the road fertilizer. To make some thing near that, I bought 2 different fertilizers and mixed them together using this fertilizer calculator.
NPK Soil Fertilizer Calculator (http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/soil/fertcalc/)
I mix 10-10-10 with a 5-0-15 I found at walmart.
A couple of folks here use 13-13-13 with good success so I think just a good fertlizer will get you going with a good water program.
sunfish
08-12-2012, 07:56 AM
Wow Randy that looks great. I'm envious. Any tips on how I could get mine to look more like yours? Also, how did you get the pic on the thread? Stupid question I know.
Click on your photo and copy then paste Code for bulletin boards: to your post
jmoore
08-12-2012, 09:38 AM
I did a lot of internet searching on fertilizer. A ratio of NPK of 10-5-20 is a middle of the road fertilizer. To make some thing near that, I bought 2 different fertilizers and mixed them together using this fertilizer calculator.
NPK Soil Fertilizer Calculator (http://aesl.ces.uga.edu/soil/fertcalc/)
I mix 10-10-10 with a 5-0-15 I found at walmart.
A couple of folks here use 13-13-13 with good success so I think just a good fertlizer will get you going with a good water program.
That looks really handy, could you put it in the wiki?
ray0605
08-12-2012, 11:06 AM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=50077 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=50078)
ray0605
08-12-2012, 11:07 AM
Thank you sunfish
sunfish
08-12-2012, 11:19 AM
ray0605 do you have heavy clay soil ?
ray0605
08-12-2012, 11:30 AM
yeah i guess you could say that
ray0605
08-12-2012, 11:38 AM
When I first planted I saw that the soil was kind of tight so I added potting soil and chicken manure. I don't know how one would classify the soil at this point but it does seem to not drain as fast as I think would be best. I am new so I may not be answering your question accurately.
sunfish
08-12-2012, 11:58 AM
Soil Tests - Four Simple Do-It-Yourself Soil Tests (http://organicgardening.about.com/od/soil/a/easysoiltests.htm)
ray0605
08-12-2012, 12:33 PM
Thanks for the link. Funny thing is I read that article when I first got started and did some of the tests, not the ph. Now that I am a bit more into this I will take the article a little more seriously. I appreciate the help.
sunfish
08-12-2012, 01:43 PM
Thanks for the link. Funny thing is I read that article when I first got started and did some of the tests, not the ph. Now that I am a bit more into this I will take the article a little more seriously. I appreciate the help.
I believe that heavy soils that do not drain well will do better with less fertilizer.I have goldfinger that has never been fertilized and it grows fine without
ray0605
08-12-2012, 02:21 PM
Seems there are a number of ways to skin the cat. The plant looks okay I am just concerned about the leaves not coming in looking as green as they could be. Not to mention the little strip of brown that is there pretty much when the leaves start to present. Either way, I am gonna try the fertilizer mixture suggested earlier, maybe put in a little less than suggested and see how it goes. I am enjoying the heck out of this garden of mine and while there have been many mistakes made, nature seemed to fill in when I screw up. It's a beautiful thing.
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