Curved Midribs in Ice Cream

[andy17]

Hi everyone,
I planted a Not Ice Cream in a 30 gallon smart pot, which for a time looked great. But now, it's been putting out leaves with midribs that are curved as much as 90 degrees. Note that this is completely different from the leaves folding at the midrib during midday heat. The leaves also can never fully fold out and many emerge from the cigar leave with white, leathery segments. Some are missing entire leave chunks as if shredded by wind. Is this a water problem (too much or too little)? Or maybe a nutrient problem? I planted it not 2 months ago in Miracle Gro Potting Soil with 6 month feeding, but it has been growing very fast. One other thing its started doing lately, is having the lowest leaves snap in the petiole right next to the pseudostem, but otherwise remain healthy. I'm at a total loss what it could be. Any help would definitely be appreciated. Thanks!

[sunfish]

Did I over fertilize?

[sunfish]

Bent leaves

[andy17]

Thanks sunfish for your help! This has been one of the fastest growing plants I have ever grown. Just in 3 1/2 months it's gone from a 4" TC to a 4.5 monster--it's incredible! From what I've gleaned from the forums you posted, it looks like a problem with calcium. There seems to be 3 major ways this happens:

1. Over-fertilization of high nitrogen fertilizers
2. Soil that is highly acidic
3. Or extremely rapid growth (especially when fueled by high nitrogen fertilization) that outstrips the plants ability to supply calcium

I was left puzzled because it was planted in pH balanced potting soil, with the occasional watering with Miracle Gro water soluble fertilizer, but nothing major. In addition, our water here is really quite hard, so I couldn't imagine that it could be a calcium deficiency given that I water with tap here. But given its insane growth rate, and our bizzare heat wave then cool wave, wet then dry weather, a combination of super fast growth and environmental stress could be the culprit. So, a top dressing of Ag. Lime about 1-2 Tbsp. once a week should help? Has anyone had this problem with container grown bananas?

[venturabananas]

Could be boron instead of calcium -- very similar symptoms. If you guess wrong and add calcium, it will exacerbate the problem. I learned that the hard way. If you are really want to know what the problem is, have a plant tissue analysis done. The ones I know of will cost you about $35.

[hanabananaman]

I was also dealing with a similar problem recently and I am very new to growing bananas. I had a soil analysis done which showed very high levels of everything but N and boron, and my PH was rather high. I also have very hard water. After searching for info I applied some borax as instructed and I only put it on 2 of my 3 plants with problems, and I put down some N with coffee grinds and cottonseed meal. I left the boron off of my 3rd plant at first in case it killed them, when it appeared they were OK I added it too the third. Boron can be toxic so be careful. All of this was done as our temps were staying over 110 for several days. I have 2 dwarf ladyfinger and the one that received the boron first has jumped ahead of the other one. The other one to get boron first is a Blue Java and it has started growing like crazy. Considering how sensitive these plants can be it might be worth getting a soil analysis done. I am trying to learn what it takes to do soil analysis at home. One of my best tricks for growing everything is to fill 55 gal drums with water to dechlorinate overnight, running a bubbler to oxygenate the water,and then adjusting the PH to the plants needs and you won't believe the results. I guaranteeeee you will see a difference.
Good luck with your efforts.
Larry

[venturabananas]

I think a soil analysis and a plant tissue analysis are the best combination for figuring out what is going on. As Nick has pointed out, there can be adequate amounts of a key micronutrient in the soil, but environmental conditions (e.g., soil moisture levels, etc.) can make it difficult for the plant to take it up, and so you end up with a deficiency. Adding more of the micronutrient to the soil won't help much in that case. A foliar spray could. A plant tissue analysis will show you want the plant is actually deficient in. Combine that with a soil analysis and you should be able figure out how to solve the problem.

[RandyGHO]

When I went through a bit of a battle with this, I think increasing water helped. For a 7 foot ice cream I am going with 15 gallons every two days. I think I might up that to 20 every two days. This of course is without much rain.

[andy17]

The weather here has been really strange. Generally august is really hot and dry, but much of it has been cooler and wet. The last two weeks have been more like a normal August. All of this seemed to make a negative impact on this problem. I've fertilized it with Hi-Yield Fertilizer that has Boron as well as several other micronutrients in it. I've also added a light top dressing of organic lime, which has several different bio available forms of calcium. Despite all of the rain we've experienced, I don't think the plant was getting enough water. It made such a huge jump in pot size, that even when the pot was watered, the core root ball that was just a fraction of that size dried out rapidly. Already it's new leaf about a week after the Hi-Yield and a few days after the lime looks much straighter, but the leaf is still unrolling too soon because of the white, leathery thin sections. Can environmental stress (drought, changes in heat/water) cause bent midribs and leaf deformations? Thanks for all your help everyone--I'm glad it's looking better. I'll try to post some pictures.

[venturabananas]

Originally Posted by andy17

Can environmental stress (drought, changes in heat/water) cause bent midribs and leaf deformations?

Environmental stress can cause leaf deformations. In my experience, you might see small, narrow, or even chlorotic leaves. But bent midribs points to micronutrient deficiency (calcium and or boron) in the growing tissues. Note that adequate levels of these nutrients in your fert or soil will not necessarily translate to adequate levels in the plant tissues due to problems uptaking and transporting those nutrients into the tissues. And those uptake and transport problems can be caused by environmental stress.