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View Full Version : Help! Trunk folded, leaves bent. Any hope?


lkstapleton
07-02-2013, 02:40 PM
I was SO excited when my banana plant, about 8 feet tall in a 48-gallon trash can, flowered. It got about 45 bananas on it and was still flowering, but yesterday, the trunk folded over but didn't break. I think maybe I overwatered a little, which made the trunk soft enough to fold, but it isn't rotten or anything. I didn't know what to do, so I straightened out the trunk and put the entire trash can and banana on the ground, so at least it's straight now.

So I have a lot of questions. If I prop it up and make a brace for the trunk, could I still get fruit? There are five leaves on that stalk, but two got broken in the collapse. Or maybe I should just write it off, cut off that stalk, and hope that next year, the four-foot pup next to it will fruit?

Also, maybe I did something to weaken the trunk? Is there a particular plant food that I should use to make the trunk stronger?

I am in San Jose, zone 9, which gets down into the high twenties in winter, but these are on a balcony and get a lot of radiated heat from the house, so I am hoping to get fruit. I don't know for sure what kind of banana this is, but I think maybe it's Sweeheart or Goldfinger.

sunfish
07-02-2013, 02:56 PM
I was SO excited when my banana plant, about 8 feet tall in a 48-gallon trash can, flowered. It got about 45 bananas on it and was still flowering, but yesterday, the trunk folded over but didn't break. I think maybe I overwatered a little, which made the trunk soft enough to fold, but it isn't rotten or anything. I didn't know what to do, so I straightened out the trunk and put the entire trash can and banana on the ground, so at least it's straight now.

So I have a lot of questions. If I prop it up and make a brace for the trunk, could I still get fruit? There are five leaves on that stalk, but two got broken in the collapse. Or maybe I should just write it off, cut off that stalk, and hope that next year, the four-foot pup next to it will fruit?

Also, maybe I did something to weaken the trunk? Is there a particular plant food that I should use to make the trunk stronger?

I am in San Jose, zone 9, which gets down into the high twenties in winter, but these are on a balcony and get a lot of radiated heat from the house, so I am hoping to get fruit. I don't know for sure what kind of banana this is, but I think maybe it's Sweeheart or Goldfinger.

How long has the bud been out ?

Dalmatiansoap
07-02-2013, 03:08 PM
Probably just got to heavy.

lkstapleton
07-02-2013, 03:52 PM
Tony, it came out the first week in June, so not quite a month. I am so bummed out.

Lisa

Jose263
07-02-2013, 04:45 PM
Never give up - If you took the time to dig a hole large enough for a trash can -then you're already invested. I had an Orinoco pstem with fruit fold in a tropical storm and managed to straighten enough to save the fruit - of course it was in ground in a matt.
Agree, it was probably a combinationof the extra weight and wind..If you can get the pstem straight enough go for it - you've done the lion's share of work already.