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View Full Version : Fungal issues, I think.


sputinc7
03-12-2016, 09:19 PM
I bought three banana plants last year when I first moved here to Florida. My Manzano has performed wonderfully, producing several pups, all sword suckers, as well as having flowered late last fall. They are still green, and don't seem all too filled out yet, either. Anyway, I had an "Ice Cream" banana also from the grower and a dwarf cavendish from Lowe's. The last two had an issue with only having 3 leaves. Once a fourth appeared, the oldest browned up and died off, eventually killing the ice cream, and nearly the cavendish before some research led me to what I believe is black sigatoka. Systemic fungicides hold some promise, yet the fruit isn't supposed to be eaten for like a year... Anyone know something about these issues? The manzano has only recently had a few streaks on some leaves with our recent wet winter, and I removed the affected parts. Thank you for whatever help you can give...

Botanical_Bryce
03-12-2016, 09:46 PM
Research the FHIA group of bananas. They are bred for disease and pest resistance. I am getting FHIA 1, 3, 17, and 18.

Gabe15
03-12-2016, 10:15 PM
You shouldn't really be having Sigatoka completely kill off young plants, it's not really that aggressive of a pathogen and rarely leads to plant death, just reduction of yields. They could potentially have Sigatoka in addition to something more serious happening, but without any photos it will be very hard to determine.

Were they planted in the ground, or in pots?

sputinc7
03-13-2016, 05:10 PM
In the ground. My Manzano is a very happy plant with lots of pups and until very recently, no sign of disease. My avatar is actually my first (and only) bunch of bananas so far. The flower came in late Nov last year, and they are not only still green but don't seem filled out yet, either. How long between flower and ripe fruit is it, usually? The other two I bought at the same time struggled and died in about 6 months. I regularly water every other day and I fertilize with compost n manure as well as grass clippings and fruit remains, such as melon rinds, etc.

Gabe15
03-13-2016, 10:14 PM
Without photos, there's not much more to add really, but perhaps if can't upload photos, you can try to describe how the plants died a little more in depth. Did they start to yellow, and then turn brown, did it start with the younger leaves or the older leaves, did they seem to just rot while green, or the whole plant fell over and rotted, or make some weird leaves and then stop growing, or.....

sputinc7
03-13-2016, 10:36 PM
I did a lot of research on Google, and viewed a lot of pictures. I do not have pics of the young plants I had that died, but can tell you how it progressed. The leaf scarring was similar to black sigatoka, which is why I assume it's the culprit. Yellowing along the edges becoming the brown streaking going to the central leaf stem, then leaf death. What seemed weird was how they had 3-4 leaves almost all the time until shortly before death. As soon as a new leaf began emerging, the oldest leaf would be taken over and die, usually by the time the new leaf was fully emerged. These plants were small, 18 inches or less tall. They never had a chance. What is odd as well is that I had a Manzano 15 feet away that I fed and watered equally with the other two which flourished and has had a bunch on it since last Dec.(Which are still immature, is that normal?) It did very well with lots of pups and only about 9 months between planting a foot high sprout to flowering. Didn't even lose it's first leaf until it was about 8 feet high. 2 died and one did exceptional, only about 15 feet apart, all full sun, watered every other day and fertilized the same. Whatever it was, neem oil 2-3x a week seemed to slow it, but it was too little too late.