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gogreen
04-18-2016, 05:19 PM
I have a dwarf cavendish banana plant. One of my pups has grown tall, and appeared to be growing just fine. I thought this pup would be the next to produce fruit. Recently, when a new leaf appeared, about 6 inches of the tightly curled leaf top and that stringy piece attached at the top stopped growing and seemed to turn brown suddenly and die. What could have caused this? Does this mean that this pseudo stem will die?

JP
04-18-2016, 06:56 PM
Without pics, it's hard to say...

gogreen
04-19-2016, 02:58 PM
Here's a picture. It's not entirely clear because I pulled the top of the dead leaf off. But you can still see part of the brown leaf. After about 4 or 5 inches of the new leaf was visible, it turned brown and stopped growing.

https://app.box.com/s/xqewyjwh0gsh6e8ybmo738ccdxy3vd9n

jjjankovsky
04-19-2016, 04:23 PM
If nothing new comes out of the center, this one is toast...chop it out and cultivate the pups that might follow. Or, if no pups, just give this one a funeral and buy another.

gogreen
04-19-2016, 04:38 PM
If nothing new comes out of the center, this one is toast...chop it out and cultivate the pups that might follow. Or, if no pups, just give this one a funeral and buy another.

Yeah, I thought that might be the case. Actually, there are plenty of other pups. It's just that I was looking forward to the next banana crop, and since this pup was the tallest, I figured this one would produce bananas--I was hoping for this summer. Looks like I may have to wait now.

Any idea why the leaf just died?

Thanks, JP and jjjankovsky.

cincinnana
04-19-2016, 04:42 PM
Here's a picture. It's not entirely clear because I pulled the top of the dead leaf off. But you can still see part of the brown leaf. After about 4 or 5 inches of the new leaf was visible, it turned brown and stopped growing.

https://app.box.com/s/xqewyjwh0gsh6e8ybmo738ccdxy3vd9n

I know exactly what your going through.....happens to me on a few of my plants year to year.

Most of the time something you /me did a MONTH ago is now rearing its ugly head.........but for me it was a 65 degree darkened basement and probably a couple cups of water than should be.

Do not worry......the "broken" leaf will push soon.
Your plant should sort itself out by the next leaf.
What once was a full leaf is now a half leaf....that should be followed by a full leaf.
Photo ta

gogreen
04-19-2016, 04:47 PM
Thanks, cincinnana. That's encouraging. I'll watch this one closely.

chris_zx2
04-19-2016, 07:48 PM
Mine is doing it on a milder scale. cincinnana is bang on. You can't see inside the stem so when it occurs you have no idea till its pushed out the top. I've seen the opposite happen as well. Put the plant outside for summer and the extra growth pushes a cigar leaf out through an existing small one that hasn't had time to unroll.

cincinnana
04-19-2016, 08:14 PM
Thanks, cincinnana. That's encouraging. I'll watch this one closely.

This is a somewhat common thing....somewhat.

This (my) plant was hit by a hard frost.......but if it continued to grow the new leaf would push green and shiny new......but half a leaf( because the other half is toast)

chris_zx2 tossed out some good additional info also to help us understand......post a photo when the new leaf pushes so you may complete the thread...on how ya did it.

If you have issues posting a pic..... chris or I can help you..... just let us know where to pick it up at.

gogreen
06-12-2016, 04:41 PM
It's been a while now. The dead leaf did push itself out about 5-6 weeks ago, but no new leaves have grown from that stem, and I see no evidence that anything is growing from the stem. It's been almost 3 months since I discovered the dead leaf. How long should I give it? Do I need to chop down that stem? The other stems are growing well and producing beautiful leaves. Thanks.

Gabe15
06-12-2016, 07:27 PM
Where are you located? Can you post a photo of the damaged leaf that did manage to come out?

gogreen
06-12-2016, 08:59 PM
I'm in south Florida. I have no pictures of the dead leaf. Ever since the stem pushed out the dead leaf, nothing else has emerged. It's been about three months. The other stems are growing well--and rapidly. I wonder if the plant has given on the one stem and is putting all its energy into the other pups.

Tytaylor77
06-12-2016, 09:07 PM
I have had one do this exact same thing. For no reason I could tell. Everything was healthy. Just stopped growing and pup too over. The pups grew faster than normal like it put all energy into a couple pups.

gogreen
06-12-2016, 09:09 PM
I have had one do this exact same thing. For no reason I could tell. Everything was healthy. Just stopped growing and pup too over. The pups grew faster than normal like it put all energy into a couple pups.

It's disappointing because I thought for sure that this pup would be the next one to produce bananas. Did you cut down the pup that just stopped growing?

Tytaylor77
06-12-2016, 09:19 PM
It's disappointing because I thought for sure that this pup would be the next one to produce bananas. Did you cut down the pup that just stopped growing?

On my bananas I never cut anything green. This happened last August or so. I left it and hoped it would start back growing. It never did and finally dryed up and is gone. I wouldn't touch it. Give it plenty of time. Yours may start back or may not even be the same problem as mine had. I would give it a chance. Don't cut it. It's not affecting anything being there. Good luck. Hope it starts up again for you.

gogreen
06-12-2016, 09:28 PM
OK, thanks. That sounds like good advice. It isn't hurting anything, and, who knows, it may decide to start growing again. If it doesn't, no harm done. I've put my trimmer away for now. Thanks again.