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Ehh
08-09-2016, 06:40 PM
I have a plant that has been growing strongly in a pot for several months and now it has leaves dropping at the main stalk and the stalk near the soil level is soft and looks like it will break off.

Richard
08-10-2016, 12:31 AM
http://www.bananas.org/f310/richards-guide-homegrown-bananas-46227.html#post296373

http://www.bananas.org/f310/richards-guide-potted-plant-care-46311.html#post296980

cincinnana
08-10-2016, 07:52 PM
I have a plant that has been growing strongly in a pot for several months and now it has leaves dropping at the main stalk and the stalk near the soil level is soft and looks like it will break off.

Looks like a few of my plants.....Ehh
pop off a photo if you can???
welcome to the orggg,

cincinnana
08-16-2016, 09:36 PM
I have a plant that has been growing strongly in a pot for several months and now it has leaves dropping at the main stalk and the stalk near the soil level is soft and looks like it will break off.
So what have you decided?

cincinnana
08-30-2017, 09:31 PM
Hello! Very interesting topic, thank you raised it
moegottaknow (http://guestsurveyclub.com/www-moegottaknow-com/)

Great fantastic......

cincinnana
08-31-2017, 07:56 PM
Hello! Very interesting topic, thank you raised it
moegottaknow (http://guestsurveyclub.com/www-moegottaknow-com/)

Thanks so much....:08:
Here is how

Kanana
12-25-2017, 05:52 PM
I have 8 smaller banana plants of different varieties but this is a general question. When I first got them they were in small plastic bags of soil or 4" pots. I repotted them immediately into 3 gallon containers of a custom mixed soil (pine bark fines, perlite, coconut coir, earthworm castings, compost, black cow compost, and peat moss) I made sure the mix was moist and well mixed and then planted everything in these pots. since these plants arrived in the mail I decided to water them in really good, so I watered until water ran out the bottom and I haven't watered since then and it's been a month. I do spray the leaves daily or every other day but the pots are still retaining the moisture and I was wondering when the plants will be drinking lots of water as I read they require a lot and never had I had a plant where I can go a month before watering. Also there is not much growth to speak of after having them for a month now, where they are about the size of the plants you have on the left in pic below and a few a bit smaller than that.

Cincinnatta, all my plants are at the size of the one on the left in the pic of yours below or even smaller. How old are yours and how long will it take for the one on the left get to be the size of the one on the right?

https://flic.kr/p/k84EhV

cincinnana
12-26-2017, 10:49 AM
I have 8 smaller banana plants of different varieties but this is a general question. When I first got them they were in small plastic bags of soil or 4" pots. I repotted them immediately into 3 gallon containers of a custom mixed soil (pine bark fines, perlite, coconut coir, earthworm castings, compost, black cow compost, and peat moss) I made sure the mix was moist and well mixed and then planted everything in these pots. since these plants arrived in the mail I decided to water them in really good, so I watered until water ran out the bottom and I havent watered since then and it's been a month. I do spray the leaves daily or every other day but the pots are still retaining the moisture and I was wondering when the plants will be drinking lots of water as I read they require a lot and never had I had a plant where I can go a month before watering. Also there is not much growth to speak of in having them for a month now at the size of the plants you have on the left in pic below.

Cincinnatta, all my plants are at the size of the one in the pic of yours below or even smaller. How old are your and how long will it take for the one on the left get to be the size of the one on the right?


My guess in Southwest Florida U.S.A. if your comparing size only and using the same variety, 90 days or less outdoors in good growing conditions.
The smaller plant in the photo is a dwarf variety which will grow somewhat slower and shorter.
In cooler zones like mine it usaully will take 2 to 4 times as long to achieve what can be done in 3 months in warmer zones such as yours.

With the custom soilless mix you chose to make all the ingriedients except the perlite will retain excess ammounts of water which could be an issue while the plants are small. Let the mix dry out some in between waterings.

I also noticed the progression from a 4inch container to a 3 gal container too much of a jump for a small plant.
That is a lot of soil to hold water for a small plant

Only up pot when a plants roots fills the container it is in, and then let the little fella fill that pot with roots. It is absolutely ok to keep the roots tight in the container.

.https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3911/14745140962_240bd4fa9e.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/osYGGj)
Potsize (https://flic.kr/p/osYGGj) by
Hostafarian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hostafarian/),
on Flickr
This example could help you determine the next best choice size to choose from.
1gal to 3 gal
.
.https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8649/29127421423_833c6e0130.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/LnTDB6)
Just right size jump in container size (https://flic.kr/p/LnTDB6)
by
Hostafarian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hostafarian/),
on Flickr
.
https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3896/15032407102_4d86c71d90.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/oUn1UN)
Progression in size of containers (https://flic.kr/p/oUn1UN)
by
Hostafarian (https://www.flickr.com/photos/hostafarian/),
on Flickr






Why not just plant them out doors in the yard in a prepared bed, you are in Florida

Kanana
12-26-2017, 08:55 PM
Thanks Cincinnana, both you, edwmax and SDdarkman have given me the most helpful advice yet and advice that can't be stressed highly enough for these TC grown plantlets that have very little roots to begin with (SDdarkmans plants had very long roots so I wasn't referring to his).

What I am talking about is the need to keep these TC plantlets specifically, in a small enough container to be able to grow sufficient roots before repotting and all the while hardening them off before they can be successfully planted in the ground in full sun. My gut instinct when I first got these TC plantlets, was to put them in 3 gallon pots as a) bananas LOVE water and b) it would take a while before theyd' be rootbound and c) I wouldn't have to water them daily, with the plants being in a moist soil environment. Well I guess I am lucky to have learned this before any developed root rot, so thanks SDdarkman for your advice on that!

I re-read a thread I started last month and I have to belatedly thank edwmax in post #4 of this thread:

http://www.bananas.org/f2/proper-care-when-first-getting-tc-47822.html

I know I read every post in that thread I started in November, probably 3 or 4 times, but somehow I must have over looked the link he provided in post #4 of my thread, of a thread he started over a year ago, and I just finished reading that thread in it's entirety.

It is uncanny as his questions in that thread "Best practice to grow TC bananas" sound like I may have been asking them myself as I had the same concerns as him and oddly enough my own thread I started was similarly titled "Proper care when first getting a TC plant from grower".

After reading edwmax's concerns and frustration for not getting proper detailed instructions from the seller, I felt the same frustration as TC plants from places like Wellsprings and FL Hill are most likely not hardened off and these growers don't really give any instructions on even how to do that which I would think should be vitally important for the successful survival of such a fragile plantlet, especially one that has to survive the shipping process initially before it even gets into your hands.

After reading post #36 in edwmax's thread:

http://www.bananas.org/f2/best-practice-grow-tc-bananas-46856.html#post301314

it was the kind of information I was seeking and something that should be a sticky on this forum or in the TC subforum. A 2 stage hardening and gradual lessening of shading and more sun added over the course of 90 days! So thats a full 3 months before subjecting these plants into full sun, never mind Florida sun. I have recently gotten answers in one of these threads where these plants should be ok after just a week or 2 in partial shade before they can be subjected to full Florida sun. Based on the not so scientific experiment of mine where the 3 plants I kept in my lanai that only receive indirect light, they are doing much better than the ones under my 30% UV screen that now have a lot of sun burned leaves. Basically I still need to wait another full month before putting them under the shade screening like I have been doing for the last week and a half - 2 weeks.

Sorry if this is going off topic, especially in this thread, but I hope to eventually start a thread with the bullet points for a step by step for proper TC care from initial potting, watering schedule and volume, sunlight requirements and the hardening off process.

Since this thread is titled WATER?, what is the proper way to water these TC plantlets? I've read to "let them dry out before watering", but when you do water are you:

a) drenching them and letting it drain out the pot drainage holes

b) just misting the plants and letting some of the water soak into the top layer of the soil evenly

c) soaking the pot in a few inches of water for 10 minutes to just saturate the bottom of the soil in the pots so the roots seek out the water/ moist soil @ the bottom, but the top of the soil stays dry as to avoid fungus gnats

d) pouring a precise amount of water say a teaspoon per 4-6" pot 2x a day

e) none of the above

Even the process of misting the plants was debated in edwmax's thread where Richard said it isn't even necessary, but have read several people on the forum recommending it. My gut reaction would be that misting the leaves would be beneficial at this early stage.

edwmax
12-27-2017, 09:19 AM
Thanks for the mentioning of my older thread & post. Thanks for confirming your experience and conclusions for growing young small TC plantlets. This is needed to validate the growing instructions & methods for young small TC plantlets.

As for watering young TC plantlets I think allowing the pot to dry out is not correct for these. However, for those growers that 'eye ball' the pots this may be the only way to insure not over watering or having soggy soil. ... I believe the better way is to use a long stem moisture meter to check pot moisture at different levels and at the corm. I believe the moisture should be kept at a moist level not dry & not wet or soggy (flooding the pot until water runs put the drain holes). And, keep misting the plantlets to offset low humidity to prevent drying of the leaves & pstem.

Of the 5 TC plantlets I bought from Fla Hill, only One (Gros Mich) survived and is now about 3 ft tall. These are very difficult to grow if you don't live in South Florida and don't have a lawn chair for shade. (...haha...) I now have a green house if/when I purchase more TCs.

A method of potting I tried and I believed helped to some of my Truly Tinys and the Gros Mich TC was to pot these up (1 gal pot) with well drain potting soil (50/50 mix), but pack the roots & corm in sand at the top. This helped to keep the corm & roots dryer & more air while allowing the roots to grow down into the more moist potting soil. These sat under taller in ground banana plants all summer & received water every day when the patch was watered. The plants were repotted to bigger pots 2 weeks ago with regular pine bark potting mix (super fast draining).

Kanana
12-27-2017, 04:32 PM
Edwmax, what reading do you have on your moisture meter? I have a pretty nice pH / moisture meter and wondering what soil moisture reading you have that you would determine is optimal? Thanks

edwmax
12-27-2017, 05:34 PM
Edwmax, what reading do you have on your moisture meter? I have a pretty nice pH / moisture meter and wondering what soil moisture reading you have that you would determine is optimal? Thanks

My meter is a low cost type with a scale of 1 to 10.
Dry = 1 to 3
Moist = 4 to 7
Wet = 8 to 10I try to keep my nana pots at about 4 to 6.

Kanana
12-27-2017, 05:38 PM
That's my ideal moisture level going by eye. I will have to see what my moisture meter says

Kanana
12-29-2017, 01:13 PM
I still would like to know what the best way to water these young TC plants in small 6" containers that now have well drained soil. Misting only? 1 small pre determined amount of water once or twice per day (1/4 cup?), watering till it runs out drainage holes, letting a pot sit in a basin to draw up water through the roots and letting it sit there for an hour or less? Thanks.

Tytaylor77
12-30-2017, 12:22 AM
I would say for any small TC or Corm:

- 1st always be very careful transplanting not to disturb the rootball. Especially a TC plant.

- 2nd use a potting mix with 30-50% perlite! It’s a must! Most important part to me!

- 3rd water throughly once per 7-10 days for the first 2 weeks of a TC plant or until you see active growth on a small corm.

- 4th misting plain water and water with plain fertilizer. I would never fertilize for at least the first month.

- 5th keep out of any direct sun. Slowly add sun after you get some new growth. (Couple weeks growth) After they are a month or so old i also use the lawn chair method! Have always used it!!

Careful with some variegated plants like AEAE have major trouble with sun until they get a few feet tall.

That’s the advice i give and use. I have grown lots of TC plantlets straight out of test tubes.

Kanana
12-30-2017, 09:26 AM
I would say for any small TC or Corm:

- 1st always be very careful transplanting not to disturb the rootball. Especially a TC plant.

- 2nd use a potting mix with 30-50% perlite! It’s a must! Most important part to me!

- 3rd water throughly once per 7-10 days for the first 2 weeks of a TC plant or until you see active growth on a small corm.

- 4th misting plain water and water with plain fertilizer. I would never fertilize for at least the first month.

- 5th keep out of any direct sun. Slowly add sun after you get some new growth. (Couple weeks growth) After they are a month or so old i also use the lawn chair method! Have always used it!!

Careful with some variegated plants like AEAE have major trouble with sun until they get a few feet tall.

That’s the advice i give and use. I have grown lots of TC plantlets straight out of test tubes.

Thanks,

When should I start misting with fertilizer and what strength fertilizer? My 2 Blue Javas took a setback as I think they weren't ready for the amount of sun they got as I took advice from someone on another thread, that they'd be ready for full sun after only 2 weeks which was bad information. They both only have 1 leaf left on the plants and those leaves are 90% dead, but have a new leaf forming. Hopefully they don't die but they are back inside my lanai and glad I brought them back before they died.

Tytaylor77
12-30-2017, 10:04 PM
I would say very mild fertilizer for misting.

The only experience i have is this.
The few times i used foliar feeding on my larger plants i put 1lb of urea (46-0-0) in my 40gal sprayer. It worked ok. I may try again this year.

I never mist small plants anything other than pure water. If i did i would say max 15-20 grams of urea per liter.