A newbie to gardening and banana plants

[kareemtolba]

Hi all,

My name is Kareem, I am Egyptian and I live in Dubai. I recently moved to a house with a medium sized garden and I can finally do some gardening. I started a Square Foot Garden and I got semi-grown 2 Banana plants, 1 Fig, 1 Lemon. The Lemon and Fig are doing well, but the bananas are confusing me a bit.

They are growing nice long green leafs, but the main stem is brownish and withering. I fertilize with an organic customer made NPK mix and I water regularly.

[HMelendez]

Kareem,



Welcome to the banana gang!.....



As other forum members mentioned, the brownish is completely normal.

[edwmax]

Originally Posted by kareemtolba

Hi all,

..... I fertilize with an organic customer made NPK mix and I water regularly.

You could be watering tooo much. Bananas like and use alot of water, but does not like wet roots. What is the soil composition?

[kareemtolba]

Thank you all for your warm welcome

@Edwmax, I have no idea about the composition. I rented the place last month and there were healthy trees already planted. Flower trees, so I just removed them and placed by Bananas. The fertilizers I added were always on top of the soil or with a minor mixing of the top soil.

[Kat2]

Glad to see you made it here. Welcome!

[edwmax]

Originally Posted by kareemtolba

Thank you all for your warm welcome

@Edwmax, I have no idea about the composition. I rented the place last month and there were healthy trees already planted. Flower trees, so I just removed them and placed by Bananas. The fertilizers I added were always on top of the soil or with a minor mixing of the top soil.

The reason I asked about soil composition was to get and idea of how well the soil drained. ... Sand wont hold water at all. But a thick heavy type soil may be holding a lot of water. Whereas, a lighter garden/potting type mix would be granular with peat, sand, & soil mixture will drain excess water away while retaining some moisture.

From your statement "I water regularly"; it is hard to tell if you could be over watering (heavy water retaining soil) or under watering (sand). I suggest that you get a garden moisture meter. As long as the meter indicated the soil is very moist or wet do not water. If the meter shows the soil to be sightly moist to near dry, water.

Also, banana plant roots need air, frequent watering can keep the top of the soil wet and suffocate the roots. With a moisture meter You will quickly learn how much water and when to water.

[sputinc7]

Also, please post a few pics. We love em and they go a long way toward someone being able to help you. An expert here can take one look and maybe tell you exactly what is going on.

[kareemtolba]

Thanks Edwmax, can you send me a link if that moistur meter? Is it portable and I can move it from one tree to another?

@Sputinc7, I did post some pictures, check the Galary

[sputinc7]

OK... I meant here in this thread so we could comment... Sorry for the misunderstanding. Here is a good pic of the plant in question I assume?


It looks fine to me. Banana plants have some dead looking patches on the pseudostem sometimes, but so long as there is new growth you are usually ok.
I am not one of those "experts" I referred to earlier, though.

[edwmax]

I don't know what is available in the UAE. So this link to Walmart.com will show the different soil test meters. The single pin/stick meters are inexpensive (less than $10 US). I paid $3 for mine. The double pin multi-test meters have more functions and cost more. https://www.walmart.com/search/?quer...isture%20meter

You should be able to find these at your local garden centers.

[CraigSS]

If I remember Dubai correctly the temps are pretty high this time of the year and the soil is compacted, hard to drain well.

[kareemtolba]

Actually Craig, now it's pretty nice in Dubai. Weather is from 20 to 30 C

The soil, I really can't tell. But I am thinking that every time I replace a tree. I would replace the soil around it and underneath it.

[Snarkie]

As long as your leaves look good, don't be tempted to over-water or over-fertilize.

That is why we are here; to walk you through this.

Now, welcome aboard the Banana Express.