What's wrong with my Musa Coocinia's Leaves

[tophersmith]

Could someone identify what is causing my Musa Coccinia's leaves to behave the way they are. I have to unroll them by hand as they appeat to be almost burnt shut. Tere are no visible bugs and I sprayed them with Orthene just to be safe. Yet still the leaves do not improve. None of my other bananas are exhibiting these traits.

[chong]

At one point in time, the plant experienced dryness, where the soil got dry, either wholely or parts of it. The thing to do is make sure that the soil is evenly moist.

I can't tell from the picture if it's in the ground or in a pot. If it's in the pot, when the soil gets dry, soak the whole pot in water for a few hours. This will allow the soil in the entire pot to absorb the water. Subsequent watering will be evenly distributed. Otherwise, there will be pockets of dry soil that will repel the water and get bypassed when you water it. While the top of the soil may appear that the soil is wet, the pockets will remain dry. Any root in that pocket will wither and die if not soaked through in time.

If it's in the ground, either water it with a drip or soaker irrigation system, or flood the plant for a half a day with slow trickle watering.

[Lagniappe]

Mine are doing that too. I've had a lot of problems with this one . The new leaves are very long and curve over . This prevents thier unrolling and the entire length of the curved leaf is brownish on the top.
This has been a very slow grower for me and it has produced a lot of pups. Mine are T.C. plants.

I would like to wish all of us who grow this plant the best of luck. I really want to see one in bloom.

[Velutina]

Is there a chance the insecticide is pooling where the new leaves are coming out? I have had issues with this in the past and it looked very similar.

[Bananaman88]

I got one of these from member SteveL. So far this year it is only a little over 1' tall despite watering it almost every day and I've also fertilized it several times already this year. I agree that it is slow, at least for me. I think it may mostly be due to the drought we are having in SE TX because I talked to Steve the other day and he said his is doing great. Also, mine was just planted back in April, so it's probably still trying to get established whereas Steve's is already well established. I remember last year, I the one I got from Steve seemed to have a bit of trouble unrolling the leaves and would fall over like mentioned above. Mine did bloom last year, though it was really late and the flower was more orange than red, possibly due to the weather conditions.

[Steve L]

This may not be a full sun banana. Mine in planted under an oak tree canopy and gets mornning sun until around 11 and then filtered sun late in the afternoon. There are several pictures in my gallery of Coccinea (Uranoscopus). It has been a very reliable bloomer for me going on 6 years. And Brent is correct, early blooms appear more orange but as the plant continues to bloom, the blooms turn more red.

Steve

[tophersmith]

Originally Posted by Velutina

Is there a chance the insecticide is pooling where the new leaves are coming out? I have had issues with this in the past and it looked very similar.

No that is not the case as I just added the bug juice about 4 days ago after experiencing this for a month.

[Lagniappe]

Steve, I somehow forgot about your plants . I remember now how we discussed thier having a 'heliconia(ish)' appeal. Admittedly ,I put mine in an area that gets full sun late in the day .

[Steve L]

Yes, Pete, we did have that conversation and that is the reason I like the plant so much. I'm simply perplexed with the trouble this banana is causing. I bought it, planted it, and it's been a big multiplier and bloomer for me all these years. Admittedly, I've not moved it so it's never been under any stress; I've got plenty of other plants that are much more difficult. I guess maybe it just takes a while to get going again.

Steve

[Bananaman88]

Mine does get a lot of sun but it should be getting a little shade from a nearby crepe myrtle. I'm not really worried about mine, I'd just like it to get going. I've really been disappointed in the growth of most of my plants this year due to lack of rainfall. This year has been the exact opposite of last year, when we had an overabundance of rain.

[Steve L]

Brent, up until this past weekend, we have been in the same situation. We are 6 inches behind for the year but over the weekend and yesterday afternoon, we've had 3 inches and the plants have responded very well. Hope you get some of that liquid nourshment soon.

[tophersmith]

Originally Posted by Steve L

Brent, up until this past weekend, we have been in the same situation. We are 6 inches behind for the year but over the weekend and yesterday afternoon, we've had 3 inches and the plants have responded very well. Hope you get some of that liquid nourshment soon.

Steve,

I would hate to see anything happen to your AEAE, maybe you should send it up to me for safe keeping.

[Steve L]

Sure Chris, what's your address. I'm going to take a picture this afternoon of the emerging bloom; hopefully, it has grown sufficiently over the last two days to show up well in a picture.

[tophersmith]

Originally Posted by Steve L

Sure Chris, what's your address. I'm going to take a picture this afternoon of the emerging bloom; hopefully, it has grown sufficiently over the last two days to show up well in a picture.

A blomm you say, hmm that would mean that the last pups would follow. Any plans for them?

[Steve L]

Several are already promised. I'll have to wait to see how many pups come out after the fruit is harvested.

[tophersmith]

Originally Posted by Steve L

Several are already promised. I'll have to wait to see how many pups come out after the fruit is harvested.

Ok well put my name on the waiting list please

[Bananaman88]

Steve,

Glad to hear you got some rain. After we spoke yesterday, I looked at the radar and saw that you were indeed in for some rain. We have a 40% chance tomorrow. I think we are around 10" below average for the year so far. Hopefully we'll get some. Several of my plants are so far behind what they were this time last year.

[Steve L]

I've seen that happen to plants with no rain. Several years, we were under a high pressure dome for the entire summer (Bermuda high moved further west) and the only way we broke out of it was a tropical storm but my plants looked terrible and I just forgot about the grass. No amount of hose watering will do what a nice 2 inch rain does.

[Bananaman88]

We finally got some more rain today. It was raining when I got home. I checked the rain gauge and we had 1.5" and then it rained again a bit later. Maybe now the plants will perk up a bit.

What's the word on the CG?

[Steve L]

It's ready to dig up if I can just find the time. Big lightening and rain storm yesterday again just as I got home. I've got a lot of stuff to dig up and send out to various people on this forum. Wish you were closer so you could come and dig it up yourself, along with the half acre of Thai gold.