Stoo

Hi, firstly I've only just registered so I'd like to say - hello!

Secondly, I was looking for a bit of advice on my banana plant.. A bit of background first, I live in London and have had the plant for almost 3 years, it's lived in a pot on my patio the whole time. I re-potted it only once - when I first bought it. It's survived 2 winters without much of a problem, new leaves don't grow over winter but come April/May it starts to grow again. This year I started getting normal size leaves in May, however over the last few weeks when it's been hot by London standards all the new leaves are tiny! The newest ones are only 3-4 inches long compared to the usual approx 15 inch size (I'm at work and guessing from memory here..).

Has anyone any advice? I water it regularly, it's still nice and green, there's even new stems growing next to the main one and they're doing OK, it all looks healthy but the main leaves have just gone miniature!

I've had a search for other people with similar problems but couldn't find any, any help will be gratefully appreciated!

Thanks,

Dalmatiansoap

Wow, 3 years old plant? Smaller leaf? Pups?
I belive in FLAG problem!
Folks?

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jmoore

What Ante is referring to is that it's trying to flower. It could just need repotting.
How tall is your banana? (ooh er misses) How big is your pot? Is there a bulge at the base of the main stem? What species of banana is it?

Hello and welcome btw

Stoo

Thanks for the replies and the welcome, though I have to admit I'm a bit lost by antes reply (no offence ante!).

Yes there is a bulge in the main stem, it's only about 4 feet high at the moment, it's been bigger in the past but it always gets smaller in the winter (why do I feel like I'm in a carry on film when I type this..) when the leaves die off. The pot's about 9 inches, I can get better answers later on but I'm just going by memory at the moment due to being in work. I can't remember the name of the plant I'm afraid, though I'll have it at home as well. I bought it from b & q so I think it's safe to say it's not a rare or exclusive variety..

I did wonder about the re-potting, in fact I was going to try re-potting it if nothing changed in the next couple of weeks but thought I'd seek out some expert advice first! As you can tell I'm not exactly an expert but I've grown quite attached to it and want to keep it alive, I've taken a few baby ones from the main pot and planted them, most of them died off but one's going strong and has started sprouting it's own new leaves, which is good!

Jack Daw

Nanas need larger pots to produce more fruit. The largaer the pot, the better the fruit and the larger the amount of fruit.
Also, what Ante labelled as "flag leaf problem" is no problem at all, many people celebrate this day, when the flag leaf appears. It's the sign of flowering. The flag leaf is significantly smaller than other leaves and has very narrow profile (therefore flag). It's after the flag leaf that the flower bud appears and later on the fruit as well.
What nana do you grow?

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Patty in Wisc

I had a very healthy plant & suddenly produced 2 smaller & narrow leaves -- I thought it was flag leaf. I repotted to find it was rootbound.

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LilRaverBoi

Yeah, my best guess is that it just needs to be repotted into a larger pot. If a plant gets rootbound or does not have sufficient nutrients, it can produce smaller leaves. If it was just one, I would think it might be a flag leaf, but if it's several, try repotting it.

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ewitte

I have the opposite. Just replanted my Raja Puri and started giving it fertilizer. At about a month the new leaves are at least 40% larger.

Stoo

Thanks for the advice guys, I re-potted it on Monday so heres hoping there's a difference before too long!