First time Musa Basjoo & issues already...

Waggy · 06-20-2013, 07:06 PM

Hi guys, great site!

Ill keep this short,

So I would have loved to post some pictures but having problems doing so, I have a 3 foot tall Musa Basjoo planted in full sun with manure/compost type for soil. It water it every few days its given MG 28-10-10 slow release fertilizer.

Its planted in a raised bed garden with a Windmill palm about 3' away. I. Any figure out for life of me why the leaves are turing brown/black so fast! It is. Newly planted Banana (April) maybe I'm watering it to much.?

I wish their was a way to post some pictures.

Duckfood · 06-20-2013, 08:07 PM

Pictures would be nice, and location, but, yes, Allow the soil to dry almost completely before watering is always a good idea... Any banana newly planted in the sun will experience a culture shock... The current leaves will die, and new ones will take their place...

Waggy · 06-20-2013, 08:46 PM

Thanks Duckfood,

Its planted in my backyard which is facing south, I'm located in southern Ontario Canada, day time tempatures and in the high 30C with humidity around 65-70%.

I won't be watering it for a while and will be adding some sand to the soil to help it drain.

Olafhenny · 06-21-2013, 05:10 PM

Hi Waggi,

As far as pictures are concerned here is a repeat of another post of mine elsewhere in this forum,
outlining a step by step procedure for uploading photos:

1. Go to: bananas.org/gallery/uploadphoto.php?cat=500
2. click on ‘Browse’ or ’Chose File’ (depending on your browser)
3. Go to your folder, where the picture is located
4. Double click on the photo. That will transfer the location of the photo in your computer to the
Bananas upload site. You can do that with 4 pictures at the time
5. Click on the red Process window. That will put the photo into your Gallery or if you don’t
have one yet, will open one up for you (if I remember correctly)
6. Double click on the photo. That will open up a condensed version of the photo (about post
card size). If you want to post the original size, click anywhere on the image.
7. Left click on “Code for bulletin boards:” at the bottom of the image
8. Then right click on it again
9. In the dialogue box click on “Copy” that will copy the Banana.Org address of the image
10. Go to your post and paste it, where you want it to appear.
That sounds a lot more
complex, than it really is. After the first few hundred photos it will come quite fluently

As far as your banana is concerned it needs mostly a bit of patience, They quite often stall after
transplanting, might even die back to some degree, but they always recover. Watering
depends on the conditions. I do not personally agree with the here often voiced opinion to hold
back on watering. Observing bananas in their natural environment, where they often have their
feet right in the water, like on edges of rice fields, leads me to the conclusion that lots of water
does no harm, as long as you have a functional plant, in other words, as long as the plant has a
good growth of leaves in proportion to its size.

Sometimes they do not even blink, when transplanted and other times they may sit there for up
to two months, before you notice any recovery. My ever repeated mantra: "If you have a firm
(like a potato) (piece of-) corm you have a viable plant.
Good luck!
Olaf
PS: If you have other uploading problems see here: Can't upload any pictures

Olafhenny · 06-21-2013, 05:38 PM

Sorry Waggy,
in my previous post the two URLs did not reproduce in clickable form. Hopefully it will work better
with these.

Can't upload any pictures
bananas.org/gallery/uploadphoto.php?cat=500

kaczercat · 06-22-2013, 03:34 PM

Hello. I'm in that area. I would say hold back on the watering. every 3 days if it doesn't rain. That's what I've been doing.

sman87 · 06-22-2013, 06:18 PM

I agree, with monitoring how much water you are giving it the initial first several days or so. You want your banana plant to establish an active strong root system and one way roots grow is when they are in search for water. When the soil is just right (somewhat moist) roots will snake through the soil, quickly in search of nutrients/water. If you overwater a transplant leaving it soggy it can sometimes signal to the plant "don't bother growing more roots our food is right here" and when it stays in a spot long enough, overwatered those inactive and sensitive roots can rot. An exception to the rule very often, since its a tropical is if your weather is consistently hot and sunny, as frequent watering helps balance soil temp, water evaporation and the high plant transpiration due to its huge leaves. Hope u have some luck and good growth this year!

hasty22 · 06-30-2013, 01:20 AM

Hello I also live in Canada. I live in Vernon BC . I have grown Musa Basjoo for several years. When I transplant pups I dig a hole add rocks/gravel for drainage. I then use native soil with a mixture of sunshine #4. I would never use manure/compost. Water as necessary, but not to much in colder weather. Once banana show signs of growth and temperature warms up use a water soluable fertilizer like miracle grow all purpose. do not use a slow release in summer. Unfortunately I think you have root rot, possibly from manure or overwatering. If you plant is still turning brown/black I would recommend pulling it out of ground and taking a look at roots. cut off anything rotten. replant in ground with a soil with proper drainage.

Longwoods Tropicals · 06-30-2013, 04:37 AM

Hi Waggie, I also am in Southern Ontario, this is my second year growing Basjoo, I agree with the other posters don't freak out too much over initial shock after transplant. I put my basjoos

Late June Canna photo Tropicalsapopin093_zpsf9aebee7.jpg

out in late April this year, what I noticed was that the ones I left in the garden for the winter are doing much better now, about twice the size of the ones I brought indoors. So next winter they all stay outdoors. And it will leave more room for the Cavendish and ensetes that I have recently bought. Don't give up and enjoy the summer.

hasty22 · 06-30-2013, 08:25 PM

It all depends on whether there is new growth or not?

Waggy · 06-30-2013, 08:40 PM

Thank you all so much for all the help!

Update - It has put out 3 new leaves since I have posted, and each leave is almost double the size of the old leave. I have taken it easy in watering and adding some sand to the soil. The new leaves do have some black on them starting at the edges but nothing like it had when I first planted. It has also sent up 3 pups.

I'm not 100% convinced that it has to do with over watering, everywhere I read says these bananas can't get enough water so time will tell since I have been watering almost half what I was before.

Pictures still do not work. I will post it up on YouTube I guess... Unless someone has a link that I can post pictures on.

Olafhenny · 06-30-2013, 08:53 PM

Hi Hasti,

I am tickled pink to finally find another person here in the Okanagan, who is on this board. I have
given up on ordering plants from the States or Ontario, since by the time they get here, they are
either dead or 'all but'.

Let me know, if you would be interested in exchanging pups, experiences (in our climate zone)
or other tropicals. If you are, I will send you a few URLs of my posts here, so you know, where
I am coming from.

Best,
Olaf

Longwoods Tropicals · 07-02-2013, 07:49 AM

Hi Waggi, glad to hear your Basjoos are improving, the thing with over- watering is if you water a plant that is not actively growing the moisture is not absorbed by the roots and can rot them given enough exposure. However if a basjoo is growing actively it is hard to overwater as long as the soil drains well. Also don't be afraid of compost or manure-as long as it is composted, in my experience Basjoos love it, I live on a farm with heavy clay soil, probably the worst draining material one can think of, so I amend all my tropical plants with composted manure, leaf and grass compost, regular old pro mix and sand, with this mixture 2 gallons of water poured around a plant will completely drain away in a minute.

Also as far as posting pictures an easy solution is to upload to photobucket or a similar hosting site, once you have a library on the site it is easy to copy and paste or drag and drop from there to your post.

liznomnom · 07-02-2013, 12:36 PM

I have done all the steps the same as described for photo upload and a message comes up and says "your photo was uploaded successfully" and then it takes me to my gallery which contains no images?? I have tried at least 10 times, and each time the same thing. This is very irritating and without being able to upload my pics, there's not much I can do here on the site.

Olafhenny · 07-02-2013, 03:22 PM

Hi Liz,
which browser are you using for the upload? I seem to remember, that I had real problems with
FireFox, my standard browser. I have subsequently switched to Google Chrome and use it now
solely for uploading photos to 'bananas'. I still do everything else with FireFox.

Good luck,
Olaf

sandy0225 · 07-27-2013, 02:58 PM

did u check for spider mites on the back of the leaves?

06-20-2013, 07:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Waggy Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 3 BananaBucks : 4,315 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi guys, great site! Ill keep this short, So I would have loved to post some pictures but having problems doing so, I have a 3 foot tall Musa Basjoo planted in full sun with manure/compost type for soil. It water it every few days its given MG 28-10-10 slow release fertilizer. Its planted in a raised bed garden with a Windmill palm about 3' away. I. Any figure out for life of me why the leaves are turing brown/black so fast! It is. Newly planted Banana (April) maybe I'm watering it to much.? I wish their was a way to post some pictures.

06-20-2013, 08:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
Duckfood Location: Knoxville, TN Find me on the map! Zone: 7 Name: Michael Join Date: Mar 2013 Posts: 329 BananaBucks : 44,539 Feedback: 2 / 100% Said "Thanks" 1,084 Times Was Thanked 275 Times in 133 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 361 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Pictures would be nice, and location, but, yes, Allow the soil to dry almost completely before watering is always a good idea... Any banana newly planted in the sun will experience a culture shock... The current leaves will die, and new ones will take their place... __________________ By the way, there is no cure for the human disease of growing bananas. ~~~ Richard 05/22/2014...

06-20-2013, 08:46 PM	#3 (permalink)
Waggy Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 3 BananaBucks : 4,315 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Thanks Duckfood, Its planted in my backyard which is facing south, I'm located in southern Ontario Canada, day time tempatures and in the high 30C with humidity around 65-70%. I won't be watering it for a while and will be adding some sand to the soil to help it drain.

06-21-2013, 05:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 270,539 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi Waggi, As far as pictures are concerned here is a repeat of another post of mine elsewhere in this forum, outlining a step by step procedure for uploading photos: 1. Go to: bananas.org/gallery/uploadphoto.php?cat=500 2. click on ‘Browse’ or ’Chose File’ (depending on your browser) 3. Go to your folder, where the picture is located 4. Double click on the photo. That will transfer the location of the photo in your computer to the Bananas upload site. You can do that with 4 pictures at the time 5. Click on the red Process window. That will put the photo into your Gallery or if you don’t have one yet, will open one up for you (if I remember correctly) 6. Double click on the photo. That will open up a condensed version of the photo (about post card size). If you want to post the original size, click anywhere on the image. 7. Left click on “Code for bulletin boards:” at the bottom of the image 8. Then right click on it again 9. In the dialogue box click on “Copy” that will copy the Banana.Org address of the image 10. Go to your post and paste it, where you want it to appear. That sounds a lot more complex, than it really is. After the first few hundred photos it will come quite fluently As far as your banana is concerned it needs mostly a bit of patience, They quite often stall after transplanting, might even die back to some degree, but they always recover. Watering depends on the conditions. I do not personally agree with the here often voiced opinion to hold back on watering. Observing bananas in their natural environment, where they often have their feet right in the water, like on edges of rice fields, leads me to the conclusion that lots of water does no harm, as long as you have a functional plant, in other words, as long as the plant has a good growth of leaves in proportion to its size. Sometimes they do not even blink, when transplanted and other times they may sit there for up to two months, before you notice any recovery. My ever repeated mantra: "If you have a firm (like a potato) (piece of-) corm you have a viable plant. Good luck! Olaf PS: If you have other uploading problems see here: Can't upload any pictures __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them. Last edited by Olafhenny : 06-21-2013 at 05:14 PM.

06-21-2013, 05:38 PM	#5 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 270,539 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Sorry Waggy, in my previous post the two URLs did not reproduce in clickable form. Hopefully it will work better with these. Can't upload any pictures bananas.org/gallery/uploadphoto.php?cat=500 __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

Members currently in the chatroom: 0
	The most chatters online in one day was 17, 09-06-2009. No one is currently using the chat.

06-22-2013, 03:34 PM	#6 (permalink)
kaczercat kaczercat's Photo Gallery Location: Southern ON Find me on the map! Zone: 5b 9b Name: Matt Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 1,874 BananaBucks : 245,864 Feedback: 3 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,116 Times Was Thanked 2,111 Times in 750 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 11 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hello. I'm in that area. I would say hold back on the watering. every 3 days if it doesn't rain. That's what I've been doing. __________________ Matt

06-22-2013, 06:18 PM	#7 (permalink)
sman87 Zone: 5-6 Join Date: Jan 2013 Posts: 130 BananaBucks : 23,301 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 80 Times Was Thanked 69 Times in 36 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 10 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... I agree, with monitoring how much water you are giving it the initial first several days or so. You want your banana plant to establish an active strong root system and one way roots grow is when they are in search for water. When the soil is just right (somewhat moist) roots will snake through the soil, quickly in search of nutrients/water. If you overwater a transplant leaving it soggy it can sometimes signal to the plant "don't bother growing more roots our food is right here" and when it stays in a spot long enough, overwatered those inactive and sensitive roots can rot. An exception to the rule very often, since its a tropical is if your weather is consistently hot and sunny, as frequent watering helps balance soil temp, water evaporation and the high plant transpiration due to its huge leaves. Hope u have some luck and good growth this year!

06-30-2013, 01:20 AM	#8 (permalink)
hasty22 Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 24 BananaBucks : 8,070 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 30 Times in 10 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hello I also live in Canada. I live in Vernon BC . I have grown Musa Basjoo for several years. When I transplant pups I dig a hole add rocks/gravel for drainage. I then use native soil with a mixture of sunshine #4. I would never use manure/compost. Water as necessary, but not to much in colder weather. Once banana show signs of growth and temperature warms up use a water soluable fertilizer like miracle grow all purpose. do not use a slow release in summer. Unfortunately I think you have root rot, possibly from manure or overwatering. If you plant is still turning brown/black I would recommend pulling it out of ground and taking a look at roots. cut off anything rotten. replant in ground with a soil with proper drainage.

06-30-2013, 04:37 AM	#9 (permalink)
Longwoods Tropicals Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 104 BananaBucks : 34,260 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 53 Times Was Thanked 244 Times in 73 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 2 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi Waggie, I also am in Southern Ontario, this is my second year growing Basjoo, I agree with the other posters don't freak out too much over initial shock after transplant. I put my basjoos out in late April this year, what I noticed was that the ones I left in the garden for the winter are doing much better now, about twice the size of the ones I brought indoors. So next winter they all stay outdoors. And it will leave more room for the Cavendish and ensetes that I have recently bought. Don't give up and enjoy the summer.

06-30-2013, 08:25 PM	#10 (permalink)
hasty22 Join Date: Jun 2012 Posts: 24 BananaBucks : 8,070 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 0 Times Was Thanked 30 Times in 10 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... It all depends on whether there is new growth or not?

06-30-2013, 08:40 PM	#11 (permalink)
Waggy Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 3 BananaBucks : 4,315 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 1 Times Was Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Said "Welcome to Bananas" 0 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Thank you all so much for all the help! Update - It has put out 3 new leaves since I have posted, and each leave is almost double the size of the old leave. I have taken it easy in watering and adding some sand to the soil. The new leaves do have some black on them starting at the edges but nothing like it had when I first planted. It has also sent up 3 pups. I'm not 100% convinced that it has to do with over watering, everywhere I read says these bananas can't get enough water so time will tell since I have been watering almost half what I was before. Pictures still do not work. I will post it up on YouTube I guess... Unless someone has a link that I can post pictures on.

06-30-2013, 08:53 PM	#12 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 270,539 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi Hasti, I am tickled pink to finally find another person here in the Okanagan, who is on this board. I have given up on ordering plants from the States or Ontario, since by the time they get here, they are either dead or 'all but'. Let me know, if you would be interested in exchanging pups, experiences (in our climate zone) or other tropicals. If you are, I will send you a few URLs of my posts here, so you know, where I am coming from. Best, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

07-02-2013, 07:49 AM	#13 (permalink)
Longwoods Tropicals Find me on the map! Zone: 6 Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 104 BananaBucks : 34,260 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 53 Times Was Thanked 244 Times in 73 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 2 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi Waggi, glad to hear your Basjoos are improving, the thing with over- watering is if you water a plant that is not actively growing the moisture is not absorbed by the roots and can rot them given enough exposure. However if a basjoo is growing actively it is hard to overwater as long as the soil drains well. Also don't be afraid of compost or manure-as long as it is composted, in my experience Basjoos love it, I live on a farm with heavy clay soil, probably the worst draining material one can think of, so I amend all my tropical plants with composted manure, leaf and grass compost, regular old pro mix and sand, with this mixture 2 gallons of water poured around a plant will completely drain away in a minute. Also as far as posting pictures an easy solution is to upload to photobucket or a similar hosting site, once you have a library on the site it is easy to copy and paste or drag and drop from there to your post.

07-02-2013, 12:36 PM	#14 (permalink)
liznomnom Zone: 6b Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 7 BananaBucks : 11,539 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 3 Times Was Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... I have done all the steps the same as described for photo upload and a message comes up and says "your photo was uploaded successfully" and then it takes me to my gallery which contains no images?? I have tried at least 10 times, and each time the same thing. This is very irritating and without being able to upload my pics, there's not much I can do here on the site.

07-02-2013, 03:22 PM	#15 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 270,539 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... Hi Liz, which browser are you using for the upload? I seem to remember, that I had real problems with FireFox, my standard browser. I have subsequently switched to Google Chrome and use it now solely for uploading photos to 'bananas'. I still do everything else with FireFox. Good luck, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

07-27-2013, 02:58 PM	#16 (permalink)
sandy0225 Northern Tropics sandy0225's Photo Gallery Location: Muncie, Indiana zone 5 Find me on the map! Zone: zone 5 Name: Sandy Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 1,718 BananaBucks : 412,931 Feedback: 31 / 97% Said "Thanks" 38 Times Was Thanked 1,801 Times in 682 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 9 Times	Re: First time Musa Basjoo & issues already... did u check for spider mites on the back of the leaves? __________________ Sandy Burrell Northern Tropics Greenhouse 1501 East Fuson Road Muncie, IN 47302 www.northerntropics.com specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~ check out our new online store at our website!

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