Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Hi Everyone,

I planted two Musa's last week Monday. One has taken very well and is well onto another leaf. I'm concerned about the Musa below. We have had about an 1" of rain since 6/1. Is this look normal? Any suggestions would be great!

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Day two. I dug it up and took a look at the roots, didn't look bad. Probably should have taken a photo as I'm not sure what I would be looking for. What does root rot look like? The soil is a mixture of perlite, peat moss and mushroom compost. There's a 1/2" layer of peat on top.

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

It looks like its perking up to me. I think it will be ok. May wanna give it a little shade during the sunny part of the day. Sometime I just lay a lawn chair over mine. What I have noticed on the roots are that there will be a lot of old roots that are dark but there should be nice white roots also.

Michael

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Well, it's only been a week or so, it might take a few for it to really take off. I'm guessing it will be fine. Like Michael said, some shade during the hot times of the day might be a good idea for a week or two. Make sure it has water, but don't drench it either. Let it dry out between waterings to promote the roots to search downward for water. Beyond that, just do your best to be patient, if it's still green, it's probably fine (and plenty of evidence has shown that bananas that look 'dead' can still come back from the grave).

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Thanks for the replies. I'm curious, when you obtain a new banana that is in a 3 or 4" pot, how do you treat the roots when planting. Do you gently remove the plant from the container and plant or do you loosen the soil around the roots. If so how much do you loosen?

Thanks again!:waving:

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Hi revensen, in your case, it's more of owner stress than plant stress from transplanting! :ha:
Take it easy, some plants react differently to a change when repotted or in your case, grounded. It looks very healthy so there should be no problems with it. Check out the thread below on temporary shade for your plant.
http://www.bananas.org/f311/artifici...-how-7676.html

When planting into the ground, I just give the pot a few knocks to loosen the soil and then all goes into the hole. If the plant is well established in the pot with lots of roots, the shock will be minimal. The leaves may droop because of dehydration as the walls of the pot retains the moisture whereby when in the ground, it evaporates faster. Just water it sufficiently and it should bounce back in two weeks or so. All the best.

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

you could loosen up the root ball a bit, but i pretty much just throw them into the new pot and they seem to do fine. i always give water when transferring to a new pot making sure it drains out all the excess. too much water can give u trouble. with regards to root rot, the roots will be dark brown and may even be mushy. some can easily be pulled off. i am battling root rot right now. i put a dwarf cavendish in hydroponics and just about all the roots rotted out. i took him out and trimmed off the dead roots. i have him bubbling in a mug with distilled water and hydrogen peroxide. having him in the mug allows me to monitor the roots for growth daily. he might just be coming out of it. my bananas are growing indoors under 600W HPS and look great.

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Thanks Tog. I totally agree with you. I'm no longer in the state of Iowa, I'm in the state of confusion! :ha:

Thank you for the advice. I've only put 2 other banana's in the ground so I'm not really sure what to expect.

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Here is an update.



Some reason my camera makes it look better then it actually is. Maybe it's my eyes. The new leaf that's shooting up has not moved since Monday. The soil looks dry, but it's damp/moist just underneath. :waving:

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

This seems normal to me. We in the north have to realize we're growing these under stressfull conditions even in the best of times for tropical plants. Bananas are tough but tend to show when they're not happy. I bet in a couple of weeks that new leaf will have come up and be happy and the plant springs in to summertime action from there....... don't worry be happy......and wait to fertilize.

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Woah...didn't see you were from Cedar Rapids...and Fergus is from Iowa City! I didn't realize we had any Iowa people on the boards! I'm living in St. Louis right now for school, but I'm from Mount Vernon, originally! Great to see not just one, but two Iowa people on here! Bananas do great in Iowa during the summers!

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

yeah, i am growing my bananas indoors so no worries about the winters - just worried they are gonna grow too big in my apartment!!! Iowa City Rocks! (sort of) ;)

Re: Droopy Musa Basjoo
 

Yeah, I'm a big fan of Iowa City...and I feel ya on bananas outgrowing your space...I have 5 bananas and one room :( They're outside right now, but will have to come in eventually before winter.