TwBanana

I’m new to cold hardy bananas, previously I would dig up my bananas and bring them in. I have planted several plants this year and at first they were doing great
But then they stopped growing and leaves turned yellow and brown and the plants started dying off one by one. Some of the new leads would come out with brown tips too. I thought maybe I was watering them too much, I water every night. I’m in Missouri and our soil is clay, but I have been amending mulched leaves and manure in the area for the past couple years. When planting the plants this year the soil seemed rich and full of worms so not sure if it the soil. Looking for any help. I will try to post pictures.

I uploaded pics to my profile. Not sure how to link them here

sirdoofus

Click on the pick in your gallery, then copy the url to the right of 'Code for bulletin boards' and then paste it in the body of the post, as such:



I didn't see any pics from 2023 in your gallery, so not sure they uploaded. Make sure you are compressing them for web pages. If the files are too big, they won't upload and they won't tell you they didn't upload, they just won't process properly.

P.S, I hope you don't mind me using one of your old gallery photos for demonstration purposes

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Who keeps calling me nuts??

TwBanana

I will have to use my computer today when I get home to get the pictures uploaded.

TwBanana

here are some pictures, the first picture will be the one taken 7/24 followed by the picture of the same plant on 9/5.








the second picture is the pup that grew out of the same corm as the first picture of the 3 dead pups.

Iowa

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Growing Musa Orinoco since 1993 - Added 2018-Basjoo, Zebrina' Rojo, Ensete Red Abyssinian - Added 2019-Goldfinger - Added 2020-Kokopo (Short Cycle), Double (Mahoi), Highgate, Super Dwarf Cavendish - Added 2021-Pisang Ceylon(Mysore), Musa Margarita, Ensete Ventricosum - Added 2023 - Siam Ruby

sirdoofus

And i am curious how extensively and with what you have been amending the soil? And how far down are you digging when you plant. Looks to me from some of those pics there still might be quite a bit of clay around those plants. Worms can be abundant in clay soil, so just seeing worms doesn't necessarily mean the soil is great for bananas

And in one pic it looks like there is a big fissure near one of the plants. Clay soil with big cracks in my experience is usually a sign of dryness on the surface so Iowa might very well be correct.

However, clay can be deceiving as it still could be quite wet a few inches down, which could mean soggy, suffocating roots.

I would seriously consider doing a dig and looking at what exactly is going on in the root zone.

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Who keeps calling me nuts??

TwBanana

Thank you for the replies! I water early evening every day, I was at one point using a sprinkler to water for about 30 minutes each day and stopped when I noticed the browning. I now use a hose and have been cutting back to every other day (just roots)and not watering for 1-2 days after rain. I have been amending the soil with leaves and manure , when planting I probably have about 9 inches of deep rich dirt with worms and then hit clay at the bottom. After digging I add some of the amended soil in the hole. I had one plant that’s stem had a soft spot in so I dug up and cut it to the corm hoping I would save it. When I dug it up the ground was very dry but under it was not soggy but pretty wet. The roots were white and didn’t look mushy so I was hoping I would save it. I wasn’t thinking they were over water because my other non-hardy bananas have not had any issues other than slower growth this year. I think you all are confirming I have been over loving my bananas 😭