bdollarbill

I have had my Ae Ae banana potted up indoors in my bay window all winter. It died back a little from the climate change I assumed so I let it go, It recently sent out 2 new leaves, and then kind of fell over to one side, looked like it was rotted at the base of the stem so I dug the whole rhizome up to find it was rotting & had thousands of little white bugs inside rhizome, there are tiny tiny little critter's never seen anything like it but they basicly ate away a 5lb + rhizome into a hollowed out 6 oz ball of root, only 1 small part of the rhizome even feels remotely solid. It really sucks because this was expensive plant & I have never had any trouble with any of my naner's over the winter. I am wondering if it's possible this thing could have had some kind of bug infestation when I got it & it just took a long time for them to devour enough plant to cause it to show signs of something going on? It washed what was left out with water hose & I have it soaking in bucket of water now to try to kill whatever is still in there but I think i am screwed. Would like to find out what the bugs are so I can treat my other plants that are still ndoors & appear evry healthy. And before you ask no I did not overwater, Moist was kept on the dry side of moist. & was a sand, pine bark, soil mix nothing organic.

Let's hear some thoughts?

Bill

__________________
www.aerocustoms.com complete Aeroponic grow systems.

Kylie2x

BILL.. I am so sorry to hear this!!! My was doing Wonderful and 2 days later it looked like crap... I haven't given up just yet but it doesn't look good.. I hope you are able to salvage yours.. I'll put you and your AEAE on my Prayer list!!!

Kylie

CookieCows

Oh I'm so sorry. I wish I had answers for you. Do you have pictures of the bugs?

Deb

__________________

bdollarbill

They are so small I could barely eben see them I do not think camera would catch them, they did look like they started out as some type of work before they got the legs & some of them were jumping like fleas. They were all over the inside of Rhizome, I feel like they are crawling on me now from handling it. I sprayed myself off to be sure. I feel like a germaphob now... I take a few few pictures of whats left of the rhizome for ideas?

Bill

__________________
www.aerocustoms.com complete Aeroponic grow systems.

PT DUffy

It's possible, but it's just as likely that a few hitched a ride indoors and settled down for a WInter snarf. I've never had luck Wintering Inside. This WInter I did half dry stored in a shed that didn't go much below Freezing and a Walk-in COldframe that stays above Freezing(except next to the windows...). One of the shed Bananas developed stem a couple weeks after being set out. It may have nothing to do with it's Wintering but...
Other than that, there was no difference between the two. In both cases it was too Cold for Growth and with the shed's poor windows and my occassional Watering there was no leaf loss in the shed plants so future Bananas will get stored there. Besides, there's more "headspace" ;>!
Cheers,
Pat

Lagniappe

I think those are springtails. They're good to have around because they break down dead organics. I doubt they're attacking your plant, but feeding on the dead tissue that's being killed by another bugger.....fungi, perhaps?

Patty in Wisc

So glad you mentioned this. I saw those same tiny white bugs in my 30 gal nana's soil. Saw them few months ago on a stick I pulled out of soil to check for moisture. Haven't seen them for awhile & plant is doing fine.

__________________
Got a lite?
Patty




____
Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

bdollarbill

I planted what was left of the rhizome in the ground, not holding much hope it's still alive but who knows.

Bill

__________________
www.aerocustoms.com complete Aeroponic grow systems.

bdollarbill

__________________
www.aerocustoms.com complete Aeroponic grow systems.

1aday

Bill, my heart goes out to you, I know what it's like to lose a prized plant!

Did you cut off as much of the damaged part as possible, and dust with a fungicide like Captan or some other chemical?

I'm finding AeAe is much tougher than I thought it would be (now that I say that it will probably croak), perhaps yours will pull though after all! Give it some shade and warmth and try not to water too much.

Crossing my fingers and eyes and hoping for the best for your plant!

__________________
Susan

harveyc

Bill, I killed my first Ae Ae and then one of my next two the other one and now my fourth are also doing okay. I call it learning from my mistakes!

__________________

Bob

Seems to me the Ae AE is not the hardiest banana you can grow. Of course mine withered from the day it arrived. Bill ( I'm doing my Pres. Clinton imitation) " I FEEL YOUR PAIN".

__________________

1aday

Maybe mine is particularly tough stock. Or maybe I ignore it enough.

I find that if I fuss over my favorite plants they die quickly. If I treat them with benign neglect, they prosper!

__________________
Susan

notrecruiting

I was trying to germinate some strawberry seeds and was keeping the soil moist and ended up with a nasty infestation of springtails. It's nice to hear that they don't feed on live plants......I think they prolly ate my strawberry seeds though. I've heard that they thrive in really moist soil and the way to make them leave is to let it dry out.

HAHA!!!! I'm so excited....I sprayed my mix of murphy's and veg oil diluted with water and then let the soil dry out. All the spring tails are gone out of the strawberry container. Not only that but I have sprouts!!!! The seeds survived the springtail attack!!!

__________________
If it'll hold soil or grow don't throw it out

Vickie H.

I have lost 2 Ae Ae's. One my husband broke off carrying some brush. It died and never came back. The second one broke off while I was carrying it outside last summer. The wind caught it and it broke off. That one never came back either. This is my 3 rd one. I am about to give up. I bought it in 2009. This is the second winter for it. It is doing okay and putting out new leaves. I know someone who bought one from someone who told him it is just like any other banana. His is not doing very well. I tried to warn him before that person told him what they did. They basically told him I was wrong. I have tried to get him to come here to learn what an Ae Ae needs. Neither of mine had bugs just weak trunks that needed to grow to become stronger. I hope you can save yours.

The Hollyberry Lady

natej740

This thread is almost 2 years old...not sure if you looked at the dates or not.

The Hollyberry Lady

CookieCows

Don't feel bad... I just sat and clicked the 'thankyou' button over and over on a thread that I didn't realize was 2 years old until the end, that had one post from today also!

__________________