TomWin

Hello folks,

I'm sorry if a question like this has been posted a thousand times before (is there a search function?)

I currently work in Iraq where the temperatures throughout the year are quite extreme. It was just below zero this winter and temps can hit 50C during the summer months.

Our new office has three banana trees growing in the garden and while they flourished last year (definitely the feature of the garden) sprouting lots of saplings(?) they have now got to a stage where they are brown, limp and lifeless, and quite frankly - look messy to visitors.

We would like to see them flourish again this year so what should we do? Is it best to cut the old ones down or should they remain as they are? Its the rainy season here for the next month with temps between 10c and 20c, and after that I reckon it'll get stinking hot again.

Many thanks for any help or advice.

Tommy

Chipb2

Where are you located?

TomWin

Hello, I'm in Erbil, Kurdistan Iraq - mild and wet at the mo but chuffing hot in a month or so!

Mark Dragt

I suspect that the cool wet weather is not to your plants liking. When the weather gets warmer and more sunshine, your plants will turn around and be happy again. You can cut off the dead leaves to make the plants look better. But don't cut the whole thing down.
Tom, can you post some picts to make sure I am on the same page?

__________________
Mark's Banana Forest Paradise

TomWin

Thanks for your help - sorry for the late response but I got a little leave

Here are the photos of the chaps - they're really coming on well since I took the outer leaves off, plus its getting warm here now. I'm watering them once a day for about 30 minutes (just leaving the hose running).

I think Ive managed to post one picture to "members galleries" but then again - I might have posted 9. Apologies if so!

JP

What type of soil is it? Does it holds moisture? Watering seems excessive to me... Roots are not deep so a few minutes is more than enough. What's the temperature like these days?

TomWin

Hi JP. The soil is pretty sandy as you might expect, but I've bunged a few bags of fertiliser on and mixed it in as it's the start of the year. Temperatures here at the mo - 13C at night and upto 20C during the day, but that will go up by 10C within the next 3/4 weeks.

There is about a week's worth of rain left to come before the dry season hits. I will reduce the watering to a few minutes on your recommendation. Thanks.

JP

Sandy is good. I'll be honest and say that you will need advice from someone with more experience than me... Maybe mulching could help, especially with the dry season coming but I don't know. I grow in large containers so it's not the same... Sand is good though, it drains well. What kind of fertiliser do you use?