Magilla Gorilla

On Saturday I decided to dig up my Brazilian mat. I have lost about seven plants over the last few months. Some of them were 15 footers. I suspected gophers and did find a few holes. All of my plants need to have a wire cage to avoid total decimation. I thought if I don't dig them up they will all die. I found the plants were rotting from either poor drainage, a leak in my sprinkler system, both or an disease. I removed the plants and potted the ones I could salvage up. I have lots of corms. Some are firm and some are soggy. I have attached some photos below. Do I let the corms dry out some?
Before the digging began.



This was the largest plant I pulled out. It is 18 feet tall. I hope I can save it. The two smaller 8 footers on either side were rotted out and had to be put in the recycle bin

Some nice plants hopefully they will survive


Corms


After the damage. What takes years to grow goes away real fast. Now I have a void to fill.

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Andrew

Chironex

Wow, Andrew! What a shame. Some of them don't look bad though. I would dry them for a day or two then repot in fast draining perlite and sand mix until they get going again.

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Scot

Magilla Gorilla

Thanks for the info. I am going to let the spot dry out if it does. I need to check my sprinkler system. The plants were not getting much water. I am planning to re dig the hole and put a layer of gravel to help with the drainage. The other plants near by did just fine. ??? Like you, I have 30 or 40 plus potted banana plants that could be put there. I emptied my greenhouse and have plants that were pups and TC's that need to be put into the ground. It's the years of grow that filled that spot I will miss.

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Andrew

Chironex

I feel your pain buddy!.

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Scot

harveyc

Boy, that's a shame Andrew!

I wouldn't be too eager to put gravel there unless you actually have a place for the water to drain to. Gravel itself does not lead to drainage but can be effective as a filter to retain soil and allow water to flow through as long as you have drainage below that point (either other soil that is well-drained or a French drain, etc.).

A couple of things come to mind. Maybe you have a leak in you system as you mentioned. Or, if you're watering and your bananas have not been needing water because they slowed down in cooler weather, maybe they were just using less water relative to other plants (whatever you have nearby) if they are less subject to slowing down in cooler weather. Do you have a neighbor behind your fence/wall who could be watering in that area and causing it to come onto your property? If the soil is heavier there it can retain water more than some of your other nearby soil. I hope you get it figured out as the bananas can grow back quickly in warm weather and fill that area back in pretty quickly.

Good luck!

Harvey

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Magilla Gorilla

Thanks for the great information. I have exposed the pipe riser to riser. I am giving it a week to try to dry. If I do not see a pipe leak then it could be from the neighbor. The spot is at the base of a big hill. The soil is a mix of mulch that is applied several times per year (the mulch breaks down fast), sand and garden soil. I amend the soil where I put plants. Thankfully, I do not have clay soil! Are there banana pests that rot out the corm? I have three Guava trees (10 years old) to the left and Heliconia and variegated Ginger (8 years old) to the right. I did cap the drippers during the winter and the plants still had leaves turn yellow and then slowly each leave above the next truned yellow and then the plant fell over. The base was rotted.

Any other ideas?? THANKS!

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Andrew

harveyc

Boy, I'm not sure, Andrew. My soil can get pretty wet in the winter when we have heavy rains. I've planted most of my plants a bit higher than grade to help excess water drain away but some did sink to below grade after planting and I've never had one of these rot. I think it's because such wet periods are fairly short. It does sound like you're just getting too much water from somewhere, maybe drainage from the hill behind you. If that's the case and your grade allows for it, it might be best to install a French drain along the back of your wall to catch that water. You could also try planting things a bit higher there to keep it up out of the wet soil.

By the way, I'd love to see some of the prices of places you're seeing on the Big Island. I've considered shopping but decided not to do that yet since I won't be moving anytime soon.

Best wishes,

Harvey

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Magilla Gorilla

The wall behind the plants is made of cinder block. Unfortunately, I would have to dig up approxmately 60 feet of mature plantings. Leak or no leak I will plant this spot higherabove the grade. Thanks for the thought. I have to get my girls fed and dressed, feed the chickens and get ready to drive the girls to school. I will let you know what we have seen later this evening.
Have a great day!

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Andrew

Chironex

I was wondering about fertilizer run-off from above, or some sort of wind drift from a neighbor applying weed killer. That said, it is probably unlikely since only those plants were affected.

Maybe Richard can do a soil analysis? Perhaps there is a mineral deficiency, or excess?

Just some thoughts to ponder.

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Scot

Magilla Gorilla

Thanks for your input! I didn't know Richard did that. The other plants are all really happy and healthy. This is my only tall Brazilian mat. I have three 6 to 7 foot dwarf Brazilians that ned to go into the ground. I try to seperate all the varieties so I can keep track of them. As we have discussed, planting them is a big task as I need to create a gopher cage around them and give them a water source. I'm not complaining. I love my plants. It's my therapy .

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Andrew