Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Deficiency? Overwatering? The leaves are all funny. On more than one plant. Plx help

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

First Off: I see the plants are tooo deep in the soil. The bottom of the first leaves are below the soil surface. ..... The top of the corm (where it turns from green to white & then flairs out to the corm) should be at soil/ground level. .... Likely an infections has set into the pstem or an insect is eating away??????


Next: Your soil seems to have a lot of very fine particles ( pete ???) which can or will hold too much water. The pot & soil mix needs to be fast draining ... about 15 to 20 seconds after pouring water at the top, it should be draining from the bottom holes. .... I do not see signs of over watering on the plant leaves just yet.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Thanks for the reply,
It corm isn’t much below, I’ll take a photo and upload it. My other bananas are suffering but not all, plus other pips on the plant above are completely fine. I’ll send photos it’s off tho. My thinking was lack of calcium or my organic fertiliser. Maybe over watering too
But the stuff on the photo is Mostly mulch. The soil doesn’t really begin until the corm.
Other plants are suffering with this also. They are newly planted and not planted deep at all. It’s odd. I don’t think it’s infection cause a plant I planted less than a month ago has it. Also
I’m really confused.
Thanks for the help ;)

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

You're fertilizer is nitrogen rich causing the plant to grow too fast. The leaves are thin, wrinkled, and difficulty unrolling. .... Reduce the amount of fertilizer being given. Plants this size are good for a couple of months with just 2 or 3 Tablespoons of fertilizer.


Your plants are still too deep if the corn neck isn't at soil level. .... For banana plant nutrient deficiencies, do a web search for a couple of papers that will describe each type and show pictures.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

I agree with you but to throw you a curve ball, one of my bananas. The one next to it had yellow streaks in the new leaves, showing a nitrogen deficiency. That’s why i went heavier on the nitrogen. As deficiency starting showing.
The photo below shows my namwah. Planted. It’s got roots coming literally 0.5 cm below the soil maybe less but has the same issue.

It’s a bit confusing. I wonder if you know why this is happening.
Thanks again for the help,
I’m lost with all this stuff,


To explain the photos,
The first one
Is my namwah roots. The roots start literally immediately at the start of the soil. It has the same issue as the other ones. However it had a yellow nitrogen deficiency on one of the leaves. So I used a 12-0-0 in mix with organic potash and bone meal 0-18-3. So I use a mix of
Each. As my plant have been slowing deficiency.
Photo 2
Is the namwah pup. So the above photo is the root system. It’s not deep. But yeah. Shows deficiency. I don’t really know. I thought lack of ntigeon. So I gave it fertiliser and this started to happen. However, it’s only on the pups. Not all of them. Just one or so
Photo 3
Is the deficiency. Yellow streaks and online said nitrogen. This is my Orinoco.

Photo 4
Is my blue java new leaf being odd.

I think it’s my fertilising. I’ve gone organic so it’s harder to over fertilise. But the leaves are just being odd. I think they will recover.
I admit thag one of my plants is too deep

Lots of information there.
Sorry

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

I agree with Edwmax regarding over fertilization. For what its worth those stripes and pale leaves that struggle to open are almost exactly how my over fertilized plants look. Its dark here now but I will post a pic tomorrow.

My plan is to run extra water through them and hold any fertilizer for awhile.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Hi,
Thanks again,
Yeah I agree. I think one over fertilised. But they are growing so wuicky and it’s organic so I didn’t think I could really over fertilise. I give lowrs of water also normally. But I only fertilse one a month and a few of my bananas showed deficiency.
It’s so hard. One shows one thing and the other shows another and I only applied
12-0-0. 0-18-3and 0-30-0. It’s all organic and it isn’t showing adverse affects. I thought I was just beginning to understand fertilising 😂.
It’s hard cause we don’t have an organic balanced fertilsrrrs like 15-15-15 here in the UK. They are all low NPK. So I try make my own. Cause my normal 2-3-3 just isn’t enough and they show deficiency.

It’s hard
Cheers

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

My 4 varieties tolerated the fertilizer I used differently too. The only ones that seemed to have an issue with it were the Helen's Hybrids. My DO, unknown super dwarf and basjoo all seemed to tolerate it OK.

Never a dull moment......

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

I would love a pic of ur over fertilised plants if you
Have one.
Would be grateful to see them
Why does overwatered abs over fertilising symptoms look the exact same?

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Sure , I will post them. Sorry I didn’t earlier, it just sounded like you had figured out the situation so wasn’t sure if you still wanted to see them. I will do so this evening.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

So the color on the leaves has darkened considerably since they first emerged, but I think the effects are still clear enough, especially with regards to the weak structure.

Yet another lesson learned....:eek:

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

U wanna know something interesting. My St. Helens abs sikimensis banana loves fertiliser. It’s the only one not to show any signs of over fertilising symptoms and I gave it the same as the rest. My Orinoco and namwah are the only ones suffering. I’m just gonna hold back watering to let the soil dry abs if it doesn’t work then I’ll water to get rid of the over fertilised soils. It’s odd cause it’s all organic and bananas lover fertiliser. But maybe they don’t love them that much

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

I've been following this thread but everyone had already answered the question. I just wanted to add my input

I agree with the over-fertilization because I just recently over-fertilized my bananas on purpose like 2 weeks ago. I was just using the recommended dose but wanted to try out double the fertilizer on my in-ground bananas and it was a bad idea. All the new cigar leaves didn't unfurl correctly and the leaves were all crinkled and bent, and even some discoloration. Bad idea.

This happened to pretty much all my bananas, the only ones who seemed to 'tolerate' the extra fertilizer was Blue Java & Praying Hands.

They are all growing fine now so it was just a lesson learned lol

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Yeah, interesting. I have never personally seen over fertilization with organics either, and I have always kind of assumed, like yourself, that it was difficult to do.....thanks to your experience I now know it is doable.

I almost never use inorganics outside, however, I thought I would give it a try to see if I could get more growth out of them, but instead seemed to have slowed them down. I certainly am not seeing faster growth out of those plants, so I am guessing it adversely affected the root structure to some degree as well.

Funny that we had opposite experiences regarding the varietals!

Good luck with your plants and keep us posted.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

It’s hard, cause if I don’t use more organic stuff, then my plants show deficiency. I then add a bit more then i over fertilise. It’s hard. Yeah I thought u couldn’t either. But I put it down and it showed up almost instantly, I only fertilise once a month. Maybe I’ll just try a 7-7-7 from now on.
What do you suggest I do? The soil is already very moist, I don’t wanna water more cause itllnoverwater them. Shoudl I just leave it and let nature balance it out? As bananas are tolerant. So they should recover. They aren’t dying and are still growing normally.
Same rates I mean.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Thanks for your feedback.
Yeah it’s odd. But I’m glad others agree. My blue java was one of the worst, my St. Helens, gros Michel, Siam ruby are all okay. So idk what I did different, mahbe They are more tolerant,

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Yeah I agree, bad idea......ooops.....I certainly won't be doing that again!!

Thanks for the input:)

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

how long does it take for an overfertilized banana e.g. a namwah or whatever to recover? generally speaking.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

Not that I know about any other plants, but it has been about 4 weeks since I fertilized my plants and they are now starting to throw normal looking leaves. Looks like it affected primarily 2 leaf cycles (4 if you consider the average 1 leaf per week under normal circumstances which is probably about what they would be doing given their size). Took a little bit of time for the damage to show initially, then the plants seemed to slow down quite a bit before the problem really became evident.

Needless to say, I won't be so cavalier with the fertilizer cup in the future.

Re: Why are these new banana leaves so weird?
 

odd i fertilised on the beginning week of this month and the symptoms showed like 1-2 weeks maybe even less after...
how odd. ima going to send off a soil analysis. maybe they don't have enough nutrients? but then again the photo that started this feed is a sign of overfertiling.
ahhh so annoying!
cheers