earwigs?
 

Hi everyone,

What a great list, I'm so glad I found it! I'm growing my first banana, its called a 'Pisang Celon', apparently developed for cool climates, and I'm growing it in Melbourne (which is known to get quite hot on occasion - a 46 degree celcius day last feb).

Six months ago I bought the banana, a foot high, and planted it in my backyard, now its 6 feet high and has had three pups, which I successfully transplanted 3 weeks ago thanks to this site :ha: (this is my first post, btw) and now it's growing another pup!:goteam:

The main plant is throwing out big leaves, but these are now emerging all chewed up and ratty! Kind of off colour and eaten, with the leaves not whole but torn. I've got the feeling that there are bug larvae living down inside the pseudostem near the corm, eating all the young leaf buds as they develop before they pop out. We have lots of earwigs, and I'm thinking it's them, but I really don't know.

I made up a concoction of rhubarb leaf and soap and poured that in the top, and the next leaf was almost perfect, but then the one following was back to scrappy, so I poured some comercial pyrethrum spray in - watered down - and am yet to see the result. I'm really stumbling around in the dark here - has anyone else had this? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

regards

pisang

Re: earwigs?
 

I have one next my patio.. I've had my pigs eat it almost to the ground but it keeps coming back. I have not had any leaves come out messed up though. Sounds like you need to grind some grub killer down to powder, mix it with some soap(dish) and water and see how that works for you.. Good Luck :^)

Re: earwigs?
 

Welcome Pisang!

Can you post any photos of the leaves? It is very unlikely anything is eating them while they are inside the plant, but the symptoms you describe sound like it could be a nutrient issue or could be a virus (not for sure, but photos will help to point in the right direction). If you can post photos, it would help a lot.

Re: earwigs?
 

Yeah, I have seen nutrient deficiencies cause leaves that are missing portions as well...this is def a possibility. Do you fertilize at all? Pics would be nice!

Re: earwigs?
 

OK, I put up some photos of the leaves, I hope that helps. I sure hope it isn't a virus.

Re: earwigs?
 

Re: earwigs?
 

I cannot say for sure, but its possible that it is Banana Streak Virus (BSV). This virus can be spread by mealybugs, however, it is integrated into the genome of many banana plants, 'Pisang Ceylon' being one of them. It is already in many of the plants we grow, but just never shows itself. It can sit undetected forever, but sometimes under certain conditions, usually by stress, it can become activated. It is somewhat of a mystery, and the information out there on it is rather confusing.

What I would do is first fertilize it and give it the best care you can, if you are already doing this or it does not work after 1-2months. Then I would remove and destroy the plant. It is definitely not an insect issue, and it really looks like BSV, though it could be some extreme nutrient deficiency.

Re: earwigs?
 

<-never seen anything like that before... & very glad

Re: earwigs?
 

I have encountered some problems with earwigs in the past, as I have noticed some egg shaped, or "roundish" holes with no discoloration around them in the early to mid-summer last year. I discovered an earwig or two comfortably living in rolled up emerging leaves, and have had one or two new leaves completely severed because of this. At first I noticed the feces and thought they might be a small beetle, but upon closer inspection, found the culprits very deep in the rolled leaf, as far down in the pseudostem as they cold get. I just filled up the leaf with water, and waited for the little beasties to come up for air and them grabbed them. We have had a massive invasion of earwigs in the last few years, but have not noticed wholesle destruction of bananas because of them, just a few nuisance holes. They seem to prefer cannas, as those guys look like someone shot them up with a machine gun sometimes. We also have japanese beetles, which also prefer cannas, but at least up to this point, haven't noticed them on the bananas. If the leaves appear shredded, it probably is something else. What species of earwig do you have there? We have European, so maybe a different species could cause a different type of damage. Good luck!!