Leolady

H have a small naner that I have grown from a small corn I was given, First it had spider mites that I didn't see until the 2 leaves that had grown had both turned brown. My sight isn't what it should be, and I am having cataract surgery Tuesday. Anyway, I cut the leaves off, and sprayed the stem and soil with a mix of liquid dish soal and water. Each day since, the stem as been getting brown from the top down, and now I have maybe 2 1/2 inches of mostly green stem left. There is a brownish/black spot about the size of a dime about 1/2 inch above the soil, but it is solid so far. This has all been within the last week. Also it has stayed very moist. No drying at all. So I took it out of the pot to let it dry some. It is very well rooted.

My questions are as follows.
Do you think this can be saved?
Do spider mites stay in the soil?
Would putting the pot of soil outside to freeze get rid of the spider mites if they are in the soil?
Do spider mites get/stay on the corm and roots?
What should I do with the naner plant/stem and roots?
Will the dish soap harm the plant/roots?

I am really new to banana plants and haven't a clue what to do. I would really hate to lose this plant.

I do have 2 other naners that I just purchased. A super mini dwarf cavendish and a basjoo. They are isolated in another room and I am misting them twice a day.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Bonnie.

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Bob

Still dealing with the spider mites! It's been a long time.... sometimes you loose a few and it sounds like this one may have been weakened from being in bad shape for so long. Definitely keep the other 2 separated and to prevent the ineveitble mites we all seem to get in winter I'd go ahead and treat them with insecticidal soap just as a preventative measure and keep them in as high humidity environment as you can provide. I'm not the biggest misting fan but giving them a weekly shower seems to help if you can swing that. A simple inexpensive room humidifier has helped greatly for me but this is for a room stuffed full of plants so you'll have to decide whether its worth it for you.

Going back to the first don't freeze it outdoors , you'll just kill the plant. Keep it warm , humid(maybe a plastic bag over it for a while for humidity ) and keep using the soap. I only use store bought since it's usually safer than risking a dish soap that may be doing harm. Since it's so well rooted it may make it yet. Good luck with the plants and surgery.

Bob

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Leolady

Hello Bob,

You must have me confused with someone else. I haven't had spider mites until now.

Bonnie

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Leolady

I asked about putting the pot and soil outside and letting it freeze. I have taken the plant out to let it dry some. Will there still be mites on the roots and soil that is still on the roots.

I wouldn't put the plant itself out side. It is 27 degrees out there.

Bonnie

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Eric

The best thing to use is Ivory soap cause it doesn't have added chemicals. I used a mixture of Ivory soap water (let the bar of soap sit in water overnight) & Canola oil to save my "eaten almost to death" Hibiscus. It recovered & has grown, with no probs, for 2 years since I treated it! A faster way, with the soap, is to just rub it with your hands in the water (faster than the overnight thing).
Leave the soap spray on for an hour or two then wipe it off of the plant (gently) with a damp cloth. If ya dont wipe it off, it can burn the plant (brown).
Ya dont really need to spray the corm or roots. If the plant is out of the pot, go ahead & re-pot it. It may be in a little shock but could still survive. The spraying should be done 2-3 times a week till the mites are gone.
Btw, Bob's right about the humidity thing and about Not freezing the plant to kill the mites. Freezing never helps to kill the mites. If you've got 2 1/2 inches of green stem then you're still doing really good. Even if the whole stem dies, the corm can send up another one. I know this from experience. My baby Sikkimensis died (the whole top) and looked dead for about a month. It was working on growing it's corm, underground, and finally sent up a very healthy new stem with big leaves !
Be sure & keep it warm (above 60 degrees F, 70 would be great) and only water it once a week. I watered my "dead" Sikkimensis only once every 2 weeks & it did Super!
Spider mites can take a whole season to get rid of so Definitely keep the other nanner plants isolated.
If there's something I haven't answered yet, let me know .

sirmoebly

Ok my input, take a little soap with water (((((( wipe your plant off)))))) & soft sponge!!!!!! misting doesn't work............. superspray from many company's flat out don't work....... trust me....... I have a saim ruby no spidermites with another plant with mites in the same pot..... I have to take a picture..........

parid09

I suppose I will add my penny. Spider mites are more of a containment thing, as they are incredible survivors, and multiply like there is no tommorow. I have tried the soaps, alcohol, mite predators and insecticides and pretty much ended up with a bunch of remains to be added to the mulch pile. Sometimes I have wondered how the whole banana thing ever survived and evolved in the wild in the first place, but many battles later, the big picture begins to emerge. I am one of the outside during the summer, inside during the winter crowd, and fully expect the mites to attack after moving the plants into my sun porch. I have found that a good blasting with a 409 bottle full of rainwater (I can't use my tap water because it is too "hard" and results in mineral buildup on the leaves) on both sides of the leaf and pseudo stem. I then follow up by carefully wiping off the water with a terrycloth towel, changing the towel often. Spider mites cannot hang on that well, so the blasting blows them off, and the towelling off removes the eggs, webbing and the "dandruff" that they leave behind. I do this at least once a week, and doing 25 plants, some nearing six feet tall, is more than time consuming, but it really keeps their numbers down. If you have a crowded situation with other plants, they will just re-infect very quickly, so try to open things up as much as you can. Keep a close eye on the midrib of the leaves, and the outer margins, and just assume they are there. Using chemicals also kills other mite predators that might be present, and with mites, you need all of the help you can get. I found that the mindset of getting rid of each and every mite resulted in my getting rid of each and every banana plant, so give this a try. After doing this, all my nanners are looking great, and growing well, so give it a shot. Just about everybody that has lived with nanners has found that life for them is a constant battle, but well worth the trouble! Good luck and keep us posted.

jeffreyp

best cure for spider mites is Concern brand insecticidal soap spray.

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