zfallon84

Hey Bananagang,

I've got some issues going on with all of my bananas. Leaves are yellowing in ways that tell me that they need more nitrogen and magnesium (at the least). I've fertilized with "organic" 5-5-5 every two weeks. My watering schedule is "a good soak" every third or fourth day. My soil mix is equally perlite, manure, peat, and bark. I have most of my plants in fabric pots so that they air out. The banana at hand is in a fabric pot.

I'm worried about one plant. My first Blue Java. It's a bareroot pup that I received from nursery in North Carolina a few months ago. It has stayed at about 12" in height. In the last three weeks I have noticed that the leaves seem to be stacking up. All of my other bananas seem to have their leaves spreading with elongated petioles. This blue java seems to have shortened petioles. The leaves have laid down with gravity, are flexible, solid green- not the "bleached" look of a BBTV infected banana leaf. Though, they seem to be extra wavy, and appear to have (from my very untrained eye) dark green J-hooks on the underside of the leaves. Some of my bananas also have the J-hook appearance, but without any other distortion through these past weeks. I see no "morse code" that I can tell. I'll submit pictures.

Treatments that I have done since my previous post:
Tiny Black spots on Leaves, and pseudostem. Help?
- spray routinely with Neem oil (until the bottle ran out)
- spray routinely with Fungicide3 (from Lowes)

What I did last night:
- a foliar spray of fish fertilizer and 1tbsp epsom salt - 1gal mix

What I plan to do today:
- Add epsom salts to each pot
- Fertilize with 15-10-10 fertilizer
- water (going on day 4)

Here are some pictures of the Blue Java:
https://i.imgur.com/oPZRCdh.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/FY7CMex.jpg?1

https://i.imgur.com/Jaft2FP.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/KIbPdjM.jpg

And here are some pictures of the underside of my two largest Red Dwarf pups:
https://i.imgur.com/T4idKG7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/qYUSIhH.jpg


I am hoping that this is only a watering issue, or nutrient deficiency. I check the plants and our garden daily. I have not noticed any bug colonies other than some ants that took a liking to the fish fertilizer I sprayed last night. Numerous people in my neighborhood have bananas. None of them have these symptoms. I am not even sure that they Banana Aphid can live here in North Florida...


I'm really hoping for a nutrient deficiency!

Thanks!

Tytaylor77

Everything looks normal to me. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Keep it simple and just give it what it needs! All the extras can end up harming the plant! In a pot they need very small amounts of fertilizer. So be careful.

One thing though. The blue java is actually a Musa Basjoo. They are normal on basjoo and other varieties too.

Plants look healthy.

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zfallon84

Wait. Seriously? How can you tell?

Tytaylor77

I grow both and the basjoo has very very unique and easy to ID traits. Such as the bright green color. Winged pedicles. Red Midrib. Etc
I’m sure someone will chime in and 2nd my ID.

Sadly “mixed up” plants and tags and etc are common with Musa! I’ve been a victim myself several times!

What nursery did it come from? If you don’t mind saying.

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edwmax

1) For potted bananas that's too much water. Let the pots dry out and water only when the soil is near dry. (10 to 14 days?) ,,, Daily misting the leaves is good tho. Small banana plants in pots simply don't use or need much water.

2) You said: Equal parts of perlite, manure, peat and bark:
* Not enough perlite & bark (assuming the bark is course pieces)
* Too much peat. About 10% or a little less should be about right. Peat will hold water like a sponge and is added for water retention.
* Too much manure. ... My preference is NONE in a pot. However, if used this should be all the fertilizer the plant needs until planted in the ground. So may be less than 10% or small hand full (??). Manure will also hold water.

It is hard to over water banana plants when in the ground. With the sandy soil around Jacksonville and our current day time temps, I suggest these need to be transplanted to the ground. ... About 20 lbs of the 5-5-5 is all the fertilizer each plant needs during the growing season. So divide that up to equal monthly applications and give a potassium supplement.

Sorry I cant help with the black spots, has these improved any? I noticed in the pictures the leaves appear to have white spot too. Do these later turn black?

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zfallon84

Thanks for the info! Yes, the black spots have subsided. The new leaves on all of my plants are coming up without them. I'll have to make some adjustments to my soil. Half of my plants have what I thought to be "too much perlite". To no surprise, those seem to be the better looking plants.