Cathanyo

I've had this small banana plant for a year. I keep it indoors (I'm located in the UK) in a self watering pot. It has done well and grown quite a bit. It now probably needs to be repotted sinced the roots have extended through the water holes at the bottom of the pot. For a while black flies would fly around the plant but they didn't seem to cause any problems so I let them be and they disappeared a couple of months ago.

About a week ago I noticed that one of the leaves was starting to wilt at the edges. Now the whole leaf is wilting and other leaves are starting to wilt in the same way and without changing colour. In all other respects the leaves look fairly normal to me. The very top of the soil has a whitish shade which appeared a month or more ago. Upon coserinspection I've noticed some very tiny insects crawling around the soil but not so much on the plant itself. They are too tiny for me to take adequate photos.

The symptoms don't seem to fit a lot of the other descriptions for typical peats. Does anyone know what the problem could be and I how I can save my banana plant?

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Cathanyo

I could only attach one photo to the first post. Here is one of the soil.

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jjjankovsky

You'd best get another banana plant and throw out the entire mess. Don't re-use the pot or soil. My guess is that too much moisture lead to some sort of rot or mold that has killed your plant (I don't think it's coming back). Go find a new best banana for your house and try it without the self watering feature.

chris_zx2

I think that's insanely drastic. The cigar leaf emerging seems fine. You definitely have an issue but I don't think it's anywhere near too late. There is a pup coming up so the corm is alive as well. I would let the whole thing dry out near a warm source or re-pot with quick draining soil. While re-potting check the corm if it soft its done, if it is hard or there is a section that is hard your still good!
I have a plant worse off and I'm still bringing it back. Remember the stem can die down and you can still get growth from the corm.
Cut that one leaf off and give it time. Change one thing at a time and see. I think that changing the soil to a quicker draining soil will help. You can mix with perlite, sand or even pine bark to help drain.
If the stem starts rotting then I would cut it down to about an inch of the soil and wait for new growth.

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--Chris
So far:
Dwarf Cavendish -- Basjoo -- Bunch of Truly Tiny

Kat2

I'm don't grow bananas inside but I see a pup on the side so, even if you lost the main plant, there is hope for the future. When I did grow plants inside (I lived in a much cooler zone) and had issues where I felt I all hope was lost I would take the plant out, rinse it completely, spray it with very dilute dishwashing detergent (not sure what you have there but I used Sunlight which is no longer made--I've had to settle for Dawn now but an organic soap would do fine), clean, scrub and bleach the pot then repot the plant in totally new soil.

However, I'm hoping someone who does raise bananas in pots will chime in on your question because I don't feel comfortable advising except to say don't give up quite yet.

ETA: Oh, yeah! Someone who knows did post!

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Cathanyo

I wondered whether over saturation might be an issue due to the self watering pot but the plant has been in the same pot for 9 months now and was doing really well up until a few weeks ago. Hmmm maybe the problem developed with the onset of winter and the cooler climate. Then again, the wilting began after I moved it to a position next to the radiator.

As suggested, I will try changing one thing at a time and observe. If this one goes it will be my second to die

Kat2

Radiators are wonderful heating devices IMO but putting a plant next to one or a heating vent is asking for trouble. If you can move her, I would; relocation is a very simple fix.

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siege2050

Dont toss it, it has a pup. Winter is tricky on some varieties. Some like Orinoco grow great indoors. I have pups that I separated in fall (Tall Orinoco not Dwarf, already 4 feet in fall) fixing to touch the ceiling and I am going to have to put them under my house soon to finish winter as we still have 3 months of cold. Some like the cavendish's can just suddenly start doing badly. I have seen mine do that exact same thing, not sure what the reason was but they survived. I would suspect the self watering pot.

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barrie

It appears you've overwatered it, plus the atmosphere next to the radiator will be too dry. Take everyone's advice, bar one, and let it dry out. Don't worry about the small black flies, they are fungus flies, aka thunder flies. The larvae of these flies feed on the decaying compost.

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barrieboy

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