Kostas

Hello,

Since i got my bananas to the basement for overwintering,i am seeing continuous yellowing of the margins followed by die back of the leaf till eventually it reaches the midrib and the whole leaf dies and hangs but the leaf sheath seems to not die back too much. What i have noticed is that as the leaf tissue yellows and dies,it gets black and white spots develop on the black tissue,like the reproductive stage of a fungus.
Here are pictures of my bananas,others more and others less affected:




















This one is a special case. It had good and normal leafs and as soon as i got it in my basement,it started having the marginal yellowing seen in my other bananas. It progressed fast with it not producing any new leafs but starting to bulge at the base as the new leafs couldnt emerge through the pseudostem. The yellowing progressed fast,reach the midrib and all leafs died. A deformed leaf tried to emerge from the dead tissues but it started to blacken at the margins too and eventually died while at the same time,the 2 new leafs you see started emerging fast! If you look closely,the dead,blackened leafs all have a white dust like the reproductive stage of a fungus which worries me in case it reinfects it. So far,this one seem to now be on its way to recovery.


Although the above banana managed to recover,i would certainly not want my other bananas die to the ground to start recovering again,if they recover. What cases this yellowing and then blackening and what should i do to help by other bananas win the battle?

Thank you very much in advance!

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

iz

Dirt looks dry. How does the dirt feel to the touch, moist or dry? I'd clean up and cut off the dead leafs and around the yellow, brown p-stem. You have any plant light?

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Going banana 4 bananas,
iz

Kostas

Thank you very much for your reply iz!

The soil is moist on all of them,other more,other less,but well below the point that water stress would occur. Its definitely not from lack of water unfortunately.

I have been thinking of cutting the dead leafs and probably will but the problem will remain as its slowly progressing. They are grown under fluorescent lighting at 24C and with high humidity(and bad air circulation unfortunately).

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''To try,is to risk failure......To not try,is to guarantee it''

sunfish

Looking good

iz

I use 'enhanced spectrum' digital 400 and 250 hps lights from Hid Hut (HidHut Website). Plants love these! The banana's just keeping putting out new leaves. We have used them many times over the years. I also keep the ceiling fan on, night and day for air circulation; Banana Gallery - IMG_0027_2011-Winterized_Plants

But I do have some plants in the garage that does not have plant light, so when it is nice outside above 45 and/or if it rains, I wheel them outside-to get sun light or water; leaves must have light to stay green. Here is an idea to easily take the plants inside and out: Banana Gallery - Truly Tiny
Banana Gallery - winterized banana
Banana Gallery - winterized banana
Banana Gallery - Making containers for my banana

If your banana continues to deteriorate, I'd pull one of the banana out of the pot and check its root; is it dry or does it have root rot? I'd change soil if necessary and especially if there is a sign of fungus; spray with some type of Plant Fungus Solution. And clean up all dead leaves and dead discolored p-stem to avoid spread; let it dry out and wipe any fungus appearance w fungus solution; air circulation helps too.

Also, make sure there's no spider mites or other bugs too. I'm only saying this because I'm battling with spider mites; its turning my plant leaf yellow and hurting them, and so every time I see these annoying bugs, I just cut off the leaves and off it goes to the trash can; by doing these, I also get rid of the eggs from multiplying.

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Going banana 4 bananas,
iz

Jack Daw

Lack of sunlight, lack of water, cold from the floor and wrong combinations of these factors. For instance: the air is warmer than the soil, because it gets most of the cold from the floor. Add to that improper watering and the stress is there.

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Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



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sandy0225

It seems to me when you bring bananas in for the winter, even to a greenhouse, they go through an adjustment period where they lose some leaves and generally look pretty ratty. Then as they adjust to the new environmental conditions, they start producing leaves that look pretty good. Then after that, it's time to put them outdoors again.
Even when I bring mine from the outdoors to the greenhouse, I see this in the plants. That is with bananas that are already potted to begin with. If you dig and put them into pots, that is even more adjustment, and more symptoms occur.
Leaf yellowing on the older leaves, drying up leaves, losing a few leaves is always normal. Some more picky bananas will die back to the ground. Always look to see if you have spider mites or other pests though because that will compound the problem greatly.
A lot of these pictures you see on here that look great this time of the year are either just dug up and not indoors long enough to show symptoms of being moved yet, or grown indoors all year so that they are already adjusted.

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Sandy Burrell



Northern Tropics Greenhouse
1501 East Fuson Road
Muncie, IN 47302
www.northerntropics.com


specializing in bananas, heirloom tomatoes and water gardening plants~
check out our new online store at our website!

venturabananas

I'm not saying it'll solve all your problems, but heat mats can work wonders. Warm soil and roots = happy plant.

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