NewbieNanar

Hello my name is Tiffany and I am a proud new owner of a grand nain banana tree. Well the place sold a 2 pack for twenty five bucks. So i took one and gave one to a friend. I live in Illinois and our hardiness zone is a 5-6. I decided to plant it in a pot so I would not have to winterize the tree. My plant is flourishing even though I am clueless about plants. I have about 9 beautiful leaves and is almost two feet tall. My leaves are growing like bananas lol. Anyways I am learning along the way the things he likes and dislikes because the leaves shrivel up when he is discontented. With that said the problem is the other one. Mistake number one is he planted it in the ground in mid-spring cold night weather and I suggested after two weeks of being in ground to move him to a small pot. When the plant was in the ground it was regular ground soil. So mistake number two was he put it in a large container about id say 3 gallon for a small 3 leaf tree that looked sick.With some funky bagged soil that smelled? So seemingly since mine is doing well I took on the second one to revive it so to say. I re-potted it which is 3rd transplant within 30 days. I changed to a small 8 oz pot to get it be healthy since it is small. All i had at the time. Plus I changed to miracle grow potting soil that has a mositure additive. I trimmed the leave and watered it as needed plus daily mistings. So with that said it has not done anything and i am very concerned its beyond dead. Two of three leave look sick and one is ok. I dont know what to do please help. Need advice on how to revive over transplanted plant.

LilRaverBoi

Not to recommend that you re-re-re-re-pot it, but I'd avoid using the 'moisture control' stuff on bananas in the future. It works well for a lot of plants, but bananas like well-draining soil, so the moisture additive isn't preferred. I'd leave it for now, though...sounds like it's been through enough to be transplanted again. Just keep tending to it, it may come around. Bananas are surprisingly resilient plants.

Once it comes back around and is doing better, I would recommend planting both of them in the ground if you have the space. They will grow MUCH faster and be 10,000 times happier than they ever will be in a pot. You will have to dig them up in the fall, repot them and bring them inside for winter. There is no amount of 'winterizing' in zone 5-6 that will keep that variety alive through winter....well, unless you build a heated building over it LOL. Just be careful they don't get hit with temps below low 40's (I'm guessing GN, being in the cavendish family would be fairly cold sensitive). It's a little more work to plant them and then dig them up later, but the results you'll see in their summer growth is phenomenally better. Totally worth the effort. And, since you repot them every fall, you never really have to worry about them being root-bound or having old soil in the pot.

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Abnshrek

I'd put it on a heating pad... :^)

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Olafhenny

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Olafhenny

I agree with that.

We do not know, if it is in the cavendish family. Here I am guessing, if it was sold in Illinois,
it may be one of the more cold resistant varieties. Maybe Tiffany (are you listening in?) can go
back to the source and find out, what it is.

I live in HZ6 and have now wintered my basjoo it three times outside, using leaf mulch. With
that I have achieved last winter 4 sound PS sections of 4" (1) 16" (1) and 18" (2) above ground.

With this I am expecting sound PS of 20 to 22" in the small and 32 to 34" in the big shelter next
spring and would be confident even in HZ5: Permanent banana shelter for winter and spring

There is just the caveat that you have to mulch well around the bottom of the shelters, to
prevent cold air intruding underneath them. But it saves the plant the stress of transplanting
it twice each year.

Good luck,
Olaf

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The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences,
my own and those of others and to learn from them.