wiscobananas

Hi!

This is my first post I am growing a banana plant indoors in a container in Zone 5 (WI).

Last year we purchased a dwarf Brazilian banana plant around January. It was growing fast, just under ~1 foot per month, even during winter months, and even produced a sucker, and we gradually increased watering frequency appropriately. After about ~8-10 months, growth slowed down significantly and stopped.

We repotted the plant in a much larger pot in October since the plant had outgrown the pot and roots were becoming pot bound. We also split the main plant (~7-8 feet) from the sucker (~2-3 feet) at the corm, and moved the plants from a SW window to a SE one.

Now it's April and there has been minimal growth and dying leaves on both plants. The sucker put out one leaf and the mother is starting to unfurl its first leaf since the repotting, but both have since stopped again. More concerning though, is the gradual dying off of leaves, particularly on the mother plant, which has been losing a leaf every 1-2 months. The leaves lost are the lowest on the plant with gradual yellowing into browning starting from the outside edges of the leaf (there is some browning on higher leaves, but lower leaves progress faster and die first).

I figured I may be overwatering since I kept watering the plants at the same frequency (about weekly) after being split and through the dormant period (there were some fungus gnats). Last month, I cut back on water and after a couple of weeks, the mother plant grew the leaf at ~1 inch per day for a couple of weeks before slowing and stopping growth again. A moisture meter reads that the soil is wet about 1-2 inches down (the top 1-2 inches is bone dry) and by touch the soil is damp but not soggy, despite not watering for about a month. Now the lowest leaf is dying again and I'm not sure what is wrong. A little bit demotivating since I thought I solved the problem but it seems to be back. The sucker is in a similar (albeit marginally less severe) situation.

Perhaps I overwatered it a ton and the root/corm is rotting? Or maybe I'm now underwatering? Or maybe it's just the dormancy period and lack of sun (or relocation from SW window to a SE window)? The plant was looking very healthy when it was rapidly growing and now there's a lot of browning on most leaves, with some dead leaves I just want to get the plants healthy again.

Sorry for the long message! Wanted to give as much detail as possible, and can send additional detail if needed. Would really appreciate any help! Thanks!

Dalmatiansoap

99% spider mites. Picture would help but i would stay on this.

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subsonicdrone

it can be hard to get bananas through the winter
i had some die this winter
luckily you will be able to bring it outside in about a month and it should take off about 2-3 weeks after that
they should make it another month judging by the description

Lancelot

I'm also in WI, and put my plants in the basement over winter with lights and watering a couple times a week. Some of the plants look pretty rough, same as you with dying leaves and such, but once outside they for the most part take off again and look beautiful again. I used to have about 30 plants, but am now down to about 20, so you do lose one once in a while.