Hey everybody!
Sorry to write a book and ask so many questions but i am nervous and want my plant to get better! I have a sdc and a ice cream and 2 dc in my greenhouse all about 1 1/2 yeas old, my first problem is my ice cream is very tall and is now loosing all of its leaves (they are breaking and bending like they are too heavy) now it only has 5 leaves and is about 5 foot. I tried to support them with small Velcro ties but it continues to loose leaves. second question is that all of my bananas loose leaves at the bottom (they get brown and die), I’m not sure if this is normal or not. I was thinking it was not getting enough light, but all my other plants coffee, orchids, corn plants, limes and pineapples aloe spearmint ect. are doing well. i get about 6 hours of full sun in the morning, temps are never below 65 humidity is always over 40% and I mist them every few days, they are in a mix of miracle grow cactus & palm soil and pearlite. I try to let the soil dry before watering and use espoma organic fertilizers. Thanks for any help!

David





im not sure why my pics didnt work, heres a link to my photobucket
ic picture by drcolfelt - Photobucket

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

It's natural for bananas to lose older leaves as they get older. This is how they form their pseudostem (it's made of the bases of all the older leaves). Sounds like they are probably getting enough light, but if not, this would likely cause them to grow very weak/spindly and 'leggy.' If you don't water enough, this could cause the lower leaves to die off earlier since the plant would absorb the nutrients from them to survive. So make sure that they are getting enough water (wait till the soil is dry below the surface an inch or more, then water moderately). Then again, don't OVER-water either....they don't like to be soaking all the time. Beyond that, do you fertilize? Have you checked for spider mites (look on the undersides of leaves for tiny spider webs near the midrib or where there are concave bends in the leaf margins)?

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

Well your droop isn't even close to what I had on my Ice Cream on a pot.. Yours is doing fine just doesn't want to support those lower leaves for a reason. I lost all the droopy leaves when I planted in the ground recently and it is doing great now. My droopy leaves never burnt when I had it outside for over a week. You upper leaves look to be in good shape so don't worry. It will be outside before long and happy :^)

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

The plants look OK to me. How long before you can put them out? You don't say where you're located, but said you are using Espoma fertilizer. That's made in New Jersy, so I would guess you're probably not on the west coast.

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

Thanks everybody!

I live in Maryland (zone 6). The last chance of frost here is usually may 15th. Is it essential to take the plants outside or can I just leave them in the greenhouse? I have dogs in my back yard that would mess the plants up and the front is partial shade most of the day :(. I have always used espoma fertilizer on all of my other plants and had great luck. They make several all organic specialty fertilizers and supplements. I am using the one for palms on the nanas. Here is the link to espoma -http://www.espoma.com/p_consumer/tones_overview.html. Today I did order some banana fertilizer from wellspring gardens to see what all of the hype is about. Also I don’t think I have spider mites now. I had them last summer and successfully got rid of them. Thanks so much!

David

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

I'm in zone 7. Our last frost date is April 20, but we haven't had a freeze for several weeks now. Our first frot date is supposed to be Oct. 20, but we didn't get anything until after election day. I've found that, lately, I can usually get a couple of weeks beyond the scheduled dates on either end. I uncovered the ones I have in the ground, and brought the ones I had stored, bare root, in the cool basement, out on April 5. If we get a really cold night again, I can drag them back in, and throw some type of a cover on the in-ground ones. A few days ago, the predicted the temperature for today would be in the sixties. This morning, the said it would get to seventy. It's 75° F now.

Re: Plants loosing leaves
 

Last Winter I had to cut my Burmese Blue banana plant off because it was hitting the ceiling.
Did really good growing through the winter but now it's getting warmer my plant is growing weird.
I'm sending a pictures along with this.
Do I have a Problem?
Or will it come out of this as it gets warmer?
I don't want to lose my plant.
I need help?
Can e-mail me at: cm.mesenbrink@cfu.net
With an answer.
Thanks
Christina:nanertank: