Hi Don! It's great to see you here. My DG subscription just expired, and I'm not going to renew it, but at least I'll get to chat with you over here!
There's no trick really that I know of regarding leaf burn, but I'm still really new to growing these variegated bananas, and mine have only been in the ground a very short time. There has been some morning overcast weather so maybe that has helped the leaves not to burn as rapidly. The white part at least does seem to burn over time in their full-sun positions. I still think that they are better off having more sun than shade for growth, but I hear that morning sun and afternoon shade is ideal.
Yes, my ground here is very sandy even though I always amend the ground with compost when planting anything. It still dries out incredibly fast. I recently added more mulch so hopefully that will keep the soil a little more moist a little longer. I haven't kept a regular schedule with watering due to the flucuating cool/hot weather. This week, it's been particularly warm so I think I watered three times. The plants are on drippers that are 2 gallons per hour, I think. Yes, we are still in a drought condition with very little rainfall this year as in previous years.
I gave each banana some slow-release fertilizer recently. I admit that I am not as diligent as I should be due to lack of time mostly. I will have to develop a regular feeding schedule that I will stick to. There is another thread on how Greenie feeds his bananas that I'll find for you.
I haven't done a soil test, but I think the water is a ph of around 7.0, but I'm not absolutely sure about that. It's pretty crappy soil actually, but at least it isn't clay. I usually plant with half native soil and half commercial garden soil or 1/3 commercial garden soil, 1/3 native soil, and 1/3 Supersoil compost.
I hope all is well with you and your lush tropical paradise there in Kansas!
Here is the thread on what Greenie does for fertilizer:
Ae Ae propagation project