I live in The O.C. in Southern California.
I don't know the variety of my banana plant, but it makes "burro" sized yellow skinned fruit with a flavor unlike any other I have tasted. They are awesome!
It began to produce fruit in 2014 after several+ years with no fertilizer and LOTS of water in a soil that essentially heavy with clay. Oops.
In 2014 I put in a boatload of 15-30-15 slow release fertilizer, and got bananas. Problem is, a great many of the fruit get to be an inch or two long, turn black, and die, so I harvested about half a hand.
In 2015 I seriously cut back on the water, fertilized the same way, and had the same result.
No other additives, but gypsum is on hand as I always put a quantity in with a tomato plant to avoid calcium issues and others add a bit of acidity to the soil. I also have liquid calcium acephate (?) on hand.
The plant appears to be otherwise healthy, is shooting up four or five pups, and has none of the issues found on the web site
Banana guide - plant nutrition to the best that I can determine by analyzing the photos.
I've seen in another post that an optimal fertilizer would be N-P-K at 2.1.3.
---> Does a particular brand come to mind? In slow release form (I've killed more plants with fast acting fertilizers than I can even begin to count...)?
I did not think to take a photo of the problem last season, and would like to avoid it this season if I can. These are awfully good bananas!
---> Any idea what's wrong?
tanks