Quote:
Originally Posted by scipio
My wife recently brought home a red banana from a nursery. We repotted it into a larger container, adding Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm and Citrus mix to fill up the remainder after adding about 3 inches of rocks at the bottom of the pot. About 4 days later the leaves are starting to wilt. We're keeping the plan indoors in front of an east facing window with a good deal of light all day. It is warming up in Indiana, but it does sit under a vent and we keep our apartment at about 75.
She's been watering it a bit every day, but I'm not sure how much. We haven't added any fertilizer yet. The leaf coming up in the middle is new growth. The leaves are pretty floppy and feel really
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Welcome to the Banana Forum.
1st. The plant sitting under a vent; The heated air blowing from the vent is much hotter than the apartment. It should be in high 90's to 100 deg. which is too hot for banana plants. ... The same with AC vents the cold air should be in the upper 30's and too cold for bananas.
2. Bananas need warmth (75 to 90 deg) and lots of humidity. The environment of a house or apartment is very low in humidity. So young banana plant needs misting a couple of times per day.
3. Watering the pot every day is not good for the banana plant. Keeping the soil wet prevents the roots from getting air. The potting soil for bananas need to be very fast draining so excess water drains out of the pot and not make the bottom of the pot soggy. For this reason the pots much have drain holes. A soil mix of commercial potting soil with 50% perlite is recommended or a very course pine bark potting mix. .... The large corm stores water so you only need to water the pot soil when it is near dry in the middle & bottom of the pot. Get and use a long stem moisture meter.
4. The rocks in the bottom I do not recommend. You may as well just use a smaller pot. It would be about the same. Banana roots grow fairly fast and needs the soil space. Use a coffee filter or landscape filter fabric in the bottom if needed to prevent soil leakage thought the pot drain holes. Then the soil moisture can be checked with a moisture meter thought the drain holes.
5. The commercial soil mixture used should already contain enough fertilizer for 4 or 5 months to feed the plant. But I do recommend forliar (misting) feeding the plant with miracle grow once a week. Mix per instructions for potted plants.
Wilting banana leaves is caused by lack of water (including root rot) or high heat (100 plus deg).