Originally Posted by Algae

Hi! Seattle grower here (zone 8b). I’m about a month or 2 new to growing banana plants. Would love some suggestions on what I could be doing wrong or what to avoid.

I have a 3 foot tall blue Java in a 16” Pot indoors under a 5000 kelvin bulb, and it’s been pretty good so far! Lush/ new leaves sprouting, etc. I’m assuming I have the soil mixture wrong, because watering it is a mess. When I water, it usually 100% of the time gets fungus gnats, which then lead to Caterpillars in the soil. I’ll let the soil dry out which will make the plant droop (which it never recovers from). I water it again, and new leaves replace the drooped ones.

My mixture is normal soil with a 10-10-10 fert, And about 1/3rd perlite. Since I’m in Seattle.. If I leave him outside for even just 1 hour.. the leaves COMPLETELY drop, almost touching the Pseudostem. I’m assuming it’s not used to the weather change from indoor to outdoor. I’d love to promote root growth to have the plant not sit in the moist soil for so long and succumb to fungus gnats every time.


I also have a Cold Hardy banana outside. It’s about 6 inches tall.. very young. And so far it’s doing fine. Gets whiteflies occasionally, but I started rubbing his leaves with soap water to prevent that. This banana plant attracts A LOT of horse flies, at least 4 or 5 flying around the vicinity everyday. The plants never been inside; grows VERY slow. Seems fine.

What I’m mostly worried about is my indoor java. Watering tips? Soil tips? Promoting root growth? Preventing bugs? He doesn’t seem to be producing new leaves as of late but he has about 5 very lush ones.

Pic included. Setup probably not ideal, but it’s a work in progress.