I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

My first banana plant was a dwarf cavendish that's about a year old. I've posted some pic's recently and mentioned it looked like she was getting ready to flower.

Well, we've had torrential thunderstorms all day today and I just went out back and saw that the DC had not just been blown over in the winds, but the pseudostem was totally ripped away from the roots!

It doesn't look like there's going to be any way to save her and I'm totally depressed. It's going to be at least another year before one of my bananas flower and I was really looking forward to my first banana harvest from the DC.

I could cry right now!

I'll post some pics tomorrow after the sun comes up here.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

this make me sad for you. wishing you luck for future flowers and hopefully you will get lots of bananas.

Mike

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I am so sad

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Well the upside is you'll probably have a bunch of pups in the near future.. :^)

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Sorry man. I know the feeling.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Oh no! So sorry for you. I would be devastated, too. :(

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

It is only a banana plant

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

That was just from a thunderstorm?? Crap I might be doomed we get big storms regularly down here. Sorry that it blew over. I would be very upset too after all that anticipation.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Is it worth trying to replant it further in the soil. I'm always amazed at the abuse they're able to take. I've had most of my Ice Creams topple with very little root attached. I just replant them a bit deeper, mulch, and water consistently. They always survive.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks for all the sympathy - except Tony who I did give some "thanks" to but got no sympathy! :)

I don't think she's worth trying to replant, but I'm open to opinions:

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I wouldn't hesitate replanting that and have done so with plants in worse shape than that. Just bury it a little deeper and try a bigger container or put in the ground. It should establish new roots in little time.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Figaro, admittedly I'm fairly new to bananas, but honestly, I think there's more than a little hope left for your DC.

Clear out the old root-mass and replant the banana a bit deep in the soil. Give the soil a good watering, amended with a little rooting hormone or other similar root stimulator and within a month, you might never know this had happened at all.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Wow! You guys are making me feel better already! OK...I'l give it a shot and see what happens. She was in a 45 gallon SmartPot...I'm not sure I'll go bigger, but I will go deeper! :)

Thanks!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Yeah, from the looks of the pictures, your corm is mostly unaffected. The corm is like the brains and the battery for the banana. Keep the corm healthy, and best case scenario is everything goes back to normal. Worse case, you get a couple of pups.

You can find videos about professional banana farmers who remove pups from parent plants, chop off all the roots, and replant the pup further downfield. It quickly adapts and takes off on it's own, so long as it has enough corm to weather the change.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks...I have three of her pups I removed that are all rooted right now, plus a real young Williams Hybrid that was started as a TC. So, it's not like I don't have any plants, I just don't want to have to wait another year for one to flower.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Out of curiosity, were any of the roots visible above the soil line before the accident? It's hard to tell from your photos. At a guess, I'd say the corm was very close to the surface and roots were just barely submerged in soil.

Not that there's anything wrong with that on a potted banana, but from your own experience, I'm sure you can appreciate the value in potting a banana slightly deeper =)

Edit: btw- I notice some of your older leaves have large black spots on them. I just recently came across this in another post on another forum re: bananas. Was your pot completely saturated prior to the storm? Trying to discern the cause for blackening of leaves.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

First, thanks everyone for the input. I did just finish repotting the plant, and as soon as I finished the winds started kicking up and another thunderstorm is rolling in. I staked the plant so hopefully it will make it through this storm and tomorrow, I can reinforce it a little and give it a good shot of SuperThrive, which works miracles on stressed plants (and, this one needs a miracle!:ha:).

The answer is, "YES!" the plant was definately up a little high, especially after a year of the soil settling. I noticed this when I removed her last pup and could see that she was blowing in the wind pretty far over, so it occurred to me that it could happen, which actually makes it worse, cuz' I decided not to do anything about it. I was worried that if I piled some compost/soil mix, it would end up rotting the pseudostem and worsen the issue, so I left it alone.

All of the blackening of the leaves happened after she fell over and was sitting in the sun all day today.

Here's what she looked like 10 days ago:

http://www.bananas.org/f311/should-i...pup-17834.html

And, only 4 days ago I thought I might be getting my first flag leaf:

http://www.bananas.org/f2/flag-leaf-17881.html

I'm a banana "newbie", too, so I guess that's called "learning from experience"! My bananas will definately be planted deeper in the future! :)

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Figaro,

I appreciate the link. I missed your last thread. All my bananas are planted in the ground outdoors, so I haven't had to deal with a similar situation.

I'd considered the dangers of rot from a deeper planting, but at least in my neck of the woods, flooding and pooling water just isn't an issue. From everything I've read here, deeper planting is generally beneficial; if a corm/stem is going to rot, soil level won't be the issue, oversaturation will. That'll hurt the plant whether it's sitting plumb with the soil line or buried 2 feet below it.

Anyway, absolute best of luck with your DC. Interested in seeing how things work out.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Yes definately burry it deeper. I can see in your other thread that the pups are coming off the mother right at soil level. I wouldnt be too worried about rot, my basjoos outside are all burried 1-2 feet deep at least.

Edit: black spots are sun burn from the sun being magnified though puddles of water on the leaves when it was laying down.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I agree with the other posts: plant it deeper, give it some "Super Thrive" or so and water it carefully. You have nothing to loose-just try it. Good luck!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Definitely will recover... I've seen them in worse conditions than that and they spring right back. In fact, I remember seeing one toppled over almost like that and it started growing upward!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I am very sorry that happened. Even though the banana corm will likely be saved. I understand that the incredible disappointment is that you have to go back to square one when your banana plant was so close to producing bananas. Those thunderstorms sound scary to to be able to topple that.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Removing pups is contributing to your problem. When you do so, you make the total mass of the corm smaller. The bigger the corm and the more roots in the soil, the less likely the plant will blow over.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I definately agree with your diagnosis! The issue was noticeably worse as soon as I removed that last pup, which was a pretty big pup and took a lot of roots with it.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Just to update everyone, the DC isn't looking too healthy right now, but I'm still hopeful she'll make a recovery.

She's dropped about four leaves since the incident, but I'm not too concerned about it since with the root pruning she just got, I'd expect she'd have a hard time supplying nutrients to all of the leaves. With any other plant, I probably would have defoliated a good amount after it lost that many roots, anyways.

Also, I'm leaving the dying leaves on the plant so she can get whatever stored nutrients are in the leaves while she's rebuilding her root system to be able to feed effectively through the roots.

I'll update if there are any changes and try to post some pics this weekend.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Don't know how much it might help, but you can try a diluted foliar feed in the morning hours when the plant is most susceptible to it. Think of it like an IV bag for a patient.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Yeah, replant that beast a bit deeper in a new pot. I'd keep watering the old pot and see if any residual corm in there may sprout a pup or two, also. I feel like there is definitely a possibility of the main plant surviving, though it will likely look a hot mess for a while. Keep it out of full sunlight for a while....partial sun/shade will be important now while it recovers. Prop it up well with some sticks so it is stable and wind doesn't tear it around anymore.

I'm with ya though....I would have been devastated too! I've had plants that were close to blooming get busted off at the base and had to 'restart.' If it makes you feel any better, I've been growing bananas for around 10 years and have not seen even a flag leaf. I have one that MAY this year though (but probably it will shoot in the fall and have no chance of fruit).

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks to everyone who talked me into trying to rescue the DC.

Since she was torn completely from her root system in the storm, she basically lost ALL of her leaves, EXCEPT for the one that hadn't unrolled yet.

Over the last couple of days, that one leave has finally unrolled and you can see another one coming up behind it, so it looks like it will survive.

Now, I hope she can put out enough leaves to support some good fruit!

I'll post some pictures this week.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Great to hear Figaro.

Shame to lose a months' growing time, but it's better than the alternative.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Those are my thoughts, exactly!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Here's a photo of the DC today with her one leaf out an a second one forming:



A closer look at her top:



Here are a couple of her pups:



And, here's my Williams Hybrid purchased as a young TC a few months ago:

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Looking good! Great job rehabilitating your nanner, Fig. Great set of plants, all looking healthy. Keep it up.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Nice job on the rehab... She looks great!!!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks Guys!

It's been another week and we now have two leaves out and another one coming, so she should be out of trouble, now. I just hope she gets enough roots and leaves out now before she goes into flower.

Here she is today:



Here are the smaller plants, which I recently up-potted...

First, the Williams Hybrid:



She must be liking the bigger pot, because as soon as I transplanted her, she started putting out her first pup:



Here's one of the DC pups I didn't give away:



And, here's the other one I kept:

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Now, I Think I'll Cry For Joy - Looks Like Flowering!

I think the Dwarf Cavendish is starting to flower! It's been about 45 days since she was ripped from her roots in the storm and lost all of her leaves.

She's now almost finished unrolling her third leaf since losing them and here's what she looks like today:



The reason why I think she's beginning to flower is that if you look behind the leaf that's just finishing unrolling, the back is covered in a very thin, grayish-white "skin" that looks and feels exactly like a flower petal:



Also, while previous leaves all had some slight ridges, the ridges on this leaf are very deep and particularly well-defined:



I don't think the new leaf is actually a "flag leaf" based on pictures I've seen, but it sure looks and feels like a petal is coming out with it!

It also looks like she's putting out her first pup since the "tragedy":

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Don't forget about the half leaf!

It will appear first and then the flag and bloom next. Until you get the half leaf it's still growing.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I could be wrong, but I don't believe it is blooming. Like stated above, you will first see smaller leaves, then a flag leaf followed by the bud.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks guys! It looks like you're right. That "skin" I mentioned above does, in fact, look & feel like a piece of petal, but that 3rd leaf has unrolled some more today, and it was just a small piece. But, I've never seen anything like that unroll with a leaf, so I'm pretty sure the flower will be coming soon. The leaf that's coming up behind this third leaf does look quite a bit smaller, but needs to finish unrolling before I can tell if it's a half-leaf. As anxious as I am for flowering on this plant, I'll be happy if she can put out some more leaves and roots first.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I don't think your DC is anywhere near flowering....it just doesn't look big enough. However if it was near blooming, you'll see the leaves get smaller and then a flag leaf will come up. The wax on the back of the leaf doesn't mean anything flowering-wise.

Here's an example of what a flag leaf looks like. This is a Cavendish-type I have, Gran Nain.



Here's the whole plant (that's a 10 inch clay pot sitting next to it for size reference of the trunk)



Then again another Cavendish-type I have, Super Dwarf Cavendish, decided to throw a midget leaf a few weeks ago (its on the left) and proceeded to continue growing normal sized ones for this variety.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

And some more shots of what to sort of look for.

The half-leaf. Though in this case it was only about 6 inches shorter than a "normal" leaf. Wasn't quite "half" of a normal leaf.



And another shot of a flag leaf

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Just FYI, when it does bloom, you won't see a petal come out. You'll see the entire big ol' bud (well, technically inflorescence) come out, then it will unfold in time and petals (again, technically bracts) will expose bananas/flowers. If you search around the site, you'll find plenty of pics of it in various stages. Best of luck....glad things are recovering well for ya.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

:pics::ha:

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Thanks everyone. I'm fairly new to bananas, but not new to growing fruits & vegetables. Generally speaking, I can notice the changes in plants (usually!) when they are going into bloom.

I had heard about the flag leafs, but until this thread, hadn't heard about half leafs.

That being said, before she was even ripped from her roots, I had mentioned (possibly incorrectly!) that I believed she was close to flower because of the way she was throwing off pups and other changes I noticed in the growth.

I'm not expecting to see a petal come out before the flower, but whatever unrolled with that last leaf was definitely "petal-like" in terms of look and texture, etc. and I have never seen anything like that unroll with any previous leafs, or in any posts here in these forums.

That is just another signal to me that something is changing within this plant and I am guessing it's because she's about to flower.

I could be wrong and do appreciate all of the input here!

As I mentioned in my previous post, the new cigar leaf is significantly smaller than any previous, so it MAY be a half-leaf, but won't know for sure until it fully unrolls.

Here's today's pics:



You can see how much smaller the new leaf appears. All previous have basically sat "taller" on the plant, but this one may grow taller before it fully unrolls. Here's a closer look:



Thanks for all the help!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

I really thought that last cigar leaf was going to turn out to be a half leaf and now that it's unrolled completely, I can't tell if it's a half leaf or just a deformed leaf.

Here's the pic with the deformed/half leaf on the right inside:



Here's a closer pic:



I'd be convinced it was a half leaf if the current cigar leaf didn't look so normal! :)

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Funny-sized leaves doesn't always mean a flag is next...especially when a regular-sized cigar is coming up.

Examples of strange-sized leaves my nanners throw out once in a blue moon.


Until you see a fat bud like this emerge out of the center...your plant is not blooming.

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

All these pictures of flag leaves are making me so jealous...

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

OK...it's been another couple of months and if I'm not mistaken, she now has a half-leaf with a flag leaf coming right out behind it!

Here she is from "behind":



Here she is from the "front" where you can see the half & flag leafs:



A little closer look at the flag leaf:



Thanks again to everyone that convinced me to try to save this plant! I'm amazed how well she was able to recover!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

Congrats!

Way to stick with it :)

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :vbseo_replace_urls("(
 

And, here comes the bud!

Re: I Think I'm Gonna Cry! :(
 

The DC seems to be doing great! The first few bracts have opened and there's approximately 40 baby bananas currently visible.

The thing that appears odd to me is that the flower hasn't really fully emerged, yet and is still pointing straight up, instead of overgrowing the canopy and hanging down, so it seems like everything is upside down right now.

Is this normal? Do I just need to give it some more time to fully emerge?

Here's the pics from this morning: