Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

Hi,

I recently got a Dwarf Cavendish plant in a pot. I'm new to bananas. I've had the plant for about 10 days. When I received it, I noticed some black coloration on one of the leaves. Now after watering it and fertilizing it a bit, the colorations are getting worse. Some of the leaves are folding. The plant is alive and growing quickly. I'm just concerned about the black coloring. There is also some brown colors on the leaves, it almost looks dirty, but there is no dirt on it.

I live in Gilroy, California. Zone 9. Western Garden zone 14.

I've included a few pics. Any ideas on what's wrong with my plant? Any help would be very much appreciated.

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

Are you talking about the reddish splotches on the leaves? Those are normal for Cavendish types on young plants.

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

The sploches were one of the things. There are also some other colorations on the other leaves. Do healthy cavendish plants have green leaves with the reddish splotches?

Thanks for the input!

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

The reddish splotches are normal and typical of Cavendish varieties (and some others). The older leaves on your plant look sad, perhaps as if they were "burnt" by cold or too much sun. The newest leaf and the emerging cigar leaf both look fine. Leaves folding down during the day, especially if it is hot and dry, is normal. Be cautious about over watering or over fertilizing until the night time temperatures are consistently warm.

Basically, it looks fine, but probably experienced some tough weather conditions.

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

What temperatures do you mean by consistently warm? For the most part, my nighttime temperatures have been above 50 degrees.

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

Well, like so many things, I think the real answer is "it depends". It depends on the daytime temps, the variety you are growing, the soil's ability to drain, etc. Soil temperature is probably a lot more important than air temperature, if the worry is rot.

But given that I know your climate and that you've had highs in the 80's - low 90's already, I'd say you are out of the woods. Go ahead and water and fertilize. Especially if your plants are actively growing.

Re: Dwarf Cavendish Potted Leaves turning colors
 

My plants are growing, but not at full speed. I'll give them some more time to get up to speed.