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My Banana Palms in pots look 'meh'


Christopher Dillman

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Hi all,

How's everyone's Saturday going so far.


Here are some photos of banana palms. Been in pots for almost 4 months now.

They look 'ok'. Yet noticing some fully formed fronds are bending oddly (too much water?) and/or burnt at the edges of fronds (not enough water?)...

New fronds are popping up, which is good.

 

Here's the recipe/care I've been doing -

> 30min drip (emitters) 3 days a week.

> Hand watering with watering can (sometimes mix some Vitamin B in water...) once a week.

> Used Palm Cactus mix for soil

> Been in pots for 4 months.

> Last week I sprinkled in some Triple 15 into the soil. Maybe helped? Not sure.

 

Anything else I should be doing, or is this what's to be expected for Banana Palms in pots?

Thanks in advance!

Christopher

 

20201024_113617.jpg

20201024_113820.jpg

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8 minutes ago, Brad52 said:

You might consider a much larger pot, these guys can produce lots of roots pretty quickly.

also fertilizer.

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Dripline is good for these Ensete Maurellii, aka "Red False Abyssinian Banana."  I had a bunch of them here, but they all developed crown rot during our daily torrential thunderstorms.  Other bananas grow great here, but I also had problems with Ensete Lasiocarpum aka the Yellow or Golden Lotus banana.  They also died of crown rot.  So be wary of overhead sprinkling or burying the caudex too deep.

Regarding yours, the new leaves look good.  Frequently the older leaves are damaged a bit during purchase, transport and potting, so some browning and quick dieback may be normal.  If the new leaves are coming out clean without brown edges then they are probably getting about the right amount of water.  Any generic slow release fertilizer is probably fine, I feed all my bananas with 10-10-10 fast release.  But in a pot I'd say slow release would be a better choice.

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2 hours ago, Merlyn2220 said:

Dripline is good for these Ensete Maurellii, aka "Red False Abyssinian Banana."  I had a bunch of them here, but they all developed crown rot during our daily torrential thunderstorms.  Other bananas grow great here, but I also had problems with Ensete Lasiocarpum aka the Yellow or Golden Lotus banana.  They also died of crown rot.  So be wary of overhead sprinkling or burying the caudex too deep.

Regarding yours, the new leaves look good.  Frequently the older leaves are damaged a bit during purchase, transport and potting, so some browning and quick dieback may be normal.  If the new leaves are coming out clean without brown edges then they are probably getting about the right amount of water.  Any generic slow release fertilizer is probably fine, I feed all my bananas with 10-10-10 fast release.  But in a pot I'd say slow release would be a better choice.

So would Triple 15 be ok, say once every 3 months? Or do I need to dial it down to a lower concentrate, slower release fertilizer?

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Just don't overdo it with the fertilizer, a 10-10-10 is just a bit less concentrated than a 15-15-15.  Cheap fertilizer in pots is a big problem, over time salts build up.  Bananas are much more tolerant than palms though, so it may not be necessary to do expensive fertilizers like Osmocote or Nutricote.  So just use a small amount, maybe half a handful every 3 months.

The trunks on these bananas get big fast, up to around the diameter of your pots.  So expect to have to repot them at some point.  If the pots don't taper inwards towards the top it should be reasonably easy to repot later.  If it does taper inward it will be really tough to get them out of the pot later.

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On 10/24/2020 at 11:45 AM, Christopher Dillman said:

Anything else I should be doing, or is this what's to be expected for Banana Palms in pots?

Thanks in advance!

Christopher

 

On 10/24/2020 at 2:32 PM, Merlyn2220 said:

Ensete Maurellii, aka "Red False Abyssinian Banana."

I will share a little more on the identification of this plant.  As noted it is not a palm.  It is a monocarpic herb (it eventually flowers then dies).  While there are some monocarpic palm genus, it is helpful to be aware of this plant's life cycle which differs from most palms which are not monocarpic.  The size of the pots could restrict the ultimate size of your plants before reaching the flowering stage which will mark the eventual demise.  Keep them out of the wind, particularly the wind we are experiencing right now and normal for this time of year (Santa Ana dry wind).  Expect more brown leaf edges during winter as temps drop overnight, like last night under clear skies after cold air is blown down the river valleys to the coast.  I'm not currently growing this plant but I do have the related true fruiting bananas which have the same growth requirements.   They start getting beat up from the dry wind about now after growing vigorously all spring and summer.  Unless you can protect yours from the wind, expect the leaves to start getting shredded with slower growth of new leaves to replace them this time of year.  My eatable bananas just get the same fertilizer that my palms receive which is a slow release Palm Plus™ 13-5-8 with GAL-XeONE®.    Wish you success Christopher!

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33.0782 North -117.305 West  at 72 feet elevation

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I have had these and they looked best in large pots which also help for weight when the plant gets large. They also seemed to do better for me in filtered sun. Keep an eye out for mites which were a problem in our dry season.

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On 10/27/2020 at 11:07 AM, Tracy said:

 

I will share a little more on the identification of this plant.  As noted it is not a palm.  It is a monocarpic herb (it eventually flowers then dies).  While there are some monocarpic palm genus, it is helpful to be aware of this plant's life cycle which differs from most palms which are not monocarpic.  The size of the pots could restrict the ultimate size of your plants before reaching the flowering stage which will mark the eventual demise.  Keep them out of the wind, particularly the wind we are experiencing right now and normal for this time of year (Santa Ana dry wind).  Expect more brown leaf edges during winter as temps drop overnight, like last night under clear skies after cold air is blown down the river valleys to the coast.  I'm not currently growing this plant but I do have the related true fruiting bananas which have the same growth requirements.   They start getting beat up from the dry wind about now after growing vigorously all spring and summer.  Unless you can protect yours from the wind, expect the leaves to start getting shredded with slower growth of new leaves to replace them this time of year.  My eatable bananas just get the same fertilizer that my palms receive which is a slow release Palm Plus™ 13-5-8 with GAL-XeONE®.    Wish you success Christopher!

Thank you Tracy! Duly noted on the monocarpic plant. It's a beaute with that rich red.

How long do you think I have (on avg.) to enjoy these two before they flower?

Btw here are some updated shots. Suddenly I'm back to the rich burgundy fronds. Only thing I changed was to pepper in triple 15 into the soil about a month ago. Maybe that's kicking now?

Appreciate the insights.

 

 

20201101_101959.jpg

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On 10/27/2020 at 11:07 AM, Tracy said:

 

 My "eatable" bananas just get the 

Tracy, c'mon dude! The goodest word to use is "ed-i-ble".

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21 hours ago, Gonzer said:

Tracy, c'mon dude! The goodest word to use is "ed-i-ble".

You are abtholutely write in your righting!!!  :beat_deadhorse: 

Unfortunately I turned off my mind, relaxed and floated downstream too far.

33.0782 North -117.305 West  at 72 feet elevation

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On 11/1/2020 at 1:22 PM, Christopher Dillman said:

Thank you Tracy! Duly noted on the monocarpic plant. It's a beaute with that rich red.

How long do you think I have (on avg.) to enjoy these two before they flower?

Btw here are some updated shots. Suddenly I'm back to the rich burgundy fronds. Only thing I changed was to pepper in triple 15 into the soil about a month ago. Maybe that's kicking now?

Appreciate the insights.

 

 

20201101_101959.jpg

That looks really nice. Sometimes the soil pH can affect color in flowering plants. I wonder if that  is a factor here?

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3 hours ago, Tracy said:

You are abtholutely write in your righting!!!  :beat_deadhorse: 

Unfortunately I turned off my mind, relaxed and floated downstream too far.

 

download.jpeg

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