Banana Trouble

[Dan OKeeffe]

I noticed about 4 mouths back that my Red Banana plant has been pushing out new deformed leaves. Subsequently, I have been giving it fertilizer but I am not sure that is the problem. Maybe its fungi or an insect problem. The plant have 4 feet of trunk and I cannot see into the bud of the plant.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Dan

[tipper55]

Your picture isn't very good for seeing the problem. The banana leaves will start to come out in a crinkly type fashion as the flower starts to push it's way out. It shouldn't take 4 months for the flower to come through, but possibly in San Fran the banana grows a lot slower.

[Dan OKeeffe]

I will update the picture.

Thanks

[Randall SD]

Hi Dan

I had a Red Abyssinian Banana that for one full growing season was putting out badly deformed leaves one after another. Though I thought it was almost impossible to over feed a banana I think that might have been the problem. I cut back on the fertilizer to see what would happen. Towards the end of summer the leaves were starting to look a bit more normal and by the following year they were completly normal again. I'm not sure that was the problem as I didn't have a control banana at the time to compare it to, maybe the plant was just working through something. Just a thought.

Good Luck

Randall

P.S. My latest Banana (Musa Siam Ruby), it is fed often.

[Dan OKeeffe]

Randall,

Thanks for the post. My experience has been different. I was not fertilizing the banana much at all. I just added organic green sand and nitrogen supplements to the mulch around the plant. Hopefully this will help the issue.

Last night I climbed up and took pics of the plant at the leaf bug and did not see disease, discoloration or insects. However the leaf looked different and a think the banana might be flowering soon.

THoughts?

Dan

[Randall SD]

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/nelsons/banana...hmanagement.pdf

Maybe a calcium or boron deficiency, check out the link.

Randall

Edited September 18, 2008 by Randall SD

[griphuz]

Isn't there just some kind of caterpillar or grub inside eating the leaves?

[Jose Maria]

Hi ,

I work a lot with bananas and plantains in Costa Rica.

There is a leaf deformation resulting from not enough Boron, ( I agreee with Randall) .

I would recomend: Plant in a larger container, fertilize with a complete foliar fertilizer.More organic fertilizer if you prefer.

I guess where you live, the banana goes indoors for the winter, that also can cause leaf deformation, the lack of heat and sun.

Good luck!

[Dan OKeeffe]

About 3 months ago I tried fungicide because nothing else worked. The fungicide did it! Now the leaves are coming out normal.

Thanks

Dan

[_Keith]

Are you sure it is not just plain old cold damage?

[Dan OKeeffe]

The damage occured last year and the lowest I saw was approximately 30 F on my stone patio. The garden are is typically a couple degrees warmer. I do not think it was cold damage. The same year I had a fungi infection on my Large Howea. I will post recovery pic soon.

How large do these red banana get before they flower?

Dan