Banana plant

[vette-kid]

I have three plants, two California gold and one dwarf ornico. One of the California appears to have something munching on it. They have been in ground about 3 weeks now and the other two look well. We Have had a LOT of rain lately. But this looks like past damage to me. Anyone have thoughts?

 

[vette-kid]

Update: nursery says it may be too much moisture. I put them back in pots so they can dry out and grow a bit. Here is how it looks today, hopefully it gets better.

 

[roadrunner]

I doubt it was too much moisture, as they are water lovers. The very fist pic seems like the plant was ok, that little leaf going away is common, on my plants, but you had a new leaf emerging and it looked OK; the other marks were common things I see on my banana plants.

However, one question I had looking at the first pic was how much sun did they receive? Only because it looked kind of shaded.

My other concern would be the fertility of the soil, banana plants are heavy feeders, they will survive in average soils, but for best results it's best to have them in highly fertile, heavily mulched soils.

 

[vette-kid]

Thanks, I have added in a good amount of organic material in the way of organic soils, chicken manure compost, banana peels etc.

As for the shade, I was told by the that this would be a good spot. They get some light shade unbroken mid morning and them full sun for about 6 hours until mid afternoon where the you get shade for another few hours, then a few more of sun before sunset. As they get taller they will get more sun, also as days get longer. I'm told shade is good while they are small though.

 

[roadrunner]

I would put them back into the soil/ground. From the pics they look fine to me (although those two bottom pictures are a little concerning), but from the two top pictures those plants look fine.

BTW, I'm not totally sure from your last post, but it sounds like you back-filled the hole with organic matter, rather than native soil. I would recommend against that. It kind of haves the same effect as keeping a plant in a pot, which is not something you want with a plant that has extensive root system. I put all the organic matter on top of the soil and spread it out and heavily mulch and allow it to slowly seep down to the roots.

This talks about that in much more detail: https://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/403/2015/03/soil-amendments.pdf

I also read about this in the book titled, The Informed Gardener by Linda Chalker-Scott: https://www.amazon.com/Informed-Gardener-Linda-Chalker-Scott/dp/0295987901

 

[vette-kid]

I didn't backfill it, I raked it into the soil over about a month before planting them. I did add the chicken manure after planting. Again spread on top and lightly raked into sounding soil.

 

[vette-kid]

Good news, I removed the dead leaves from it and as of this morning there is a new leaf pushing out of the top. The other CA Gold is definitely ahead of it on that front, but it is looking much better that it did a week ago. since potting them they have only been watered once very lightly. the plant that was the worst off still seemed damp a few inches down. Im convinced the nursery was correct in that they just had an overdose of water and a little rot from it (in fact, the leaf that is about to open on one shows some signs of this toward the tip that was likely "in the chute" during all the rain). Ill replant them next week when I return from a little trip. Hopefully they start taking off soon.