Blood Banana Question

14 years ago

I have 2 blood bananas which I overwintering indoors. This is my second summer with these 2 plants and they are about 4-5' tall and have about 1 dozen leaves a piece. I have noticed this year that the leaves have all been smaller and they have started growing more compactly. Last year there was seperation between each leave that formed. This year the leaves seem to be forming right on top of eac other and another one starts forming before the previous leave is finished. I try to put these in full direct sun to try to spur on their growth but they start getting pissed off at me so I move them back to the part shade. They have been in a 12" pot since purchasing them using MG Moisture Control soil. This spring I fed them with some Shake and Feed along with some Superthrive. Anyone have any advice for me on the care of these plants.

Thanks in advance

David

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Comments (3)

alexizhere19
14 years ago
was this your first winter indoors, if so i have had this happen and seen it too. First, I personally wouldn't recommend MG because it holds to much moisture. a mix that contains ingredients such as sand, pine bark fines, or other well draining material. Now i bought two musa bordelons late last year on sale. Well i kept them indoors with lots of light and proper water, the leaves became smaller to adjust and didn't grow hardly at all. When i moved outside to almost full sun, the indoor leaves burned a little to alot. and the first 4-5 leaves didn't grow upwards. Now 1 month in it is just starting to grow properly. So it is probably reacclimating itself.

Thanks,

Alex
peanut01
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for you advice - I found out the plants must of been using a lot of energy producing pups. The plant that had the smallest leaves forming actually has 5 babies so I repotted from a 10" pot to a 14" pot. I left the babies with it and will probably remove them soon if I setup some Blood Banana trades. The BB that I repotted did not seem nearly root bound in the old 10" pot, so I am not sure if it was a bigger pot needed or some fresh soil. Maybe it did need the bigger pot so it could spread into a mat whereas it was not rootbound.

My other BB that had slightly bigger leaves actually had a baby as well but certainly not 5 so I did not worry about repotting them YET.

So I think the babies also may have something to do with my small leaves. Did your BB have babies when you were noticing this type of behavior.

Peanut01
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struwwelpeter
14 years ago
"Last year there was separation between each leave that formed."

That separation is caused and increased by the hormone, gibberellic acid (GA), produce by growing roots. The lack of GA is caused by the plant being root bound.

For banana plants, there is a very convenient method of externally applying GA. Simply pour about 1 tsp of very dilute solution (I forget the concentration, but if you are interested, I can look it up.) into the opening at the top of an emerging leaf furl just as it is beginning to unroll. You will see a big difference within 10 days. If you overdose, the plant will become spindly and likely to topple over in wind.