I have had this Red Abyssinian for about a year. The leaves come out nice then they turn brown and crispy on the edges then die. Any Ideas?

Is it getting enough water? My are thirsty buggers.

Nancy

I wait for the soil to dry then water. I do tend to let things go dry. Was afraid to water too much because of rot. Will try that.

Bananas are basically bog plants, they need pretty constant water. I've grown them in the drainage sump of my ponds successfully, they were always wet there.

Well then I'll bet thats the issue. What do you feed these guys?

Here, I use the bed they are in as an 'on the fly' compost pile. Things break down rapidly here and so I throw all the cuttings and the pond debris and even spent flowers I've had in the house in underneath them. Once a year I add peat and some time release fertilizer but mostly it is compost. I have a type that is broad leafed and not as tall as most, mainly I want them for screening and the look of the leaves however I get a lot of bananas from them. Too many actually, I have two stalks growing now and just got rid of another one a month ago. The fruit is smaller than the US supermarket type and sweeter but not one of the specialty flavors. There is only so much banana bread, banana cake, banana ice cream, and bags of frozen bananas that one family can use. They are hard to give away because everyone has the same problem.

The last bloom starting out.


Dividing up the fruit.



This is my banana bed, I'd just cut off the trunk of the previous bloom's plant it is leaning against the bed near the pool scoop. You can see I throw all the banana leaves in there as well. The 2 large trunks are the ones that are now fruiting and those small pups are as large as the big ones now.

Thats great!! Yours are just a dream up here in zone 7. Very nice! Mine has to be inside for the winter and only out from about June until September. Major zone envy.

Jonna,

When you put all the clippings in a garden aren't you afraid of getting snails/slugs? This year I am over run and I don't mulch.

Hap

I do have slugs, a weird kind I never saw up north as they are flatter and wider. Also, they don't seem to like beer which has made me have to go out with a flashlight and pick them up - yuck. But no, they aren't in the banana bed for some reason, they are in a more open bed with Duranta erecta and another ground cover I don't know the name of. I do get millipedes in the banana bed but so far they aren't a big problem. Perhaps everything breaks down so quickly? I don't know.

I do turn over the mulch in there and occasionally I clean it out because I don't want mosquitoes breeding in it. That's my biggest concern, that too much water will get trapped in there in the rainy season and allow the mosquitoes to breed.

You're right about the beer. Bought a 6 pk, and opened one bottle and got one snail.

Are you saying that you got out every night and go through your garden? They are all over here.

Hap

Bananas are constant feeders and it is really better to give less more often. I try to fertilize mine weekly. When I clean out the woodstove, I dump the ashes on them (full of potassium) and we chop up the downed trunks and leaves and leave them in place to rot (and give back nutrients to the plants). We have horrible slugs and snails, some carriers of disease, so I use pellets of BugGetta...works wonders!!!!!

Thanks Carol, will get them. Probably will need about a ton for everything has holes on all sides of the house. Had a few problems before, but nothing like this.

Hap

I'm worried about my cats with slug bait, isn't it usually attractive to them? As for going out slug hunting, I only go when the devastation is really bad. The are mostly in one bed and since I'm out there at night anyway looking for leafcutter ants, I pick up slugs too. Do you have leafcutters? Those are the worst garden pest ever, they can completely strip a medium tree in one night.

I don't think so Jonna. I have some edges gone on a vine and a couple of trees. Is that them?

Hap

They are devastating in a garden but fascinating to watch in the wild. Since I live in a city I don't feel bad about trying to wipe them out of my area and save my plants. There is a pellet we can buy that they are attracted to and it appears to kill their fungus thus destroying that colony. After the rainy season the new queens go off and start new colonies though so there are intrusions at this time of year from all around my yard. I have neighbors with overgrown yards and there are a couple of unoccupied houses within my block and they establish colonies there. They seem to prefer my tender leafed garden plants over the weeds in the neighboring yards so I am fighting them off annually. The biggest problem is they can do so much damage in just one night that if you don't spot them right away they can wipe out huge areas. They even got in my pond one year and went from lily pad to lily pad taking all of the leaves from the center first. Last week they completely defoliated my large blooming bleeding heart bower vine and the week before another colony got about half of a huge jasmine before I spotted them. They are fast and they are thorough, they cut every single leaf into bits and carry it away.

Here are some links with info on them.

http://www.nsf.gov/news/specia...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

Thanks all. I will try more water. The banana plant is in the house so mulch is out. Thanks again.

I have a labrador that will eat ANYthing, and 2 cats...never had a problem with them eating the slugbait. Here the slugs/snails carry a dreadful disease (Rat Lungworm Disease) so we try to knock those critters WAY back.

hmmm, maybe I'll put a few pellets out and cover them with jalapeño juice to see if the cats go for it. Of course, maybe the slugs don't like jalapeños either.

How about spider mites. Mine did the same thing and it was definitely spider mites.

Thanks Holly, I did spray and started to water more. It is looking better. Now it is being attacked by afids Need to spray again. Had no idea a banana attracted so many bugs.