sunfish

I Took Another Look Today. The New Leaf Is Bent. This Is A Goldfinger With Four Pups. This Is Only Happening On One Of Them. The Leaves Fold During The Day But Do Flatten Out When It Cools.

momoese

This is exactly what mine did. You could see it in the cigar leaf even before they opened, or tried to open I should say!

hydrojeff

yes Mitchel i have about 5 plants doing this right now? its strange, wonder who could tell what it is?

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Bananaman88

Does your leaf look burned too, in addition to the S-shape? I've been having trouble with my Hua Moa lately. The past several cigar leaves have had burned sections on them and will not unroll properly. I've tried to unroll them, but they are stuck together really badly at the burned portion. I've had to cut several off to let it finish unrolling, but the next one comes out the same way. I also noticed yesterday that the latest cigar leaf is burning and s-shaped. I think the s-shape is due to it's inability to unroll. I certainly hope it grows out of this soon. None of my other bananas are exhibiting this problem.

harveyc

it seems that 2 different things are being discussed here.

re: leaves that don't unfurl properly - I have a 6' Ae Ae in a pot and had been conservative in watering it after reading warnings of the risk of over-watering. About 10-14 days ago I had 2 leaves that required "surgery" to get them unfurled. Then, a friend told me he had been told that Ae Ae love a lot of water and are hard to over-water. I decided to give it a try and have soaked it ever 1-2 days. I then got 2 perfect leaves about 4 days apart with another on the way. Maybe I've learned something, but too early to say for sure.

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sunfish

The leaves on this plant unfurl properly. After they have unfurled they twist , bend.

hydrojeff

Brent i have had the same problem with many of my nanas having full leaf burn in a day or two, it does not happen to all of my plants, it seems to attack just some? and also have lost about 3 to what ever this is, i thoought it was a fert thing, too much in my case???? wish i knew????

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Bananaman88

I've wondered about over-fertilization as the cause as well but I'm not sure, as I tend not to fert. alot. That doesn't mean that I didn't overdo it the last time, though. All other plants seem fine though. If it is over-fert. then it should eventually get better.

Taylor

I noticed when I fertilized, my Rajapuri started doing this. Obviously, it didn't need the nutrients!!!

snc

I have 2 of 4 basjoos that do this after fertilizing however the other 2 right next to them are not affected. My red abbs also did this last week with no fert added. my mysore, saba, laterita and sikks do not show any signs of stress after fert though.

I did have about a 4 inch leaf that was just emerging litterally turn yellow and fall of yesterday maybe cause it is high 90's in day and 80@night?

Tomsamba

Ah ha! so one man's twisty is another mans bent....but no one knows why..

Eric

I nearly lost my dwarf Cavendish to this burnt-leaf problem. Weird too since the Giant Sweet plantain wasnt that far from it & both get fertilized the same. In desparation, I finally dug it up, cleaned it up, & cut the dirt in the mound with a lot of sand & new compost. I replanted it (without fertilizing) and the new leaves weren't nearly as burned. That was early last month, now it's so healthy looking, ya can't tell there was a problem and it sent up a very healthy pup. The Plantain was never affected.
I'm not saying it was definitely over-fertilized BUT I will say that the same soil mix was used in both mounds, same fertilizer too. My conclusion was simply that Cavendish requires less fertilizer than a Plantain. Could be wrong but that's my best guess.

Total LOL on that previous post !!

mbfirey

I have a RajaPuri that have leaves that come out and then go down like a "U"
They don't unroll properly either. Still no idea of the cause????

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srash

I have a variegated banana that lately is less variegated. I had already decided that I was over fertilizing it, but I think it has also been dry.
I suspect that the lack of water is the most likely cause of the bend. I'm going to try to water it more and am not planning on using any more fertilizer this year.
Here is a picture showing both the bend and the burning.

venturabananas

I got a definitive answer today as to the cause of at least some of the problems discussed in this thread. I've had the same problem as shown in the previous photo from srash and described by Brent -- cigar leaves that won't unfurl properly, get burnt, and end up bent when unfurled. A photo of my dwarf cavendish with this problem is at the end of this post.

Dr. Scot Nelson, the writer, director, producer, etc. of the great fee DVD, "Growing Bananas" explained to me what is going on...

The ultimate cause of the problem is calcium deficiency. But many of us have noticed the link with fertilizing. What happens is that if availability of calcium is low but nitrogen is abundant, the plants grow faster than they can transport adequate calcium to the cell walls of the growing leaves.

The short term solution is to apply a foliar spray of a liquid calcium product. The longer term solution is to add calcium to the soil. Dr. Nelson recommended an application of agricultural lime to the soil every year or two.

Finally, mystery solved!

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aruzinsky

That is wrong because calcium does not travel down the phloem to the meristem.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/...03627909366887

venturabananas

I'll take your work on that.

I'd also add that the mystery was not solved and what in fact was the problem was a boron deficiency, which has very similar symptoms to calcium deficiency, and I guess in Hawaii at least, tends to go hand in hand.

A foliar spray of boron (Solubor) did solve the problem, though additional application of boron to the soil every so often (twice a year, generally) is necessary in my yard to avoid the boron deficiency to recur.

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edwmax

It doesn't have to! Calcium is absorbed direct into the leaf were it is needed. This is the advantage of foliar spraying.

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aruzinsky

No, because the leaves that you spray are not growing. The growing leaf is rolled up inside the pseudostem, growing from a meristem near ground level. By the time the roll emerges from the top of the pseudostem, where it can be sprayed, it is already deformed.

edwmax

Yes ... including cigar leaf that you see bent, which is the one that is showing the problem; And other recently opened (light colored or streaked) leaves which still needs additional calcium. ... Other new cigar leaves, yet to push up the pstem & out, will push though the top of the pstem. Then pick up calcium collected at the top of the pstem (osmosis & electrolyte equalization of the sap). The U-shaped Peticle canal channels water or foliar spray into the top of the pstem and along the upper pstem which will absorb into the sap. ... Foliar spray is a weak solution application and usually require application every 2 weeks (10 days ??) if this going to be the only source of fertilizer or nutrients.



Once the calcium binds in the plant cell, it is locked. The calcium will not redistribute (recycle) within the plant to other parts that need it. The large green leaves that you referred to already have all the calcium they need. It's the new upper leaves & cigar leaf that needs the calcium to thicken and strengthen the leaf before becoming damaged & broken by wind while waiting on root uptake.


Dry forms of lime or gypsum still needs to be applied to the soil, but this will take several weeks to break down for the roots to take up the calcium.

So 3 or 4 applications by foliar spray will be needed.

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