Aranon

I have a Musa Basjoo that has been looking rather ill, the leaves that were once nice and green have begun to die, about 2 days ago I removed 2 nice healthy pups from it due to the fact they were outgrowing the container and mother plant, they are recovering from the shock as is the mother in the picture I'm sure but even before I removed the pups the leaves were all drying out and dying.

The pot she is in needs proper drainage holes in the bottom that much I know but other then the possibility of root rot I cant seem to understand whats wrong with it. There is one pup still attached to the mother that I left alone due to it being still a bit too small for me to separate, it looks fine as did the pups but the mother.. just look at the pics she looks terrible. Were the pups draining her?

Suggestions? should I cut her back and hope she pushes out some new leaves? Either way I look at it I haven't lost, I bought her from Lowes a few months ago and got 3 nice pups from her. Still I'd like to keep her alive.

caliboy1994

A pup that small won't drain a plant like that. You should also check the soil moisture. Grab a handful of the soil and squeeze it, and if a bunch of water drips out it's too wet. And get drainage holes in that pot ASAP.

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hasty22

It looks like you are growing it inside. I agree with caliboy make sure you have rock or gravel in bottom of pot with drainage holes.I find root rot is the biggest problem with growing musa basjoo indoors. Also make sure soil is dry before watering( use a moisture tester). If your plant continues to brown cut it off lower at about 6 inches where it is still green and hopefully pup will do well. Good luck!!
Keith

Aranon

That's not the pup I was worried about, I said in my post I removed two larger pups, one of which was about as large as the mother in the picture. Yes the soil is pretty wet, I watered it extra due to the fact its recovering from the shock of losing two pups.

Aranon

Not sure how to get rid of the extra moisture in the soil fast, I'll drill holes into the container tomorrow. I hope I can still save her.

andy17

Hey Aranon,
Not to worry, I think your plant will pull through just fine, but it definitely needs a little help I agree that poor drainage looks like its largely to blame. It's a bit risky to do heading into winter, but if you find that the soil is really wet and the plant is declining, you can pull the plant out of the pot and take a look at the roots. If there are a lot of roots that are black and shriveled, then I would recommend knocking off/washing off the soggy potting soil until you find almost all white roots. Using a sterile pair of scissors (10% beach solution works great), clip off the rotted roots all the way back till you see white. The trick is to be as gentle as possible to keep from disturbing the plant too much. Then repot in a smaller container that is only a few inches bigger than the pruned root ball with fresh potting mix that is 1/3 standard potting soil, 1/3 sand, and 1/3 perlite. The sand and the perlite don't hold water and will add a lot of air pockets in the soil around the roots. Both of these factors significantly reduce the likelihood of root rot and help to allow plenty of oxygen to get to the roots. haha the plant will dry out in no time flat once it's back outside, so definitely keep that in mind next spring. Once I've brought my plants in for the winter, I only water when the soil is almost completely dry and water just enough to thoroughly wet the soil without it draining out too much. I had this very problem with my Goldfinger, and for a time it looked really rough, but thankfully another member told me this method, and I'm quite certain it saved the plant. Hope this helps! Let us know how it goes!

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Aranon

Thanks for the advice!, What I ended up doing is I took it out of the container and looked at the roots, most of which I cant get to due to the way the plant was growing when I bought it from Lowes but I did see a lot of blackish mushy roots so I pulled off as many as I could while leaving the white ones. I drilled drainage holes in the container and sure enough it was flooded with water, then I removed a lot of the old soggy soil and added a bunch of dry new potting mix into it to help dry it out a bit before I re-potted the plant. I also added some rocks in the soil towards the bottom to try and assist with drainage. Hopefully she makes it but if not at least I got 3 pups from her.

venturabananas

When you removed pups, you also took their roots, so if anything, you'd need less water not more.

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hasty22

What did you do with the 2 pups you removed?
Keith

Aranon

I planted them both in their own pots.