Cracker Red

Just ventured into this plant "hobby", and I'm worries about one of my banana trees!!

Here is the day after I planted the bananas, July 1st.



It hasn't grown nearly as much as I would have thought, although my expectations probably are wrong. It was planted in sandy but dark soil along with some compost. I live in Port Orange FL, just south of Daytona Beach. Pretty sure the drainage is adequate. It gets watered 3 times a week, in addition to the rain we have. Lately it seems as though it's been loosing leaves quicker than they are growing, and I'm becoming concerned I'm doing something wrong (does it need MORE water?). Seems nearly as soon as a leaf appears one is yellowing out....but the plant only has 2-3 leaves a time.

Unsure on species, I'm a total newbie!





Here is another one planted along the same side of the pool. Same way I planted it, should be getting same amount of water. Probably a different type, but you can see how many leaves it keeps at one time.




If you have any thoughts on what is going wrong (or right?) please chime in. The pups on both plants sprang up sometime in the last 2 weeks.

robguz24

I don't know for sure, but I'd think you'd want some time of organic compost on top that would constantly break down into that top layer of soil, rather than rocks. That one in the last picture looks happier than the others. What are you using for fertilizer. There are lots of other Florida growers on here who I'm sure will weigh in.

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My micro-farm

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jjjankovsky

You might think about changing where you wish to grow these things...this place is working (pups), but very poorly...It may not be possible to grow that banana in that place...

plant many, then prune or send to compost...

Kat2

Ideally you'd have a natural mulch instead of rocks. You didn't mention fertilizing. Have you? Even Miracle Gro would give them all a boost; they look hungry to me. I'm fortunate to have mine in a kind of swamp with real dirt so haven't fed her much but I do dump coffee grounds around her. I've just found a source for rotten bananas and plan to make smoothies for her. (Not sure if that would stain your gravel but your plants would love that extra K.)

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Cracker Red

I haven't fertilized other than the compost I mixed up when I planted them. I will put some fertilizer out in the AM and water it in. I'm searching for a spreading ground cover....no problem on putting.something on.the rocks that will mulch in.

I am mainly worried about the lack of.leaves its putting out vs the rate it is.growing them. If that is just a result of not fertilizing.....well I should be able.to fix that easily