katykat

Hi, I'm new to the forum and this is my first "advice, please" post; if I make a mistake with forum rules please be patient--I will learn.

My question is about an Ice Cream banana I purchased a couple of weeks ago. Right now, it is in a 15-gallon pot, but it will go into the ground sometime in the next couple of weeks. I put it next to my house and, after it fell over a couple of times (it's about 8 ft tall), I braced it with a couple of potted birds of paradise. It has one 6-inch high pup coming up about 8 inches from the "trunk."

I've been watering it every day to every other day. Although it is sitting on the ground, its pot is in a plastic trash bag that does not cover the soil. While it gets a bit of sun, I would describe its setting as mostly shady, since most of the day it is shaded by either the fence or the house.

Today, I went out to check it and the three lowest stems were bent/broken, with the leaves touching the ground. The point where they bent was brownish, although the stems and leaves were green. Since it didn't appear that there was any way the stems would stand up again, I cut them off. Now I'm worried that I've damaged the plant somehow. I'm also worried that there's something seriously wrong with it.



We did just get a cool front--temps have been in the 90s and for the past couple of days we've had highs in the low 80s and lows in the upper 50/low 60s.

Am I about to lose this plant? I wish I had found this forum before I started cutting on it! Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

Botanical_Bryce

The power is in the corm. Losing leaves is more ugly than anything. If the stalk and corm is healthy then no worries.

CraigSS

Welcome to the group.
Craig

__________________
Find me on the map!

TheOrganicMechanic2016

Hi KatyKat. This sounds similar to what my plant is doing. It's in a 15 gallon Smart Pot, about 6-7 feet tall, and the lower leaves (4-5 of them) drooped down one day. I live in east county San Diego and it hit 95 during the day for a couple of days but still cools down at night. I watered it every day so it didn't dry out. They slowly browned and sloughed off while continuing to grow. I hope it's a normal thing because mine still seems to be doing good. Pics would help so I'll try to post a couple.
Welcome to the group!