timmko

My namwah's about 18" in pots have brown streaks, spots in the leaves and the leaf went from that to totally crisp in the center. Anyone have any idea on what this is? The other leaf that came out has gotten droopy and has some brown in it also. I have had these for over a month and they have really grown and put out a leaf or more a week. They are under 400 watt mH bulbs and in a window. Thanks

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fergus banana

it could be a humidity problem. i have a similar problem with my indoor bananas. they are inside under 600WHPS. they have some burn around the leaf margin. try a humidifier. i havent gottten one yet, but i think this is the problem with my indoor bananas.

timmko

I have a humidifier in the room it is around 60% humidity. But it is in a seperate building. I used to have the heater blowing heat on them and I have since blocked the plants from getting direct heat blown on them thinking that was bad! The room is seperate from my house and kept at 71degrees with a natural gas heater. I have just recently obtained 4 basjoos and they seem to be ok but alos (upon close observation) have a bit of brown spots in the leafs. I have been watering about once a week and making sure there is good drainage. I only recently blocked the heat from being directly blown on them. Is this a parasite/mite issue? I have a picture but don't know how to post it.

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sirmoebly

that sounds just like spider mites. you better take a closer look at the leaves.......... I just noticed some on my plants but the damage was done allready.... time to spray.

fergus banana

isolated brown spots? hmmm, i dont know what that could be, since you already have a humidifier. it could gave been the heat. i would wait to see how they do now that you have fixed that. my plants have spider mites, but they typically turn the the leaf white in the areas that they are...feeding. its worth a look, though. i spray with neem seed oil, but they always come back. i just try to keep them under control. supposedly the high humidity should kill em off.

timmko

Sorry new to this but what should I spray with and where would I find it?

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fergus banana

neem seed oil works good. i bought mine at Lowe's. any nursery should have it too. just mix one teaspoon per gallon and spray every third day. some people say they have success with just soap and water.

timmko

Sorry for all the bother. Let me try to explain in a bit more detail and with a couple of pictures. 4basjoos about 2ft and 2 namwah's about 18" high or so. They are under 400 watt MH bulb and in a south facing window. Originally they (Namwah's) had grown to about 12" from the light so I lowered them now they are about 2ft or so undet the light but still in the window. I have the bulb on at 12-8pm so they are getting light from the window and the bulb and then the bulb only after sunset. My shed is heated to around 70degrees and I have a cool mist humidifier on the floor and a seperate humidity gauge on the other side of the room which is reading about 60% humidity. THe namwah's were putting out at least a leaf a week and were doing great until about a week and a half ago. The leaves looked a bit droopy but nothing otherwise. As stated before my natural gas heater was blowing on them so I blocked it to prevent the heat from directly being blown on them and that is around the time I noticed the leafs droop. I did this because I read somwhere that the hot air blowing directly on them is not good. After that I again let the air blow on them and they looked a bit better. 4days later or so I noticed that the last leaf that was fully open was getting a dry spot in the center of the leaf. 2 days later it was totally dried out in the center. This spread to a couple of other leafs and now the one that just came out looks more "clear" less greeen more clear streaks in the leaf and now that too has brown dry spots. I looked carefully at all the leaves and some appeared to have black specs and upon more research I thought they might have spider mites. I purchased a product from the store called CONCERN insect killing soap. The main ingredient was neem seed oil. It is mixed 50 to1 and I only applied it 1 time, yesterday. It does say that you should wipe the leaves after the 3rd application (only once a week) due to the soap in the product.
I forgot to mention I was watering 2x a week because the hot air was blowing on them directly and the soil was drying out. I have miracle grow soil and was adding miracle grow once a week or so to the water. Maybe burning from the miracle grow?? The leaves on the other namwah also look a bit droopy now too.
Photos are in my gallery thanks.

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sunfish

sirmoebly

If you live in zone 4 & watering twice a week you are way over watering...... Back off alot. I sometimes water once a week or every other week. Really let the soil dry out & then give them a good drink.

timmko

If this is an overwatering problem the plants will be ok if I cut way back? How about the humidity should I cut that down for a while too? IF it is a chemical burn ie/ miracle grow will that correct also if I don't add any or do I need to re-plant them? One other thing I have 4 basjoos in miracle grow moisture control mix and they seem to be ok. What are the thoughts on using that? WIll it cause root rot? Thanks for any help

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sirmoebly

Over watering will cause rott... but you caught the signs early which shows you are getting to know your plants. Keep running your humidifier that is good for the plants & really helps with spider mites. Speaking of mites you should try "volck" made by ortho. Wow this stuff is awesome not only does it wipe them out, but you should see the look of my plants I will post a picture later its 3:14 am & haven't had my morning coffee... went to bed to early. Miracle grow moisture control mix, I don't know, I am to cheap to use it. If it holds water to long it will cause rott. But you can control that now. Its ok to keep your plants on the dry side, only bad things will happen if they are water log.