Willow87

Today I went to a Feed store and saw some 40 lb bags of custom organic mix. It was composed of compost, green sand and lava sand. I did some research on lava sand and green sand and i saw they were good amendments, especially the lava sand, which helps nutrients become more available for plants to use. My banana plants didn't do too well this year, so I added this mix to the potting soil and I'm going to see if there are good results. When I did mix it in the texture changed alot, its more spongy than the regular potting mix. There was a heavy rain here the other day and the potting mix holds too much water. I used the Miracle Gro organic mix and I thought it would drain well but it hasn't drained much. Hopefully this solution may help a little.

Richard

Sounds like a good mixture: about 1/3 small aggregate to ground compost and forest by-products. Although the green sand and lava sand are often sold as "organic", they are actually inorganic materials. They are by-products from gravel quarries and mining operations. There is generally nothing wrong with this -- plants feed on inorganic minerals.

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Willow87

I just hope there is a change in the plant growth. I've had the Orinoco for 2 years and it hasnt produce a pup and it grew about another 4-5 inches. I had it in the ground originally and added lots of composted cow manure and some granular fertilizer but it hardly grew. The heat made things even worse and I ended up having to cut off a majority of the dead leaves because they were burnt. I heard green sand adds potassium to the soil which soils perfect. I see other people with banana plants in full sun and theirs never get burnt like mine has and it was only receiving about 6 hours of sunlight. I guess I need to put it in a shadier location lol. Hopefully this mix will be a solution