I live in China. I asked a plant shop for a banana tree. Come back tomorrow, they said. My girlfriend picked up what appeared to be a recently unearthed banana tree. A small bundle of roots for a plant with a meter long trunk and 7 fans - I'm no expert, but I think they dug up an adult banana tree in the middle of the night. My first thought was "huh, that's probably no good".

The roots at the bottom formed a ball about 25cm in diameter. The shop wasn't good enough to include a pot, though we had one about 34cm in diameter and 30cm deep. We used loose soil from a nearby park. The pot has holes and the soil drains awful fast when you water it.

It's been one week, and two leaves collapsed so we cut them off. Four of the remaining five are withering yellow and dying off at the tips. It's on a balcony with a southern exposure and good light day round. I've been watering it twice a day, about a liter of water each, but now I'm watering alot more because the browning of the leaves makes me think it needs more water.

I've read that you cannot overwater a banana plant, and that you can drown it. I don't know which is right. I can't identify the species, so I've taken some (large, 600kb each) pictures for y'all to see:

http://silkworms.chinesetriad.org/banana/banana1.jpg

http://silkworms.chinesetriad.org/banana/banana2.jpg

http://silkworms.chinesetriad.org/banana/banana3.jpg

http://silkworms.chinesetriad.org/banana/banana4.jpg

I think the tree may need repotting to a bigger pot with more soil, but don't know if this is immediately necessary or eventually necessary. There's blackening where the trunk meets the branches, and again I don't know if this is normal or not. Any help would be appreciated.

Hello there fellow banana lover! My experience with transplanted bananas is that you can overwater them and cause rotting until they become established in the new soil. After they get established, it is hard to overwater or over fertilize if the soil drains well. It is common to lose leaves after transplanting since the ROOTS have been disturbed and they simply cannot support as many leaves as when they were all intact.
When I transplant bananas I will do a couple of things to help them get going right. First, I use soil with sand or some other additive such as perilite or vermiculite so that it drains well and helps prevent the newly cut area of the corm from molding/rotting. Second, I water less to (again) avoid the chances it will rot. Third, I try to place the pot where it will be warmed, either by the sun or using a heating pad. 70 degrees F is about as cool as I would let it get. I try not to cut into living tissue on browning leaves, since it causes the plant to lose water and stain things that the water leaks on, if indoors. I don't remove old leaf bases (what would be called the trunk) even though it would make the trunk look better, but instead tape with masking tape in the belief that I am protecting the "trunk" from drying/ sun damage.
I find that early morning sun gives better growth than all day blistering heat, and use Eastern exposure for new transplants, with the plants out of the sun about noon or so. You may notice the leaves fold up(or actually, down) to avoid the sun when they get too much. This is a clue to take note of.
These are just my experiences, and other folks may say something else works better for them. I wish you and your tree good luck and a long life.

Aloha,
I agree with Guru. But if the leaves are frayed and damaged, I would lop off the top. Like guru said, Don't over-water until the plant is established. The plant will send out a new leaf where you lopped it off. When you see the new growth the plant is well on its way to establishment.

The reason for such a drastic move is that damaged banana leaves use more energy from the plant than they give back. From what you wrote, it appears that the blackening at the base of the leaves is bruising and what I consider DAMAGE. Cut it off. Lopping off the top also send more energy to root growth, thus estabishing the plant sooner. Besides, the trunk is really made up of rolled leaves and will take over food production for the plant more efficently than damaged leaves.

What you received is normal where I grew up which is Hawai'i. To get another banana tree, we would cut off all of the leaves (and sometimes even the top if it was tall) of an existing plant, dig up its corm(knobby plant base) and roots, dig another hole and plant what we dug up and watered it well. Sometimes we'd let dry for a day or two before we planted. When we found new leaf growth, we watered more and fetilized. To me it was quite easy.

I hope what I've written has given you some insight on how to treat your banana plant. Guru has given you good advice. If you live in a temperate zone, watch the temperature. Banana transplants do not do well below 50 degrees Farenheit. They can rot if not well established.
Aloha, KAHOA

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Aloha,
My apologies. I did not see your pictures of your plant. Please DO NOT cut those beautiful leaves. What is happening is normal. The oldest leaves will yellow and die. The plant is going through some transplant shock and will probably establish itself quickly. You should have a new leaf in a week or two, maybe three at the longest.

From your writing I thought the plant's leaves were broken and bruised, but whoever you got your plant from did a very decent job and gave you a good bare-rooted plant.

Enjoy your banana plant and may it bloom and prosper and perhaps bear you fruit.
Aloha, KAHOA

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Aloha Kahoa,

I didn't see either post until now, so the leaves are still there. Another pair, however, are going on me. One I'm going to cut because it's mostly browned, and the other one appears to have been snapped by wind (I have two choices, either it goes outside in the sun and wind or inside in the dark). So far I have no new leaves but two fast growing new sprouts in the pot, which leads me to the following dillemma: do I repot, since it seems to be outgrowing the pot way, way fast (roots appear to be pushing up out of the soil) and risk another shock? Or does the pot look like its reasonably large enough?

Thanks for the info, though. Happy to know I got a decently uprooted plant and that what's happening is due to transplant and not some disease or something.

Cheers

I have a banana tree and it is growing very fast. But I am having problems with keeping it to look healthy. Every time the tree starts growing really good, it starts to develop purplish brown spots on the leaves. Eventually where the spots were located it starts to dry up and die in those areas making the tree look unhealthy. Do you have any idea what this could be from? I have it by the window getting good sun light, I water it consistently etc. I have it also in a large pot, fertilizer, mulch etc but it still happens....Any help would be appreciated.

Sorry I dont know what kind I have. It is just big and green with no other charactieristics.

Aloha,
Did you mean that the roots are climbing out of the pot and that you have pups growing near the bottom of the plant? If so, that is a very good sign. Means that your plant is taking very well. Well enough to make babies.
If you think the plant is root bound, which may be the case since you mentioned earlier that you water frequently and now, that you can see the roots or the roots are coming out of the pot, it may be time to repot.

If it is the case where you can see the roots at the surface, then it is probably root bound and it is time to repot. Don't worry much about transplant shock since that happens only when there is great damage to the root system such as massive reduction of soil and roots around the corm (like when the people who you got the plant from did when they dug it up). You're not going to do this if you are repotting. You're simply going to put the plant, soil and all into a bigger pot with additional soil. As long as the root ball is relatively intact you should be fine.
If you can't see the roots at the surface wait until you do, then repot. My banana plant has been living in the same 10 gallon pot for 2 years, has bloomed, made pups, and died back. I only transplanted the plant from a 5 gallon pot because the wind kept on blowing it over. It was root bound but quite happy as I had kept the pot in a bucket of water so it wouldn't dehydrate. It grew over 5 feet tall before I transplanted. By the way I'm growing banana for looks, not fruit. Growing for fruit is a whole other ball of wax and since I live so far north, too difficult to do in my case.

I'm planning on keeping the pups ( six of them) in that same pot until I divide them, which might be next year, maybe. Meanwhile, I'll continue to water and fertilize until I decide to divide or the plants burst their plastic pot, and they will if they're that overcrowded. Hope you end up in the same situation eventually.
Aloha KAHOA

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Aloha,
Are the spots large or small? Have you looked for insects? I'm not familiar with purple spots that eventually turn brown. Where do you live and at what time of year does this happen? Usually purple spots are natural coloring for some banana and they don't turn brown and dry up. Try and give a little more detail. May be a fungal disease, I don't know. Hope to hear from you.
Aloha KAHOA

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