I bought an Ensete plant a while ago, and it was thriving. After I came back from a camping trip, the plant's leaves were all yellowing, because it was over-watered while I was gone. I then made a watering schedule for whenever I was away from home. The plant continued to yellow. No problem, I thought, I'll just move it under a covered area so the rain can't get to it. Then, it occured to me that there hadn't been any rain for quite a while. The plant continued to die, and overnight, it shriveled up alot. The $12 I payed for the plant would've gone into more rock for my marine aquarium, so I need something to show for that money. I am sure that the problem is not over-watering, so it is either under-watering, or some sort of parasite. I gave the Ensete a good watering a few minutes ago.
MajestyPalm, I pic of exactly what is going on would be very helpful. Can you upload one for us? Overwatering could do it I suppose. Underwatering causes it to wilt then shrivel more than turn yellow. I know that if it is sitting in standing water / the soil is staying VERY WET, it COULD be rotting, especially if it is in a cooler climate, and out of direct sun. That can cause the corm to rot, which COULD cause the yellowing and subsequent death of some leaves, and even the whole plant if it is not reversed. That said, its been my experience It is fairly hard to overwater bananas, as long as you have good drainage. I know I put about 1 gallon per day, sometimes more on mine, but mine is also fairly well drained and is in full sun most of the day. Just FYI, both my Re Abyssinian, and Musa Basjoo are in large pots. Another possibility could be some sort of nutrient deficiency. Bananas are heavy feeders, but honestly I have not often seen problems resulting from under fertilisation. Do you fertilise it? IF so how much? I suppose it is possible to over fertilise them too, which could also be the source of some ills for the plants, but given how heavily bananas feed, it would be fairly hard to do. I do know that bananas as a whole are suject to crown rot as well, but especially in my experience at least, Red Abyssinian (ensete murelli.... spelling?). Since they are more upright in the top and hold more water in the crown/ growing tip. I had some fairly bad issues with this early on. My solution was I just do not water it from the top at all anymore. The only water it gets from the top is rain now, and it has been fine. See if you can get some photos uploaded here so we can see, and maybe we can be of better help. Without actually seeing whats going on its fairly difficult to say.
IF it is staying wet, and not getting much sun, those could be your core issues. IF it is staying constantly went and on the cool side, then corm rot (the bulb) (not crown rot) is most likely the problem. Just based on what you describe to me and the conditions it is growing it, I would lean towards it being corm rot.
What can I do about corm rot? The trunk of the plant seems to still be healthy, (green & red) and it is mainly the leaves who are dying.
Well, Im honestly not sure, since I have never dealt with that myself. I would think you would have to dig it up and remove most of the soil from the corm first and look at it/ feel it. if any part of it looks nasty, and / or is soft/ mushy, or you see mold or any types of fungus growing on it, chances are its starting to rot. I think that corm rot would present itself first in the leaves then slowly as the corm rotted more over time just the general health of the plant would decline. If you discover corm rot, I would probably put come copper and or other fungicide on the rotted part to slow / stop the rotting and get rid of any fungus that may be growing. Perhaps another poster might know better than I. Sort of digging it up and investigating, Im not real sure of any other way to determine corm rot. Wish I could help more! Oh, and BTW... Not to take away from this forum, because I really like it, however it is pretty new, and the traffic here is fairly light. I came here from a nother long running and VERY well established and VERY heavily used / trafficed forum, which I am still a member of, and its called Garden Web. Ill include a link at the end. Go there, and click on forums. They have a specific forum set aside for Bananas. In fact there are many plant specific forums there, including palms and cycads. You may get faster help there since the traffic is much higher than here. I have posted on there a link to there, to try and spread the word about this forum too. For me personally, I like this one, its lay out, software...etc.. much better. However. Garden Web is much more established and has a GIGANTIC member / user base from all over the world. I hope some of them come here. For me, you can never have too many informational sources. Here is the link.Gardenweb.com Click on the link that says forums. Youll need to register before you can post. like here, it is free. Good luck! I hope you can find the help!
Now, I have noticed great progress. The leaves are still mostly shriveled/brown, but you can tell that the plant is coming back now that it is in the sun.
