Jay, it looks to me like there was some kind of physical damage to the leaves as they were just emerging. Your plant looks healthy otherwise, and it looks like the newest leaf is emerging normally.

Maybe too much water in the crown cavity and causing rot. I had that happen to my Ensete and it sent out stunted leaves just like those. The rest of the leaves rotted away before the whole leaf could emerge. Maybe try letting the crown dry out and only water at the root zone. If you're getting as much rain as we've had, then its easy to see how crown rot with a banana can happen.

Thanks for the opinions guys. If it gets better thats awesome. If it dies then its not like I don't have any other plants to play with and watch grow. LOL! The largest pup that the stunted momma put out is nearing 5ft tall and the two other pups are 3ft and 4ft. I had to go out just now and take some pics to show you. Nighttime plant pics are cool looking anyway. LOL!

Jay

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The view from inside my front door
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Looks like it's about to bloom. The half leaf is more rounded like a paddle. Unless you have had some cold weather, you should see the flower coming out soon.

Steve

That would be my guess also. Its about to bloom.

My guess is physical damage. In any case, the next leaf will let you know for sure.

I can already see the next one and it is also going to be deformed. They just keep getting smaller and smaller. Heres a pic of the 4th stunted leaf coming out that I took today.

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Hmmm, I really don't know what to say about your "Half Leaves". Ive been having issues of my own, and im not sure why either. I have 1 Ensete (Red Abyssinian), and 1 Basjoo. Im going to do this in two posts, since I will be posting several pics of each one.

Ill start with the Red Abyssinian. It was the last one on the rack at the LGS, and it had 5 leaves on it, and was about 1.5 feet tall. A couple of the leaves were kinda ratty / torn up. I figured maybe it was damage to the plant, and that it would just grow out and do fine. Well, it has continued to have a rough time over the past few months. Basically what is happening, is that the leaves are coming up with dead spots / parts on them, while they are still rolled up. some of it has been minor, and sometimes its resulted in the loss of large portions of the leaves, up to about 1/2 of a leaf. When they are still rolled up, there will be dark colored / brown/ black areas on rolled leaf, which results in dead spots on the leaf. It does not seem slimy or mushy when it comes out, but rather hard, dried and flaky.The last leaf that came out was so bad that the whole top half of the roll was hard and dead, and broke off as the bottom began to unfurl. I have no idea what is causing this. Could it be crown rot? Maybe slugs getting down in the crown? It also has appeared to grow much slower than I expected. The leaves are not getting much larger, and it is still only about 3.5 feet tall. However, the trunk is getting very fat. It did put up 1 full, and un damaged leaf to date, and the leaf that is currently unfurling is 100% perfectly fine, as is the one that is way down in side just now pushing up. I have kept water OUT of the crown, and even let it dry out between waterings, which didnt seem to do anything either way to the plant. Here are the photos.

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Now, on to the Basjoo:

While it is growing just fine, and by and large seems to be doing well, I have had a couple of smiliar issues but they are much more minor in nature. The leaves are each successively bigger, and come out looking healthy. the past 3 leaves have had the minor issues however. On each there was a "band" on the still rolled up leaf, that appeared to be brown and dry. (dead tissue) As the leaf unfurled, it would tear at that point, and the top portion of one side would unfurl, then the other side, then the part below where the dead tissue cause it to dear during unfurling. The first leaf this happened to actually came out slightly "deformed" in that the central vein or spine curves kind of upward, and not out in an arch downward as usual. You can see that leaf on the right of the plant in the first photo below.

The other two leaves this happened to came out fine and do not really look any worse for the wear since they get shredded by wind anyway. It appears to be a similar issue to that of the Ensete I posted about above, just not nearly as bad. Any ideas about what could be causing this on the Basjoo? Here are the photos:

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If it is possible that they could have been overfertilized that would be my guess,Jay has something else going on there for sure,it may be in Jay's case that the nanar is trying to push a few more leaves(even if they are small)to feed that bloom which must be around the next(leaf) corner.

Based on the last picture, I still think it's about to bloom.

Steve

I agreed with you Steve. Novaplantguy it looks like grasshoppers or some other bug is eating on yours!

Novaplantguy, I'm pretty sure you do have crown rot, too much moisture in the crown. I had the same thing happen to my Ensetes this past winter while i was trying to grow it in my basement under grow lights. I was misting it heavily to keep up the humidity, but i guess too much water was accumulating in the crown cavity, and mine did the same exact thing yours is doing. Make sure not to water the crown, only water at the roots.

Islandbreeze,

I think you are right. Those leaves did some out when we had a terrible spell of very high humidity, in the 80% and higher range, with dewpoint temperatures running in the mid 70s to 80F. I stopped allowing the crown to get wet a few weeks ago, and the humidity has somewhat subsided (for now) and the Ensete has pushed up one much larger, and perfect new leaf ( you can see it unfurling in the photos above), and the next one is now unfurling, and it too is perfect. I have stopped allowing the crowns of both the Musa and the Ensete to get wet ( other than when it rains) and it has worked like a charm for the Ensete. Ill see when the next leaf on the Musa unfurls, which should be i n the next couple of days.

I definately dont think anything was "eating" it. It may look like that after the leaf is unfurled, but seeing the rolled up leaf when it was still tightly rolled, being all brown and hard is what led to that "look" after it unfurled.

In all my years growing Musas, ive never seen this problem. Kinda strage. I find it also strange that it would "rot" since the temps here this time of year rarely go below 68-72, and they get FULL sun ALL DAY long. Youd think that they would have ample time to dry out with a full days sunshine, even in high humidity.

Just another update here with some more pictures. Not much has changed. The last leaf from my last picture above has opened up almost all the way. You can see the next one coming out and it is even more deformed. The trunk/pseudostem sort of has a bulge that may be a bloom trying to come out but might just be the result of more stunted leaves getting bunched up in there. Here's the pics tell me what you think.

Jay

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Bloom bulge???
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The flower should follow the last small paddle shaped leaf.

Steve

My abbysian does the same thing when i get it too wet.
Also the leaves will be rotted in the center.

josh, do you have an updated picture as to what's going on.

Steve

Now do you see a flower? Pics please!

Here you go. Sorry I've been waiting to see what happens with it. I think it might be blooming. What do you think? I'll post more pictures in a few days.

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Josh, no doubt about it. Your banana is flowering. Congratulations.

Steve

Yep! We got a bloomer! Congrats!

I don't think Ive seen a musa that short actually flower before. Interesting! Keep posting pics!

Novaplantguy,

In a previous thread, I believe Josh said he cut the pseudostem back about half, dug it up and stored it for the winter.

Steve

I can personally attest to the short psuedostem during flowering. I myself have also cut and stored bananas for the winter. Last summer, my banana flowered (dwarf orinoco) and I got bananas. If you cut the stem, you can expect a shorter than normal trunk when flowering.

Told you the short leaves meant it was gonna flower GRASSHOPPER!! LOL
Congratulations!!!!!!

Hey Josh!!!!!!
How bout some new pics of those nanners!!!!!!!

Here you go ohgirl. Took some just now. Just for you.

Jay

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