I bought two red abyssinian banana plants to go behind my pool. One is flourishing and growing like crazy. The other is dying and wilting and appears to be being eaten by bugs. I can't find any insects on the plant. I'm frustrated because it is getting worse and I don't know what to do for it. The other one appears to have some bug holes but is still thriving and growing fine.
Banana Plants are very easy to grow as long as they get enough water and nutrients, so it has to be the insects that are killing them. I don't know how to identify insects without seeing them, but I know a good bit about Banana Plants/Trees and there are two things I'd do. You can try spraying with Sevin once a week for a couple months to kill off the existing bugs and deter new ones from coming, but that may not work if it's a type of bug that's not on the plant all the time (grasshoppers). The only other solution is to chop the plant down to the soil level, but don't freak out since that's not nearly as bad as it sounds with Banana Plants. They grow from the root ball (which is why a healthy one puts out new shoots like crazy) and grow very fast, so you can cut one down to the soil and get it back to full size within the same growing season. Just give it plenty of sun, water, mulch, and fertilizer (chopped up old Banana leaves and stalks are a great bottom layer under the mulch since they contain a lot of the specific nutrients the plants need).
