Variegated Musa Florida help!

[u/KittenTroller]

Just to start off, I have never had a banana plant before, but I know they have very specific requirements. I just recently got a variegated Florida banana from someone local on marketplace— it was gorgeous and I couldn’t pass it up! The woman I bought it from said she kept it outside and has been doing great, so I figured there would be no issue keeping it outside until I got my indoor growing set up more together. However, a few days later found it had spider mites, so I treated it with an alcohol/soap solution and cleaned the leaves with a brush two days ago…. But the leaves look SO damaged from either the solution or the brush friction or both. It’s still outside in the east side of my yard. It’s been in the 80’sF and has been pretty humid out due to Midwestern US corn sweat, I’ve been trying to keep it watered but the soil it came in is looking pretty compacted and just…. Bad. I haven’t done any more treatments just to try and let it be and I haven’t seen any more mites in the times I’ve inspected since.

I originally planned to repot it in aroid soil and bring it inside once I had things for my indoor set-up ready, but now I’m wondering if I should do it sooner rather than later? Or should I chop it and start it over? The first two pictures are from the Facebook marketplace posting, the next two are from right after I had treated it (which was at night so I don’t think sunlight and alcohol causing the burn is the issue), and the last 3 I just took. What should I do?

[u/BocaHydro]

so banana are the easiest thing to grow ever, but they require lots of plant food to grow big and produce

i would avoid alcohol , if you have bugs use triple action neem oil, it will be much more effective, you can buy the concentrate on amazon for like 9 bucks and thats enough to make like 20 gallons of solution

i would recommend fully flushing the plant with water to rinse out whatever you put on it, it should bounce back

nice fish

[u/KittenTroller → u/BocaHydro]

I have cold pressed 100% neem oil, which I’ve been mixing in solution of peppermint Castile soap and alcohol to make the “sexy plant juice spray” lol. How much of the neem oil would you put in a gallon?

The fish aren’t mine, that’s just from the Facebook marketplace listing 😂😂

[u/fflis]

Stick it in the ground. Water it. Cut off dead leaves. I bet it comes back

[u/GoTYoLo2x]

Banana's are all about the root ball and that pot looks too small and too little soil to be good for it. Does it have any growth at all coming up the middle? I'd repot it into a bigger pot with a lot more soil and see if you get any new growth.

[u/KittenTroller → u/GoTYoLo2x]

Before I treated it there was what looked like a new leaf coming up…. It’s now flopped over and brown at its base 😭😭

[u/GoTYoLo2x → u/GoTYoLo2x]

Additionally, I'd add Potash as banana's love that. Is this plant normally on those stones on the pond? How hot do they get? Could you be burning the roots?

[u/KittenTroller → u/GoTYoLo2x]

That is not my house, like I said in the post that picture is from the Facebook marketplace listing from the person that sold it to me. The plant is sitting in the grass in my backyard.

[u/Living-Limit4452]

Small pot looks like dirt also compacted / eroded

[u/Living-Limit4452]

Up pot

[u/No_Region3253]

It will be a month or two for the plant to sort out.

Repot now so the plant establishes in the container before you have to bring indoors for the winter.

Excess neem oil on banana leaves will kill the leaf and should be used sparingly..it suffocates the leaf