Have you ever noticed black spots like the above picture on the bananas or on the banana fruiting stalk? In this article, I will talk about the reasons why your bananas are turning black on the tree.
Do you know on a banana plant once fruiting is complete, there's nothing left for the banana plant to do and it will die after that?
Once your banana fruiting stalk or the bananas start to turn black (like the picture you see at the top of this article), you can not recover that.
You need to know the reason and the cure so that your next banana plants do not get affected by the same disease again.
Before you start treating, make sure those black spots are not sooty mold fungus. Sooty mold fungus will not harm your plant or bananas that much. Sooty mold will only affect the photosynthesis process.
How would you know if those spots are sooty mold or not?
Use your fingers and rub the black spots. If you see the black thing coming out like dust, they are sooty mold no need to worry. You can treat this the same way I treated my palm fronds from sooty mold.
If you're less fortunate, the spots appear more like signs of rotting or an infected area on the bananas, it's time to get worried.
Reason
The most possible reason is fungal diseases like Black Sigatoka or banana anthracnose.
If the black spots seem to be wet or oozy, it could indicate a bacterial infection.
You can also witness the black spots on the leaves.
Treatment - Black spots on bananas and banana stalk
If you notice this disease before fruiting, the best is to prune the infected leaves. Then apply fungicide.
Your aim should be to prevent the fungus from spreading. It can easily spread to other banana trees.
Note: People often call a banana a tree, but it's a plant, not a tree. I am using the term "tree" as people might search this as a tree.
I am sorry to say that you need to cut the fruiting stalk if you don't want it to spread to other banana plants. Then apply fungicide to all the plants to make sure they don't infect other plants.
No matter, if you can treat it or not. Your banana tree will die automatically after fruiting. Banana plants give fruits only once in their lifetime.
Apply a fungicide recommended for bananas, such as copper-based sprays.
Here are my fungicide recommendations to treat this:
| Fungicide Type | Active Ingredient | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Copper-based Fungicides | Copper hydroxide | Kocide 3000 |
| Copper-based Fungicides | Copper oxychloride | Blitox |
| Copper-based Fungicides | Copper sulfate + lime | Bordeaux mixture |
| Systemic Fungicides | Propiconazole | Tilt |
| Systemic Fungicides | Tebuconazole | Folicur |
| Systemic Fungicides | Azoxystrobin | Amistar |
| Systemic Fungicides | Difenoconazole | Score |
| Multi-Site Fungicides | Mancozeb | Dithane M-45 |
| Multi-Site Fungicides | Chlorothalonil | Bravo |
