Quote:
Originally Posted by john_ny
Bill- I haven't used the christmas lights yet, but intend to, this year. I'll get back on here with more, tomorrow. Don't have the time, now. In the meantime, I'll try to get ahold of my friend, jimzone7 and get him to post here, as he has used the lights, with much success. (He had beautiful blooms on the basjoo, last year and, again, this year.)
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Hi Bill
Your must be onto something, your plants and growth rate are outstanding. I'd be very interested in your future comparisons of similar plants with and without heat coils.
I think your right when you told John that the most effective use of the cable would be under the corm.
But my biggest concern is how would you ever be able to cut out pups?
(I hope I'm missing something, because we can really use something to increase our growing season. This past spring was terrible, I opened up my two basjoo piles April 17th we had a good week temperature wise and then it seemed like we had two months of wet & cold weather. I dont believe the bananas ever caught up to last year's growth.
I'd like to try the fertilizer that you use, if you can give some details and the source I'd appreciate that.
Keeping basjoo corm alive through the winter in our area has been fairly simple for the past couple of years, a little mulch and a tarp and you're good to go. The work comes when you want to save the pstem.
I was able to save 60 inches of pstem this winter and when I opened the pile a leaf was growing.
What worked for me last year was to use christmas lights and a Thermo cube outlet that would turn on the lights at 35 degrees and off by 45 degrees. This to me was what really made the whole christmas light thing work. Because leaving the lights on the whole winter would definetly cause temperatures that are too high during some mild winter days. The last thing you want is to wake them up and then chill them on and off all winter.
I use three sets of christmas lights per pile (use at least two in case one goes bad)
One Thermo cube outlet (I purchased mine at
Pet Supplies | Dog & Cat Supplies, Pet Meds | DrsFosterSmith.com Pet Products)
I wrap the pstem with straw and leaves and try to keep the lights from touching the pstem. Cover the whole pile with a tarp and wait. Don't open till spring when weather forecast calls for 10 days no threat of frost. Keep the tarp handy, just in case you get a bad night.
This fall I'll be adding a remote temperature contol so I can monitor interior temps from the comfort of my house, I'll keep you posted.