Nom

I ordered two Gran Nain and two Dwarf Cavendish banana plants from Wellspring Gardens on eBay. I'm very satisfied with them for the price.

They've been sitting by the brightest window in my house to acclimate from the darkness of shipping and should be good to go into the greenhouse now, however, it gets pretty cold at night right now. It's getting into the 40s, around 42 at the lowest, but it is going to be 50+ some nights. The greenhouse retains no heat at night. Will the bananas be okay out there now? It gets to around 65-70 degrees outside for most of the day, so the greenhouse warms up to around 80F most of the day. When its in the sun, it can get around 100F.

I do have a heater and a swamp cooler. The heater's thermostat was set this morning and will be tested tonight. I have a high/low thermometer right behind it. I am going to get a thermostat for the swamp cooler that turns on at 78F and off at 72F, but until then I can open the door if necessary, keeping it around 75-80F still.

Can I move the bananas out there yet?

Also, planning ahead a bit, they're all four around 8" right now. When they get bigger, I'll repot them and set them outside in the spring/summer/fall and move them inside for the winter. How fast will these guys grow in good conditions? How fast in moderate conditions?

I'm in climate zone 9b, it never goes below 25F outside, usually stays around 30F at the coldest on winter nights, never goes below 50F on the coldest winter days. In the summer it stays around 85F during the day, but can reach 100F for a few days a year sometimes.

Thanks for any help!

TommyMacLuckie

As long as it stays above 32F they should be fine. However, the higher off the ground you have them the better. Your greenhouse should retain some heat at these temperatures. You say it doesn't. That's odd.

Nicolas Naranja

I've grown both out in the field and can say that they will be fine as long as you don't have prolonged time below 40. Frost is a concern as is choke throat.

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TommyMacLuckie

How fast will these guys grow in good conditions? How fast in moderate conditions?

They will most likely never get to their maturity in a container. Think of plants in containers like fish in a fish tank - they only get as big as their environment lets them. I put a tiny Orinoco pup in a small pot a few years ago and it's never grown above 12" tall.

I'm in climate zone 9b, it never goes below 25F outside, usually stays around 30F at the coldest on winter nights, never goes below 50F on the coldest winter days. In the summer it stays around 85F during the day, but can reach 100F for a few days a year sometimes.

Where are you? California? Your climate zone, if it gets below freezing ever, can mean absolutely nothing if it gets below the lowest temperature for the zone. I'm in 8B and it hardly ever gets as low as the lowest for this zone. However, as the word 'hardly' implies, it has and it's mind blowing what it does to plants (below 26F and the damage is heavy). In fact, it's gotten WAY below the lowest temperature for this place - even in New Orleans - and it was devastating to a majority of plants in the area. Climate zones can be misleading.

Nom

Once they get too big to grow inside the greenhouse and I'm forced to leave them outside during winter (6x8x6 greenhouse), can I just cut them back to save them from the temperature so they'll come back later? I heard that this works.

The greenhouse really retains no heat at all. It's completely sealed off from the outside air, but it just cools off too fast I guess. It's two layer 4mm polycarbonate panels, or so they say. The greenhouse is a cheep one from Harbor Freight. It does warm up in the day, which is what I need it to do. Even when it's cloudy and raining, it warms up maybe two degrees warmer than the outside air. It is water-tight though after some duct taping.

Thanks for the great replies so far!

GreenFin

One way to provide some extra warmth for the little naners in your greenhouse would be to get a black barrel, fill it with water, put a rigid screen over it, and set your plants on it. The water will absorb heat during the day and give it off during the night. Since heat rises, setting the plants on the screen over the water will result in the plants sitting in a relatively warm and humid updraft.

If you don't have a 55 gallon barrel, you could use a clustered group of four 5-gallon buckets. Paint them black, fill them with water, cover them with screens, and set one of your little naners on each bucket.

Best of luck with your naners, and welcome aboard!

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Nom

Sadly, the greenhouse is only 6x8x6 and I have shelves on all three sides, so there's no room for a barrel of any size. Otherwise, I would probably go with what you suggested.

I'm testing my heater out overnight. If it keeps the greenhouse above 50F, the naners are going out there tomorrow. I have a temperature high/low meter, but it's really glitchy when in the extremes. It does well in the mid forties to room temperature.

Also, on the very tips of my banana's growth points (all four of them) it is brown. Not like a dead brown, but it's a light brownish color. Just the little hair-thin part on the tip of the growth point. Is this normal? I see the little brown hair-thin tips on all of the bananas leaves, so I assume this is normal. Am I right? Are they're PO'd about humidity?

GreenFin

That's normal as far as I know. Mine are all like that, too, and the plants keep growing like crazy without any noticeable ill effect.

__________________
Set out runnin', but I'll take my time; a friend of bananas is a friend of mine.

www.GreenFinGardens.com

Iunepeace

That "hair-thin tip" part you describe does usually fall off eventually as the new leaf emerges, so yours sounds normal. That little twirly thing is just the top part found on all banana leaves.

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Weather

TommyMacLuckie

You can put a 100 watt light bulb (a real one, not a LED etc) to provide some heat for the night. That should suffice unless it gets really cold - then use a small electric heater or oil heater.

Cutting them back, yes, by all means, if you need to whack 'em, whack 'em. OR you can even lay them down at angles etc...and on warm days put 'em outside upright.

Nom

I mean... I have a heated greenhouse that will stay up to 60F on the coldest nights that rarely ever occur... I think they'll be fine if I lay them down in there.