austinl01

Good morning! I'm looking to take some bananas to my office at work. There is no window in my office, but it has plenty of room for bananas. I know the ceiling florescent lights won't work alone so I would like to buy the best grow light for my plants to thrive over the winter. I couldn't find any information on this topic through my searches, so I'm turning to the best banana growers anywhere for an answer! Thank you very much for some answers!!!

Cheers,
Austin

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Austin
Arkansas River Valley

Average January Low: 31°F, Average August High: 92°F
Extreme Winter Lows: 5-15°F, Extreme Summer Highs: 100-112°F, Annual Precipitation: 52 inches

john_ny

Over the past few years, everything that wasn't in a greenhouse, or in front of a window, was in the cellar. Because of the boiler being there, it's warm. (normal room temperatures) Watering was regular house plant type watering, maybe once a week, or so, more if the soil seems real dry. (there are other plants beside bananas there) Lighting is just plain old fluorescent shop lights, and everything does fine.
I once had an aquarium fish import business. We had some of those Gro-lux tubes, that gave off a pinkish or purplish light. They were expensive, and made red fish appear very bright, but I really couldn't notice any difference in plant growth.

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John

Bob

Hey Austin, I'm tempted to tell you how well the metal halides work but would probably not be appropriate for your office to look like a Frankenstein experiment. If your going to go with the flourescent which is more practical just make sure that it is a bright as you can make it. Some tricks like having a light colored (preferably white) wall behind them to reflect some light back on the plants couldn't hurt as well. Good luck with them.

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john_ny

Certainly, as my friend Bob said, the lights must be bright. Mine are regular fluorescents, so they are not real heavy hoggers of electricity, and they are on timers, so they don't run 24 hours. I'll try to get some pix soon to show the brightness.

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John

Abnshrek

Well depending on the length of the florescent lighting in the office if they were 72" you could take a bulb out and get a used bulb from a tanning salon and put it right in and be set.. just watch out you might get burnt @ work lol

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

coolrobby2003

Iv got the same dilema...would some reflective material such as tin-foil covering the soil as to reflect the light back at plant and on undersides of leaves work as well...and then jyst lift it up too water or would the soil do good too get light from flourescent bulbs also?

r3tic

I would avoid covering the soil because it will prevent evaporation and may cause conditions ideal for rot. I personally use the emergency blankets you can pick up at wal mart for a buck as reflectors.

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Velutina

Closest thing to natural sunlight i've used to grow bananas indoors was a 400 watt 6500K Metal Halide bulb with the best reflector on the market. My other hobby is reef aquariums where lights are a HUGE deal. Sunlight color is about 6700K i believe. The chlorophyll in the leaves respond best to certain EM frequencies and you'll have best chance of meeting those needs with a "daylight" bulb. If you want the cheapest setup, go to homedepot, buy a simple shoplight and 2x48" daylight (6500K) fluorescent bulbs. They are normal output bulbs, so the plant will need to be pretty close to the bulbs (within a foot).

Ideal setup, IMO, would be a 400watt metal halide Iwasaki 6500K bulb with pendant reflector hanging from ceiling. But this may be difficult in an office. Plant cannot get near the MH bulb or it will burn.


Another option is you don't mind spending a bit more it to buy a pendant lighting system made for aquariums. There are lots of options on bulbs that will put out a lot of light and in the correct spectrum. VHO, T5, MH, CF etc, all put out more light than regular fluorescents. Just make sure the color range is between 5000K and 7000K. Good online sources for pendants would be Aquarium Lights Hellolights.com or Aquarium Pet Fish Supplies, Tank Accessories, Products & Equipment.

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Adam

jakesebastin

Here i would like to go withe the cfl lights. As i am using the florescent lights from a longtime and i do not feel any kind of problem at all. So as per my experience the cfls are the best to indoor grow.

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Long lasting Grow Light easily