Annie6078

This is only my 2nd year growing bananas & have SO much to learn. Last year, I brought in a dwarf cavendish, ornata & velutina to overwinter as houseplants. One "mom" & pups of the other two varieties survived.

My beautiful Dwarf Cavendish died about Feb/Mar indoors. The pup survived, was planted in the groud outdoors in late May, is about 8' tall & still growing. I don't want to lose another large one over winter, as I am dying to have a chance at bananas.

I need to learn about using grow lights (which kind - there are SO many), how much light to use to overwinter (I don't care if they don't GROW, just not die). The Cavendish is so huge, it will be difficult (by I will try) to bring indoors for a pot.

However, I keep reading abut cutting off all leaves but center, bringing into the basement & letting go dormant. I'm a bit terrified of this, as I have never tried & info varies widely. I'm happy to try with one of my velutinas, as I have many, so losing one won't be the end of the world. I'm just terrified to try something new with one I desperately want to survive, but at the same time, I lost the Cavendish indoors last year by that method.

The Cavendish's 4 pups are VERY small -- largest one is 6-7" tall. Do I take any off now and try to get growing in the last 1-2 mos. of growing season, leave them on "mom", overwinter her & attached pups as houseplant, trim/bring indoors & let go dorman, and will tiny pups survive on mom if using the "dormant basement" method?

Please help! The season is really winding down & I'm at a total loss with so many schools of thought & my meager experience. I am thoroughly hooked on bananas, got my first ornamental bloom this year & now am am avid to get the Cavendish to survive & fruit next year. I would be SO grateful to anyone that might be able to offer me advice on what I should do. Thank you SO much in advance.

klemmthamm

Hi Annie!

I would suggest reading this thread... also, your pups should survive on the mother plant in a dormant state.


-James-

__________________
"No sir we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want." - Unknown officer

Annie6078

Thank you! That IS a VERY good thread & I really appreciate you pointing me to it.

However, the question I must ask here is that it mentions keeping them in the dark to go dormant. My basement is where my washer/dryer, pantry, freezer, etc. are, so the lights are on very often & there are a couple of windows besides. We get too cold for using the garage + it has windows also. Last thought was the attic -- while the lights are rarely on, it would be REALLY tough getting them up there and it has 3 windows as well. Argh! I don't have anywhere that is totally dark, so now I'm lost as to how I could make this work then.

Anyone have any thoughts about that? If not, any advice on using grow lights (what kind, how many hrs. just to keep alive, etc.)? Darn it ... I just HATE this Ohio winter garbage!

klemmthamm

I have windows where I store mine dormant... I just do my best with old sheets and whatever else I can think of to block light... haven't had any problems yet... if you do decide to overwinter in the house and need some cheap grow lights I would (and have) bought some 48" shop light fixtures and then just bought grow lights to put in it. It worked to get me through a couple of winters here... the biggest deal is don't overwater in winter (VERY easy to do) and give them lots of humidity. I use a cheap wal-mart brand humidifier and it does perfect.

Of course you could always build a greenhouse I am saving for mine... I found a rather large and tall one for $750 (that is freight charges included).

__________________
"No sir we don't have quotas anymore. We used to have quotas but now we're allowed to write as many tickets as we want." - Unknown officer

Annie6078

James,

You've been VERY helpful -- thank you so much. These things are my babies & I'm just sick at the thought of losing any of them.

Like you, I dream of having a greenhouse! There's one on the homepage of Texas Greenhouses I would sell my soul for once I got a new home with more yard. My current yard isn't large enough for anything permanent, but I'm so worried about my bananas that I caught myself even wondering about this little portable number. It's nothing much & probably isn't enough for our winters (I'd have to call them for particulars), but can be folded and put away when not needed. Wal-Mart online has it for $298, but I'm sure shipping isn't included. What is the one like that you're looking at? I assume it's a permanent one? I wish you the very best of luck in getting yours together.

http://www.allgreenhouses.com/Flower...00-XJ1014.html

Thanks again, James! I really do appreciate your help.
Andrea

the flying dutchman

Hi Andrea, I think that plastic greenhouse will hold no frost at all, also it
is far to expensive, I think.
Can't you build something against a wall of the house, it has not be too
big because the cultivars you have are not the tallest bananas.
It will get a fair amount of heat from the house too.
Here 2 examples of additional heating you can use.
But ofcourse any other heating method will do.

Heat-pads (35 watt)



A very antique petrol cooking device( not for sale)



Use thick styroform on the bottom of the greenhouse and for the greenhouse polycarbonate-glass. Make sure there is a window at the
roof of the greenhouse wich you can open/close to release the heat in spring/summer. You can use bubble-wrap on the inside in the winter.
Now, it will stand 20F without using the heath-pads and petrol heater, at least in my case.
So, this setup is good enough for my zone but don't know how cold it can be in your.

They surely sell those greenhouses somewhere and it is a better investment
than that plastic thing.

Ron

modenacart

Is that an orange tree you have on your heat pad?

the flying dutchman

Wow, good guess, it is a lemon. Grown from seed, i know it will take years
for it to produce fruit, but it is just the fun.

Ron

modenacart

I have four orange trees I am growing from seed. Two are growing really tall and two are growing like a bush. I got the seeds from climentines and tangerines. I know they are not true to seed, but I can only guess the two groups must be from the two differnent types. Mine are just about two years old.

the flying dutchman

Off topic, but I leave mine in the greenhouse this winter on low temps.
It is only about 4/5 month old. The thing with tropical plants in a colder
climate is.. you always run out of space for winter storage. When you see a nice tropical plant you buy it and you don't think about where to leave it in the winter and often you don't realize how big it can get.
Now, I am lucky that my 80 years old mother lives nearby, and she is
addicted to plants to, so i can store some stuff there.

Ron

Kylie2x

Anna.. here is just one site for "Cheap and easy Greenhouses" there are loads.. This is what I am considering.. Most of mine go under the house.. BUT the GF has a p-stem the size of a basketball. difficulty factor up went up..LOL I usually have to do this by my self..
I went to the site (THIS) James shared I am going back and bump it up. It is a great thread and these questions will be coming up..

CHEAP AND EASY GARDEN IDEAS FROM WUV'N ACRESns

Fcastro

Here's a link to a place that has all kinds of surplus parts for different things. They have 4ft x 2ft heat mats for 6 or 7 bucks, something like that. You just have to solder on a plug, not hard to do at all.


http://www.skycraftsurplus.com/index.asp


www.growerssolution.com ,has great deals on greenhouses.

Kylie2x

Sorry Ron!!!
Give this a go..If this doesn't work it is just ESO!!! equipment superior to operator!!!!...LOL...
www.wuvie.net/frugal.htm

Fcastro

There is a good book by Roger Marshall entitled "How to build your own Greenhouse", there are a ton of different designs in it, very detailed book. You can really build from the plans in the book. The book is sold on Amazon.

the flying dutchman

Probably a dutchman who wrote that



Ron