buckeye5755

Well, it is getting close to time when I can put my plants back out for the summer here in Central Ohio. I have had them under 600 Watt HPS in my grow room. I am having trouble though on how to re-introduce them to actual Sunlight. I took my smallest Dwarf Cavendish outdoors as we have had a good week of temperatures (70-80 highs, 50-55 lows). I do not have any trees in my yard, so most of my yard/patio is in sun for part of the day.

I put my Cavendish in a section of the patio that gets direct sun for 2-4 hours a day, and 100% shade the rest. However, it seems that the leaves are burning. The pic belows shows the plant after 1 week of these conditions, after being completely green otherwise.

My question is, when you re-introduce after artificial lighting, how do you go about doing so without losing most of the leaves? Also, when 50% sun/50% shade is said, does this mean half the day full sun, half the day full shade, or is there supposed to be something blocking out part of the sun for the whole day? How long do you do this? Hopefully this helps out myself, and others before we trek out our plants possibly lose all of our winter growing progress!

sunfish

Looks like it needs partial shade all day for awhile.

Abnshrek

I would stick with your plan. The leaves are burnt, the next leaf will be used to it, and every leaf after that. Might not look great, but its one way to get more growth with the full suns energy getting put to work. Your going have to trim those leave off anyway just wait till they are completely toast :^)

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palmtree

My ice cream banana looks very similar after being introduced to the outdoor world. I dont think its as burned as yours because the ocean has been keeping us out of the 80s and in the 70s and 60s which may actually be better for my plants since they are still adjusting from being inside all winter. My ice cream banana is determined and a new leaf is comming up that is completely green. I agree, all the new leaves it makes outside will be adjusted to the sun and heat. As long as the burns arent getting any worse I would leave it where it is, but if they are getting worse I would give it just a little bit more shade, but not too much since you do want it to adjust to the sun.

Good luck!

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jwmahloch

My experience is that it takes about 2 weeks for most bananas to acclimate to full outdoor sun after being under grow lights indoors. I would recommend putting in the spot outside where the plant gets a few hours of morning sun for a week or so and then gradually move to full sun. If the leaves wilt its the banana plants way of saying too much sun too fast. The same rule goes for most palms and tropical plants as well. Some plants are more sensative than others. If the plant is small enough you can always cover with a frost cloth to provide some shade. I did that with my sago palms and it worked well. The same is true if you divide pups in the summer, put them in the shade for a couple weeks or they will probably die from transplant shock.

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Jeremy

tmc2009

I had a different problem. My bananas couldn't handle the slightest wind. The stem bent down and kinked and probably need to be cut off. Growing without the usual stresses of mother nature, I think the growth is weaker.

jwmahloch

I have had trouble with wind as well. It helps if you plant on the east or south side of your house, or on the east or south side of a tree. I have found the the east side is the best because damaging winds normally come out of the west. It also make a difference what variety of banana you plant. For example bordeleens are not a wind tolerant as basjoos. I have found that my cavendish bananas can handle more wind without damage than any other type of banana I have because the leave bases are thicker. Also, as the trunk gets thicker, the plant can handle more wind. if you get wind damage just cut off the damaged leaves and the plant will grow back quickly. Good luck!!!! Remember use lots of fertilizer. I fertilizer mine once a week, sometimes more. the type you mix with water works the best from my experience.

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Jeremy

mcardiff

hey ,i live over here in michigan. i havent put my bannanas outside yet. i think im going to wait for april 14th or so.my bannanas have been in front of the window all winter. do you think the temps at nite still get to cold for them???is this the first year you had them?

Ueberwinden

I put my bananas out last week and they are doing well. I have them on the south west corner of the patio where they receive some early morning sun but the house blocks the sun for the rest of the day. If the weather holds out they will move to a sunny spot on the north east side at the end of the week.

Michael

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buckeye5755

From what I have been told, that is the case. For this reason, for a few hours each day in my Grow Room I remove the heater and add a normal rotating fan. I use this to provide "wind" so that the plant builds strength to handle the winds. We had a strong wind advisory with Gusts up to 55 MPH, and even though the leaves are brown and dying as you can see above, but there was no wind damage at all after being left outside in the heavy winds for 6+ hours.

raggedyredhead

Hi, I put up my umbrella so only filtered light gets through and gradually move it into
stronger light a little at a time. I have a 7ft Yucca that got really burned one year.
Now I put it in a shady area for a couple of weeks first. I still have it going on three years.
Raggedy

jwmahloch

If your night time temps are normally above 40 now I would put them out now. Did you overwinter indoors or in the ground outside? I have done both and I have found that keeping in the ground outside is much better as opposed to bringing indoors, thats only if you have a cold hardy type. In Michigan I think only musa basjoo would survive in the ground over the winter. If you do overwinter in the ground use lots of leaves to cover and cover with a plastic trap to keep the leaves dry.

I was able to keep 2 feet of p-stem alive for 2 of my basjoo clumps, I uncovered them 2 weeks ago and now one plant is already 4 feet tall. I had to cut one back to the ground and its only about 6 inches tall now.

If you have had indoors all winter, be very carefull to slowly re-introduce to the sun and wind outside. Good luck

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Jeremy

Patty in Wisc

I think any direct sun is too much right off. Shade outside is brighter than lights on inside. Last year, I put the big IC on west side of house (in May) & it got some late afternoon sun & then winds were very strong next day. I put poles in pot to support it but it was droopy & lost all leaves. It struggled all summer.

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Patty in Wisc has sadly passed away 9/05/11. We will miss you Patty.

LilRaverBoi

Ouch, that looks like some pretty bad sunburn. Not to worry though, it won't kill it. Sure, it ruins all the existing leaves, but the new leaves will soon come out totally capable of handling whatever mother nature can dish out. As others have stated, do your best to ease it into full sunlight over time.

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Abnshrek

I had one plant that went from the office into the sun that didn't burn at all.. A 5ft Blue Java of course when I put in the ground last week all those leaves came off due to shock, but a new thicker leaf is coming out. :^)

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LilRaverBoi

Yeah, I'm afraid my beautiful Ice Cream will be pretty messed up when I move it out. I have absolutely no way to shelter it in any way from the sun and I'm moving it out in May to prevent risk of frosts. It has so many long, perfect, untattered leaves right now...I'm sure it's gonna look kinda sketchy for a while when I move it out

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Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

Bob

I tend to favor just throwing them out and hardening them off right away at the expense of a few burnt leaves initially( not the gros michels though). They're plants!... other than us suffering their looks it seems quite natural to loose all these leaves that have grown in inadequate light all winter. ..... the new ones will come in soon enough and in a month or so you'll forget about the burnt ones. Probably 95% of us are experiencing the same things trying to grow bananas in an unsuitable climate........I wouldnt have it any other way and when success( flowering) finally arrives it will be so much sweeter because of it.

Very jealous of those in zone ten!

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LilRaverBoi

Yeah, don't get me wrong...I also have the 'tough love' take on this. Yes, it sucks to see a beautiful plant get all messed up due to sunburn and wind-shredding, but eh...it happens. Like you say, they're plants. And it won't kill them...just make them look super ugly for a while. If it was something small that I could easily take in/out and if I had a suitable way to ease my plants into the full sunlight, I might do this....but it's just impossible to move a 10' tall plant in a 25 gallon pot in/out from day to day. Not gonna happen. I'll just have to take one for the team with my larger ones and suffer through their ugly 'transition phase.'

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

sirmoebly

Hey BOB, you are a season gardener.... I really don't have the time to harden off no more because I have to many now..... Never really worked that great anyways.... I am just gonna throw them out as well.....

timmko

I put 4 basjoos and 2 dc's outside for about 4 hours a day, 1/2 sun 1/2 shade and the dc's kinda fried but nothing terrible. The basjoos however (2-3ft) were a different story the wind and sun took care of 3 of them really bad. 1 never made it, 1 only the pup made it and the other 2 had 1 leaf left. Pretty sad when you baby them all winter. So I don't think there is much of a choice but to just set them out.

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