Originally Posted by maltose

Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever tried growing banana plants in a grow tent over the winter? I currently have a basjoo and a dwarf cavendish indoors in a grow tent that started as little TC plants in July. (also 4 ensete seedlings which are really starting to take off at 1 month from germination)

I keep the space heater and grow lights on a 16h on/8h off cycle. It's usually 80-86 degrees during the day in the tent, and bottoms out at about 70 degrees overnight.

The bananas are being fueled by ~400 watts total of LED grow lights.

This all was working exceptionally well for the last several months, especially for the basjoo. It was putting out a 4-5 foot leaf every 6 days or so up until January 14th, when I decided to chop the pseudostem at 18 inches so that it has space to continue growing until I plant it in the ground in May.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of indoor banana growing? I've repotted them recently in a soilless mixture (in fabric pots) and have switched to fertilizing with Dyna-Gro Foliage-Pro (supplemented with kelp meal), but don't believe that the recommended 1/4 tsp/gallon would be enough to sustain the growth rate I was seeing in the basjoo before I chopped the pseudostem.

I really just these plants grow as quickly as possible; even if it outgrows the tent and has to get chopped again I should have a very vigorous corm to plant in the ground in May.

Do you think it would be safe in this circumstance to up the fertilizer concentration closer to the hydroponic recommendation of 2tsp/gallon? I was feeding them tons of slow-release organic fertilizer plus regularly watering with 600 ppm potassium sulfate before repotting. They definitely got a little fertilizer burn on a few occasions but were growing like beasts - I repotted only because I suspected that the rich soil mixture was beginning to collapse and wouldn't hold up for the next 3-4 months of indoor growing.

Anyways, It's been super rewarding to garden indoors here during this brutal winter. Please share your experiences!