Anyone use heating cables?
 

So I had a crazy idea come to me today. What if you could bury something in the soil around your plants to heat the soil during the winter to keep the roots warm so that conventional winter protection would be minimized or unnecessary. I had several ideas as to the logistics of it from circulating warm water or air to some sort of heating elements like radiant heating used in homes.

So I did some search engine research and found this product:
Charley's Greenhouse & Garden Value Heating Cables 12 ft P5010 12
Has anyone used anything like this before? It seems pretty legitimate. Obviously, it would be a pain to do any digging in beds with this buried in them, but I could see it possibly working out well in some applications. Also, it wouldn't help protect any pseudostem unless used in combination with some sort of other covering/shelter (which this would be an excellent addition to, IMO), but it would keep the corm from freezing to ensure the plants would come back nicely in the spring each year with minimal 'overwintering' effort.

Ideas? Discussion?

Oh...and though it may seem a bit expensive for 12 feet, it seems that the majority of that price is for the thermostat and plug because every additional 12 feet added only adds $5 to the price....so if you buy the longer cables, you really do get a pretty good value.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I think lots of people are doing it - you should check out Palms North Forum

Paul

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

Just get Musa Basjoo and forget it. They will come back every year with lots of pups.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

where is one member that uses heating tape..but i think they wrap around instead of underground

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I've tried them when the soil temperature was in the 45-50F range, and withing the same area of those heating cables, lets say 2-5 inches away, the soil only heats up by around 2 degrees.

I think mine is a 24watt heating cable so it is fairly weak, but even if you have a 400watt heating cable, it won't really make a huge difference, and it will cost you a lot of electricity in the process. Something more economical such as mounding compost, or a tarp cover may be a better investment.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

Thanks for posting as I had not seen this yet. I am interested in them for my other tropicals. As for bananas, I think these cables would be less useful b/c the corm can survive in most zones with good ground cover prep. It is the stem one wishes to protect if fruit is desired. I think in more northern zones, the heat tape could be a better choice. Price looks about the same.

I am in Z9b. I tent my tropicals (Z10-12) with heavy plastic and heat the inside with light bulbs. No problems so far with the few cold nights per year which would otherwise kill them.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I'm looking for some real Musa Bajoo's - every year I try and have been sent the wrong thing from various online retailers. Willis Orchard and Florida Hill.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

What's the matter with them? Mine don't get very tall and I water and fertilize the heck out of them. I've built a contraption this year hoping to save some stem for a taller plant. Hopefully next summer I'll have more pups than the local pound. There were a lot of spears poppin' through when I winterized.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I use heat-tapes, but I think heavy duty christmas lights do a good job. This heating cable keeps the soil @ 70F where as heat-tapes keep the plant or pipe between 38-45F.. :^)

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I live in zone 5 and though I haven't experimented with in-ground overwintering, I doubt any variety other than basjoo will survive winters here even with lots of ground cover. It's not unusual to see temps of -10F during winter (coldest I've seen was -37F) and sustained below zero temps for a month or more. I would suspect with ground cover AND heating cables, there might be a chance for quite a few varieties, but ground cover alone just won't do it.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

ct palm i am in Wethersfield and have gotten mine from Stonehedge Landscaping and Garden Center

picked it up last spring and it was huge by september/october.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

It's a tough call! You could use heat cables and possibly some sort of a floor heater kit and a air-tight structure but the drawback would be able to separate pups.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

I can see using this product and not putting in the soil but covering it with mulch so it can be effective & easily removed come spring.. :^)

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

That's an idea too. but would it warm enough of the ground under and around to make a noticeable difference when the temps dip to 0 for a while. We've been below freezing here since Sunday night and the ground is starting to freeze again. Dark mulch with some insulation I think are best. Let the sun heat it up and hope the insulation material keeps it warm all night.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

as warm as the heat tape gets I think it would do the job to keep a corm from freezing. The 70F on the heat cable is more like where you would want something to grow like starter plants. I had a heat tape half installed thawing out a friends frozen water pipe and it was working half way thru the install.. It was a good hand warmer as well. :^)

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

That looks like a great forum, thanks for noting it.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

Last year I wrapped an orinoco with christmas lights that were controlled with a Thermocube. Caged with chicken wire filled with chopped Oak leaves. When I unwrapped the pstem it looked just like when I wrapped it. However it never grew. It was still green when the corm rotted.

I have one fixed the same way this year. There is a foot of chopped Oak leaf mulch around the base.

I been thinking if it rotted again this year; I might try putting heat tape under the corm, but not turning it on till it was time to start growing in the spring.

It might not work, but I think it might be worth a try.

George.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

Have you considered dormant overwintering? That's probably a better bet in STL. I've heard orinoco does well with this...and it's probably a lot less effort than what you've been doing in the past.

Re: Anyone use heating cables?
 

We are relative we are a couple of years into bananas and still learning. I made a lot of mistakes last year. I did manage to save a couple of small pups brought in last year.

This year we managed to get in a corm with two large pstems and three smaller pups into the house. We have decided this is not appropriate activity for octogerians. Maybe we can get our grandchildren help us to get them back outside.

I am hoping to get something much smaller that will winter dormant and produce edible fruit.

George