Whatever

I had a musa basjoo that didn't do to good though over the spring / summer / fall. It only got to about 10" when a couple months ago it bacicly stopped growing and the leaves started dieing. Then it started growing a pup which got to about 8" before It started getting cold and I decided to cut the pup off and plant both the mother and pup in separate pots so I could bring them indoors if it got to cold.

Well they both stayed outside with lows down into the 40's and despite some very nice days both seamed to just keep slowly dieing. All the leaves died while they where in pots outside. The night the low temp was supposed to get freezing I took them in.

Well they have been indoors for about a week and I cut off all the dead stuff I could get at. Yesterday they both started to show new growth! The pup I cut started putting up a new leaf and one of the pups on the mother put up a new leaf.

Now to my actual question. I have a light that was used for a turtle that I think is a full spectrum. Would it be ok to put the light on each of them alternating each day? Or do they need some dark time? Right now I just have it clamped to the side of the pot witch seams to warm it up nice to.

__________________
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going...

the flying dutchman

I would not let the light on for 24 hours a day. It is not natural.
You could make the days a bit longer though. For instance 12 hours of light.
Maybe you can buy 1 more lamp and use timers to control the whole thing.
Don't give them to much water, just enough to keep them growing a tiny bit.

Succes

Ron

oppalm

I agree with the flying dutchman. I have always wanted to say that. I'll check that off my list of things to do. I will also second the motion that be careful when you water. I'd say, keep your indoor bananas very dry (like a good martini) in winter.

mrbungalow

I would also agree with Ron and oppalm. A little note, make sure you use metal-halide lamps and not HPS lamps. HPS are generally for flowers and MH for vegetative growth. I learned this the hard way using HPS for about a year, and getting spaghetti growth.

And also, the lamps tend to warm up the room. The warmer it gets, the more you need to water. In my plant-room it gets up to 30 degrees C, and I need to water almost daily. However, in an environment of around 10-15 degrees celsius I wouldn't water much and try to keep the plants on the dry side. Light is much more important than high temps, and I would avoid such high temps in the winter if I could.

And YES, they need the dark-time. It looks like these plants generally absorb energy during the day and utilize this to put out growth during the night, even though they also seem to grow a little all the time. Atleast during the summer.

Erlend

__________________

Whatever

I'm not re

__________________
With my feet upon the ground I lose myself
between the sounds and open wide to suck it in.
I feel it move across my skin.
I'm reaching up and reaching out.
I'm reaching for the random or what ever will bewilder me.
And following our will and wind we may just go where no one's been.
We'll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one's been.

Spiral out. Keep going...