cold fruit

fishoifc · 12-24-2011, 06:16 PM

this is a couple pics of my D. orinoco if its not let me know anyway it started blooming about a month ago I have built a plastic greenhouse around it.the plant is wrapped with lights and the bottom is mulched around the edges.So far it has been working great unfortunately I forgot when i built this thing to make a access area to peak at the plant. so when i cut through the plastic to take these pics i ccould really feel the heat inside. It has not been cold yet we had one quick light frost a couple days ago.My question is when it gets cold will this work I really feel like it will not freeze inside this structure so will the fruit be able to make it through a couple cold months and still develop [url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=47370&ppuser=3890]

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Richard · 12-24-2011, 07:23 PM

Cool, literally!!

So I expect the fruit will be ready to pick in May?

Olafhenny · 12-25-2011, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoifc

I forgot when i built this thing to make a access area to peak at the plant. so when i cut through the plastic to take these pics i ccould really feel the heat inside.

To remedy that, just cut a square window in your plastic and then cover it with a larger piece (3 to 4 inches overlap).
Stick that on with that transparent packing tape, solid across at the top and with smaller pieces to tack down the
corners on the bottom. You can then lift it up at your convenience (to peek from time to time at a thermometer, which
you might have hung at the plant)

You may have to replace the bottom pieces after a few uses.

Tip: I am using 'bubble wrap' for my cover, after I uncover the heavy duty protection in spring, for better heat insulation.

Good luck!
Olaf

fishoifc · 12-26-2011, 05:40 PM

ok made a viewing window today from clear plastic, during the day it gets very warm and it drops quickly after the sun goes down. have four hands so far with about ten fingers each,looks like more are on the way.

Olafhenny · 12-26-2011, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoifc

ok made a viewing window today from clear plastic, during the day it gets very warm and it drops quickly after the sun goes down. have four hands so far with about ten fingers each,looks like more are on the way.

Great,
Congratulations!
Actually I use the window and thermometer for 'venting' in April-May, when here the sun is very
strong and could easily overheat the enclosure and the nights are still cold enough to threaten frost.

Dreaminofthetropics · 12-26-2011, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoifc

ok made a viewing window today from clear plastic, during the day it gets very warm and it drops quickly after the sun goes down. have four hands so far with about ten fingers each,looks like more are on the way.

That's awesome do you have photos of the structure you built around it? How many freezes/frosts have you gotten so far? You said none I think. I have had two freezes here in North FL so far :/

fishoifc · 12-27-2011, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreaminofthetropics

That's awesome do you have photos of the structure you built around it? How many freezes/frosts have you gotten so far? You said none I think. I have had two freezes here in North FL so far :/

no photos of the structure its not very nice just some 2 x 2 driven onto the ground and then plastic on the inside and another layer on the outside and some supports. I dont think i could post pics of this thing its very ugly and not well liked at my house.

no freezes yet and two light frost last week not enough to brown my unprotected plants. I have a saba now that has been slowly opening a new leaf in the last week and today i noticed some new flowers on a couple brugmansias. prety cool I hope it stays mild!

Olafhenny · 12-27-2011, 06:38 PM

Hi Kat,

I have a detailed description for a bubble wrap shelter here with pictures:
My Banana Experience (or lack of it)

In retrospect I should just add, that you probably need to add a gable to it, by splicing a couple of tees into
the centre of opposite bars pointing up, and then levelling them off with a couple of elbows and another bar
connecting them to form some sort of a ‘gable’, otherwise the rainwater tends to ‘pond’ on top.

The one pictured measures 2x2x4 feet high. Last spring I improvised the gable thing, by inserting a board
on edge, because I did not want to take the whole thing apart again.

Next summer I am considering to transform a 4.5’ by 5.5’ pond into a “tropical planter”. I intend to use
the same, somewhat improved method again to enclose the whole thing.

Another tip: I pounded short bamboo sticks in the ground at the proper spacing and slid the ¾ inch PVC
irrigation pipe over them. I had thought, that I would have to splint the pipes to the bamboo to keep it
in place, but that proved not necessary, since the whole thing turned out quite sturdy.

¾ inch PVC irrigation pipe is quite cheap, if you get is from an irrigation outfit and not from a hardware
store and the tight ‘slip fit’ lets you take it apart for easy storage.

Good luck,
Olaf

fishoifc · 01-03-2012, 09:56 PM

Going to be a long nite for the bananas we have wind gust to 40 and temps getting down to28. Not sure if my plastic greenhouse and Christmas lights can pull it off. It's our first cold weather but it's only suppose to last one more day for now.

momoese · 01-04-2012, 12:55 PM

Maybe add some water buckets to collect heat during the day and release at night?

Olafhenny · 01-04-2012, 01:26 PM

[That would be a good idea, though I had thought more on the lines of adding a couple of these 4 l (1 gal) milk
containers with warm water on nights when the tempt would get near freezing. But your method would require
less vigilance.

I have also acquired some old quilts, which I can toss over the "crystal palace" on cold nights.The combination
will probably allow me to uncover the banana 3 to 4 weeks earlier,tan I did last year.

fishoifc · 01-04-2012, 08:34 PM

It was 31 or 33 in the plastic this mornin but it looks like they made it all my yard plants fell over today. Going to try the bucket idea got to do something they won't make it next time. It's a long shot to get this fruit to make it soon I will be leaving town for the season maybe I will get lucky.

Dreaminofthetropics · 01-04-2012, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoifc

It was 31 or 33 in the plastic this mornin but it looks like they made it all my yard plants fell over today. Going to try the bucket idea got to do something they won't make it next time. It's a long shot to get this fruit to make it soon I will be leaving town for the season maybe I will get lucky.

Yeah all my yard plants fell over too

We were at 20 this morning when I left for work

The stuff in my greenhouse looks pretty good but I didn't dig up any of my pseudostems

Only have a few bananas in there. Guess I'll see how cold hardy everything really is ! I hope yours pulls through!

Olafhenny · 01-04-2012, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fishoifc

It was 31 or 33 in the plastic this mornin but it looks like they made it all my yard plants fell over today. Going to try the bucket idea got to do something they won't make it next time. It's a long shot to get this fruit to make it soon I will be leaving town for the season maybe I will get lucky.

I was surprised to learn, that some tropical plants have sap, which actually gels, at above
freezing temps. But I believe, that most need subfreezing temperatures for ice crystals to form, which
in turn crush the cell structures.

Not knowing anything about a subject, has never kept me from voicing an opinion, but I believe, that
bananas are of the latter kind, because my Basjoo survived short dips below 0^C (32^F) before freezing
up ater last fall.

Nicolas Naranja · 01-05-2012, 12:01 AM

Banana sap does in fact gel and you will see chilling injury even without a frost of freeze. The low at my house was 44, the problem is that it was below 50 for the entire day and I can see some damage on the leaves.

The farm got a lot colder and I could actually tell where there was frost in places. Fortunately the frost only appeared to occur in open areas, although some of my Dwarf Superplantains seem to have taken a good hit.

Olafhenny · 01-05-2012, 12:24 AM

See? I told you, I don't know noth'n from noth'n, but mouth off anyway.

Having said that, I do not think, that this gelling bit applies to all Bananas. It certainly did not to my Basjoo
and when I was in southern China a few years ago, still in the tropics, ~200 km south of the Tropic of Cancer,
I saw banana plants and temperatures were dead on 0^C (32^ F) at the time.

Nicolas Naranja · 01-05-2012, 02:03 PM

Basjoo is a different species than an edible banana so it's hard to say. I know that the various species of Anonna vary in their tolerance to cold. Of course, even with edible bananas you will see differences from variety to variety

Quote:

Originally Posted by Olafhenny

See? I told you, I don't know noth'n from noth'n, but mouth off anyway.

Having said that, I do not think, that this gelling bit applies to all Bananas. It certainly did not to my Basjoo
and when I was in southern China a few years ago, still in the tropics, ~200 km south of the Tropic of Cancer,
I saw banana plants and temperatures were dead on 0^C (32^ F) at the time.

fishoifc · 01-05-2012, 09:45 PM

what happens in the extreme high temp range,I wonder this because the other day my thermometer was over 110 in the plastic house,how hot can they take? and if this works out for me how will the fruit handle these highs and lows?

12-24-2011, 06:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
fishoifc Marlin time fishoifc's Photo Gallery Location: Nags head N.C. Zone: 8 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 339 BananaBucks : 120,641 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 27 Times Was Thanked 331 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	cold fruit this is a couple pics of my D. orinoco if its not let me know anyway it started blooming about a month ago I have built a plastic greenhouse around it.the plant is wrapped with lights and the bottom is mulched around the edges.So far it has been working great unfortunately I forgot when i built this thing to make a access area to peak at the plant. so when i cut through the plastic to take these pics i ccould really feel the heat inside. It has not been cold yet we had one quick light frost a couple days ago.My question is when it gets cold will this work I really feel like it will not freeze inside this structure so will the fruit be able to make it through a couple cold months and still develop [url=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=47370&ppuser=3890][/url

12-24-2011, 07:23 PM	#2 (permalink)
Richard un-Retired Richard's Photo Gallery Location: Vista, CA Find me on the map! Zone: USDA 10b Name: Richard Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 9,674 BananaBucks : 589,941 Feedback: 9 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,636 Times Was Thanked 12,537 Times in 4,719 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 1,685 Times	Re: cold fruit Cool, literally!! So I expect the fruit will be ready to pick in May? __________________ Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

12-26-2011, 05:40 PM	#4 (permalink)
fishoifc Marlin time fishoifc's Photo Gallery Location: Nags head N.C. Zone: 8 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 339 BananaBucks : 120,641 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 27 Times Was Thanked 331 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	Re: cold fruit ok made a viewing window today from clear plastic, during the day it gets very warm and it drops quickly after the sun goes down. have four hands so far with about ten fingers each,looks like more are on the way.

12-27-2011, 06:38 PM	#8 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 255,512 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: cold fruit Hi Kat, I have a detailed description for a bubble wrap shelter here with pictures: My Banana Experience (or lack of it) In retrospect I should just add, that you probably need to add a gable to it, by splicing a couple of tees into the centre of opposite bars pointing up, and then levelling them off with a couple of elbows and another bar connecting them to form some sort of a ‘gable’, otherwise the rainwater tends to ‘pond’ on top. The one pictured measures 2x2x4 feet high. Last spring I improvised the gable thing, by inserting a board on edge, because I did not want to take the whole thing apart again. Next summer I am considering to transform a 4.5’ by 5.5’ pond into a “tropical planter”. I intend to use the same, somewhat improved method again to enclose the whole thing. Another tip: I pounded short bamboo sticks in the ground at the proper spacing and slid the ¾ inch PVC irrigation pipe over them. I had thought, that I would have to splint the pipes to the bamboo to keep it in place, but that proved not necessary, since the whole thing turned out quite sturdy. ¾ inch PVC irrigation pipe is quite cheap, if you get is from an irrigation outfit and not from a hardware store and the tight ‘slip fit’ lets you take it apart for easy storage. Good luck, Olaf __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

01-03-2012, 09:56 PM	#9 (permalink)
fishoifc Marlin time fishoifc's Photo Gallery Location: Nags head N.C. Zone: 8 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 339 BananaBucks : 120,641 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 27 Times Was Thanked 331 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	Re: cold fruit Going to be a long nite for the bananas we have wind gust to 40 and temps getting down to28. Not sure if my plastic greenhouse and Christmas lights can pull it off. It's our first cold weather but it's only suppose to last one more day for now.

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01-04-2012, 12:55 PM	#10 (permalink)
momoese Banana grower momoese's Photo Gallery Find me on the map! Zone: zone 10 Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 7,590 BananaBucks : 22,259 Feedback: 9 / 100% Said "Thanks" 3,754 Times Was Thanked 10,888 Times in 3,311 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 729 Times	Re: cold fruit Maybe add some water buckets to collect heat during the day and release at night?

01-04-2012, 01:26 PM	#11 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 255,512 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: cold fruit [That would be a good idea, though I had thought more on the lines of adding a couple of these 4 l (1 gal) milk containers with warm water on nights when the tempt would get near freezing. But your method would require less vigilance. I have also acquired some old quilts, which I can toss over the "crystal palace" on cold nights.The combination will probably allow me to uncover the banana 3 to 4 weeks earlier,tan I did last year. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

01-04-2012, 08:34 PM	#12 (permalink)
fishoifc Marlin time fishoifc's Photo Gallery Location: Nags head N.C. Zone: 8 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 339 BananaBucks : 120,641 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 27 Times Was Thanked 331 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	Re: cold fruit It was 31 or 33 in the plastic this mornin but it looks like they made it all my yard plants fell over today. Going to try the bucket idea got to do something they won't make it next time. It's a long shot to get this fruit to make it soon I will be leaving town for the season maybe I will get lucky.

01-05-2012, 12:01 AM	#15 (permalink)
Nicolas Naranja Muck bananas Nicolas Naranja 's Photo Gallery Location: Pahokee, FL Find me on the map! Zone: 10 Name: Nick Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 2,217 BananaBucks : 484,839 Feedback: 7 / 100% Said "Thanks" 66 Times Was Thanked 5,665 Times in 1,563 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 7 Times	Re: cold fruit Banana sap does in fact gel and you will see chilling injury even without a frost of freeze. The low at my house was 44, the problem is that it was below 50 for the entire day and I can see some damage on the leaves. The farm got a lot colder and I could actually tell where there was frost in places. Fortunately the frost only appeared to occur in open areas, although some of my Dwarf Superplantains seem to have taken a good hit. __________________ Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

01-05-2012, 12:24 AM	#16 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 255,512 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Re: cold fruit See? I told you, I don't know noth'n from noth'n, but mouth off anyway. Having said that, I do not think, that this gelling bit applies to all Bananas. It certainly did not to my Basjoo and when I was in southern China a few years ago, still in the tropics, ~200 km south of the Tropic of Cancer, I saw banana plants and temperatures were dead on 0^C (32^ F) at the time. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.

01-05-2012, 09:45 PM	#18 (permalink)
fishoifc Marlin time fishoifc's Photo Gallery Location: Nags head N.C. Zone: 8 Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 339 BananaBucks : 120,641 Feedback: 1 / 100% Said "Thanks" 27 Times Was Thanked 331 Times in 131 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times	Re: cold fruit what happens in the extreme high temp range,I wonder this because the other day my thermometer was over 110 in the plastic house,how hot can they take? and if this works out for me how will the fruit handle these highs and lows?

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