Thelazybanana

has anyone had much experience with growing bananas indoors? I've recently purchased a few 5-7" bananas and am trying to give them a head start indoors. While i've grown plenty bananas outdoors, i'm very new to growing inside. I planted them abou 2wks ago in a pot by windows. I used miracle grow potting mix and make sure the soil is moist but not soaked. temp in the house hovers in the low 70's. some of the leaves are now turning yellow, then drying up and turning brown. they look much worse than when they arrived. Is this normal? acclimation process or doing something wrong? i'm thinking about getting growing lights to help. good or bad idea? help..

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designshark

You need well drained soil. I'd mix 50/50 with course sand and keep them as warm as possible like over a furnace register or heating pad. Don't water until soil seems bone dry and wait 'til spring for fertilizer.

I'm not an expert yet but the people here have taught me well.

Abnshrek

Some perolite in the mix doesn't hurt & isn't as heavy as sand when it comes to moving the pot.. :^)

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pushak513

I put some siams over a heating vent and almost killed them all. I think thats a bit to much heat so I would advise against that but keeping them warm helps. I am still getting partial brown leaves on my siam pups and its a nice 80 with 70% hum. in that room and a grow light. some nanas just don't like it indoors

radar4075

Hay all .again as most I am not a expert but I am bringing up many bananas in nj witch means most of there life is in doors .first any change from there norm will cause yellow and die off but the new will come in fine . I see many mention by heat register that's bad it drys them out almost over night . My plants are in a basment one window heat registers at least 10 feet away and warm and cold fluorescents on 45 degree angles for supplement light10 hours a day.fan on low for 3 hours a day on timer. they get water when dry at finger depth and fish amoltion 1 time a mounth misting ever few days .doing this after it aclumates you will get a new leaf ever 2 weeks and this year I got some pups . This is my fourth year of in / out growing in Jersey. Just note when u bring them out in the spring they will yellow again ... Good luck

Abnshrek

Well the main things w/ growing indoors is keep the bugs off them, make sure your soil is fast wicking (IE.. have some sand and perlite in the mix (composted manure, peet, and a scoop of fire ash in my mix)), Light, and desirable temps. Plants don't grow as good as they do outside when they are warm, but we have to make due. I always make sure mine have a good water reservior (22-24" hot water heater pans for my 25 & 33 gal nursury pots) then they can't dry out to much.. :^)

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a1nipper

I received a Dwarf Cavendish at the end of May 2012 and it was around 3". I have grown indoors in front of a picture window with supplemental daylight cfls. It is close to 2' tall today and thriving! Potted with miricle grow soil and crushed aluminum cans at bottom of pot to aid drainage.

lava lounge

I transplanted my praying hands bananas from outside to inside for the winter.

They have done awesome, with a catus type well drained soil, not over a heat vent but close to the windows so they get as much light as possible.

I water about ever two weeks when the soil looks dry and I have had new leaves from the mother plant and the babies which are now about 3 to 4 ft tall.

The mother plant is in a room with vaulted ceiling and its as tall as it can get, so needless to say I think this summer here in michigan my plants should really grow.

As a side not I have a mucellie ( I know the spelling is incorrect) but that plant being a part of the banana family is incredible.
I have that bare rooted in the corner of the basement and it has grown 4 new leaves and has totally lost its red color with no light, no soil, but its a survivor and im not sure How I will even get it inside next season its getting so heavy..

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Pancrazio

I have 2 bananas in my house. A very small Dwarf Cavendish and a small Super dwarf Cavendish. I have grown them in the soil during the summer and a month before they stopped growing i uprooted them washed their roots and placed them in pots. At the beginning of november i brought them indoor and they will go out during april. This is their second year there.
I can advice as follow: give them as much light as you can (but they don't need to be in direct light, they aren't on south facing windows, and they don't have any additional light, and here daylight during winter is even poorer than in NJ), keep them away from heat sources but in a warm environment (my room is about 17-20C), water them sparsely (i give them a major showd once in 1,5 months, between that i water them once in week with maybe half glass of water) pot them in a permeable soil, avoid any clay. That's all. Don't do any stressing intervention on them, till you have them outside (no repotting, no pup removing, nothing). They don't grow fast, but they grow, and don't rot. And that's enought for me.

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