Chironex

Can anyone suggest the best edible bananas to grow in arid, hot climates, like Las Vegas? What special recommendations would you have to help me get them to grow there successfully. I know Damacles is trying some varieties, but sun burn is an obvious issue. Any better ideas, thoughts for specific varieties?

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Scot

Dean W.

Great question, I'd be intrested in the answer.

Dean

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island cassie

I think the dryness would be your problem before heat - if they are acclimatised to the sun they don't seem to burn - but they do need humidity and water.

Cassie

lorax

I'd say dryness is your factor here. We can grow Cavendish and Rojo in the high-altitude deserts here, where temps often pass the high 40's (Centigrade) but it's so water intensive that most people don't do it. I'm talking about going out to water your nanners twice daily on days over 30. Oddly enough, Plantains (big mother green cooking nanners) grow just fine, if you observe the practice of watering once daily and take into account my next point.

You'll want to investigate fairly robust wind screening for any nanners you plant. In the deserts here it's often not the lack of humidity (and we can go down to a punishing 20%) that kills the pups, but being literally blown away - the leaves get shredded down to rags and the plant expires. With a wind-break the plants have a better chance of retaining their own moisture.

microfarmer

In the Sacramento valley it gets up to 110-115F in the summer. The temp does fall at night, so the plants have a respite each night to recharge.

I have had many varieties flourish thru the summer without much sunburn or ill effects. They did fold up their leaves though from the heat stress, but when I put my hand inside, there was alot of moisture. I'm sure it folds it's leaves to conserve water and limit transpiration.

I do set my ground level drip sprayers to come on about 2 pm and spray for 15-20 minutes or so.

The cool water, and evaporation is just enough to drop the temp to around 100F or less and keep 'em growing, instead of stalling. Afternoon shade will help in water restricted areas.

Hmmm...overhead drip sprayers...

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mrbungalow

According to the MGIS Database, Mysore is the most heat-tolerant, If i understood correctly. You could check passport data yourself here:
Musa Germplasm Information System

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damaclese

good point all of you i spray my patio down at 2 every day that drops the heat allot and i do have lots of walls around my garden to protect all of my plants for the punishing winds that often sweep throw Vegas in the spring and lat winter i was told that Musa ice cream (Blue Java) is Farly heat tolerant alsow Keep my nanas in pots and Lewsly rap all my pots with shade cloth to keep the sun from heating the roots up or i put the pots in to the grownd i alsow always mulch and add polimer beads to the pots that helps even out the mosture i know sounds like a lot of trubal but if u want to gardin its a way of doing it and alot of plants do adaped after that critical first year you just have to exsept that in the desert thers going to be 25% loss no mater what you do alsow i dont feed alot in the moths of july agust sept most plants arnt realy growing ther just wating for the heat to go but im thinking based on the winter and veary cold spring that its going to be a really cool summer all bet it never gos over 105 this year and with care im sure a banaba can serviv 105 after all were they are nativ to gets to over 100 alot hay and in th end if u cant grow nanas thers lots of stuff u can grow
this is an after thought you could just bring them inside for the realy hot part of the year and alsow i forgot dont plant any thing deliced nest to the street the black top reflects a lot of heat

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Chironex

Pauly, I am so glad that you have done so much of the legwork in the desert climate. I am certain that we will be trying many new ideas as time goes by. I will be bringing my small collection out there at the end of June or first part of July. I just bought an Aeae and if we can make it pup, the first-born is yours! Perhaps this is overly optimistic, but I am positive that we can figure out how to make a go of it. Until I find a place to live I may have to ask you if I can park my Aeae on your back porch. I also have many other plants and seeds that I have accumulated over the past few months for us to try. Who cares if they are tropicals, let's give it a shot!

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Scot

damaclese

and all take that AeAe! yes you can park your nanas in my garden and any thing els you need until you get a home of your own
i think the AeAe mite need some protection from the high summer I'm thinking it mite need to be inside for the next couple of moths best not to loose such a valuable specimen

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Velutina

I lived in Las Vegas for 5 months last year and grew bananas the whole time. I planted them in a spot where they didn't get direct sunlight during the hottest part of the year. They did OKAY, not great. I think the soil they were in could have been A LOT better.

I'm thinking about what i'm going to do when I get down there again in a month. I'm thinking a raised bed using railroad ties and filling it with a lightweight, well-draining compost/peat/perlite mix. And most likely adding a shade cloth mounted on a wood frame.

Either that or just build a greenhouse

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Adam

Chironex

Did u build the greenhouse in your pictures? Do you have plans for them, or is it your own design? I will be interested in building one myself once I am settled there. Keep in touch, please.
Thanks

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Scot

Velutina

Scot, the one in my avatar has served me well, but it was an expensive kit. If I build a greenhouse in Vegas, I'll do it myself and spend the thousands I save on plants There are lots of plans available online and in books. You just need some simple tools and a few spare weekends. Installing misters and shade cloths would be a must, but i'm certain the bananas would grow like weeds.

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Adam

damaclese

I'm building a green house this fall because of the sun iv decided to locate it on the east side of my house that means sun only until 1ish in the summer and less in the winter i will augment it with artificial lights this is necessary because of the heat I'm also placing a water feature around the base so that when i opine the vents at the foot of the walls it will draw in the moisture and just look so cool

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Kylie2x

What a great question... I'm in Texas and the heat and that West Texas sun is brutal come July and August.. I am always struggling to find places to put Banana's so I don't have to deal with the sunburn.. I mulch mulch mulch to help keep the soil temps down and hold moisture..usually only water once a day... HMMMM Mysore.. how cold tolerant is it???
Kylie

Velutina

Pauly, you should be able to keep a greenhouse cool enough in full sun, even if it is 115 degrees outside. You will need to use shade cloths and some sort of misting/fogging system. Yes, this would be a little extra work in the hottest summer months, but the winter is when the real benefit comes in.

Lighting: Place the greenhouse where it will recieve the most light during winter months. This will prevent you from needing any supplemental lighting which are expensive to buy and run.

Heating: There are lots of ways to collect solar energy during the day and slowly release it at night. Probably the best way would be to have a large water tank that is connected to a solar water heater (the kind you see on roofs all over Vegas). At night, the hot water could be used to heat the greenhouse. A backup heating source should always be on stand-by.

You may even get a tax credit if you use the greenhouse to help heat your home.

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Adam

lorax

Actually, you can put heatwalls right in your greenhouse - I have used 45 gal drums filled with water and painted black for this purpose. They collect solar rads and release at night.

Velutina

Thanks lorax! Your suggestion led me to some great resources online. I'm thinking that a solar greenhouse would be the best way to grow bananas in a hot, arid climate. Using lots of heat sinks (water, walls, etc) will help maintain a more constant temperature, especially during the winter months. And obviously the greenhouse will take care of the lack of humidity in Vegas.

The DIY section of BuildItSolar: Solar energy projects for Do It Yourselfers to save money and reduce pollution is awesome.

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Adam

Chironex

Great ideas and I really liked the websites too. I think we will have to start a greenhouse thread - if anyone would take the lead on this, I think it could be a great resource. Perhaps we could also tie it into the discussions of grey water usage. Hmmmmmm.....

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Scot

damaclese

All really good points i just thought it would get to hot here could move it a bit so its on a east west axsis thats the best i could do as i have a relativly tight space if i turned it long wase to point south and north only about 10 ft of it would get full sun i think all have to consider this more but i am planing on houseing a coletion of orchids so i was consernd about sun and temp control will be critical alsow i sorta wanted to atach it to my home and the only wall avalibal faces east lots to still think about

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island cassie

Just in case this is of use to anyone in hot non-humid areas - in the Arabian desert they use shaded polytunnels/glasshouses with wet sacking over the ends and a fan blowing through it. It would probably use too much power to run all day, but at midday for a couple of hours with a low power fan, it could make all the difference do you think? Haven't tried it here as we have plenty of humidity, today is cool at 83f and 76% - later it gets to 100f and anywhere up to 90% - phew!!

Cassie