Winter Grow
 

Thanks to a good kick in the ass from Cincinanna vis-a-vis this comment:

"Even more important is the lighting and temperature of the planned indoor growing area. Without the correct environment, the soil is meaningless."

I am shifting gears on my over wintering setup.

These are the plants I plan on experimenting with this year and so far, they have been doing well and are growing pretty quickly. I know, this is a repeat of a post in a different thread, however all of the plants are in here now and I figured a separate thread would be a good way to log the performance over the next 5-6 months.

This is not intended to be "my" thread and I certainly invite anyone to relay any expertise, experiences and pictures they care to, especially with regard to setups that keep plants growing over winter in our northern (or southern) colder climates.

Re: Winter Grow
 

I have always had trouble with spider mites indoors after bringing tropicals in for winter. Thats probably because I always leave them out till the last minute and so do not have time to treat them for mites. So for me I now just try to keep them somewhat dormant rather than trying to grow them.

Re: Winter Grow
 

That’s good to know. I have anticipated those little buggers might be an issue and both watered and sprayed the plants several times with a neem oil mixture before bringing them indoors. I will also keep an eye on them and continue to spray them as needed until they head outside again. I’ll keep my fingers crossed they won’t be too problematic.

Re: Winter Grow
 

In my experience, the soil has always been the most important part of the plants' environment that I can influence. It has a direct impact on root pressure which affects plant growth and yield.

Can you explain in more detail why it becomes meaningless in your overwintering setup.

Re: Winter Grow
 

For some context, maybe have a look at these threads if you haven’t already:

http://www.bananas.org/f312/over-win...mix-54404.html

http://www.bananas.org/f312/potting-...and-54430.html

I lost a lot of plants (all of my Dwarf Orinoco and many of my HH) in my garage over the last few cold seasons (first year not as bad, but I still had losses). Most of them had been established in the same pots over the growing season and simply moved into the garage. I was blaming the mix I was using (home made) because even plants that I didn’t water at all succumbed to rot. My thinking was that primarily the coir (about 25% if I remember correctly, but maybe 33%, not near my notes) was holding too much moisture for the conditions.

The temperature was generally in the 40’s over the winter months, but would occasionally dip into the high 30’s, or climb to the mid 50’s.

They were next to south facing, insulated windows but the sun here is below the top of the tree line for several months and therefore doesn’t really cast that much light into the garage, not to mention it’s usually overcast. They also had a single 4 foot, T5 supplemental grow light and, in one space, a reflective perimeter.

Not exactly ideal conditions but I figured for those varieties they would be adequate for quasi dormant storage.

Maybe I was correct in my original assumption that the mix was the primary culprit, and maybe I wasn’t. However, because I now wasn’t sure temperature and light conditions weren’t at least part of the problem, and I couldn’t really afford to lose any more plants, I deferred to my interpretation of the comment and set up the current situation which I am hopeful will work.

So, I took the ‘meaningless’ comment in the spirit I believe was intended which is to suggest that I may be focusing too much on the mix and not considering other parameters that may be contributing to my difficulties. I don’t think anybody would seriously try to argue that growing medium is an unimportant factor.

Going forward, when I again have enough excess material to truly experiment with, I will play around with the suggestions throughout the forum for different mixes and see what more I can learn relevant to my situation.

Re: Winter Grow
 

It's good that you were able to find a positive message in that advice but there are going to be some newbies that will read that and not realize how important the proper soil composition really is.

A farmer works to amend the soil.

A hobbyist container grower has the advantage of controlling every aspect of the plants' underground environment.

The first and simplest thing someone should focus on is creating the most perfect underground environment.

Re: Winter Grow
 

Makes sense, thank you.

Re: Winter Grow
 

To make your plants more comfortable water them with warm water and a drop or two of a wetting agent or dish detergent to break the surface tension(hydrophobic soil) of your soilless mix. This will make the water soak in instead of running off the side gap between the mix and the container.

Many times gardeners claim they have fast-draining soil but in reality, the water just runs to the gap on the side of the container and out the drain holes and fails to fully hydrate the container.

Re: Winter Grow
 

Ok, will do. I have noticed the mix seems to ‘dry out’ rapidly, so what you suggest might very well be going on. Thank you

Re: Winter Grow
 

If the plant is actively growing it's using and transpiring moisture.

Being dry is a good thing between waterings because it causes the roots to seek out moisture and grow additional fine root structure.

You might have noticed small water droplets at the edges of the leaves(guttation) occasionally after watering and in the morning. The plant is doing what plants do. When I do watering and maintenance my shirt gets wet.

Your easiest test and one of the best I think is to observe the weight of your container when watered versus dry when you pick it up. Mine are usaully on the light side.
If the container is heavy or half heavy it gets no water.

You probably practice all of this but others might find a takeaway in there somewhere.

Re: Winter Grow
 

Looking good
Just wondering for my own purpouses, have you had any problems with local police forces for growing out the bananas indoors? Trying to do risk assesment for a indoor grow setup.
(All plans are set, i just need to sort out legal things for my area)

Re: Winter Grow
 

not a problem at all especially now that you can legally grow herbs
locally they put out a press release saying do not call on you're neighbor if you smell herb
it is a waste of resources and I am glad that the focus is on more pertinent matters

Re: Winter Grow
 

Like Subsonicdrone said, no issue at all...totally legal as long as you don't grow more plants than the law allows.

As far as attracting attention, not likely with my setup. We live out in the sticks a bit so no one is going to see the light coming from that room unless they are seriously trespassing... and I am only using 2 T5 grow bulbs (4ft + 3ft) and a 5500 lumen, 4 panel LED "bulb" in the regular light socket on the ceiling, so not drawing anywhere close to enough power for the utility company to notice.

Re: Winter Grow
 

Good to know. ill be dealing with a city enviroment in wich i need to be slightly more careful.
I feel as long as i dont grow weed in the same tent, it will be fine
(Side Note: My room lights are NOT, and i repeat NOT IDEAL for growing under my normal lighting levels at night.

Re: Winter Grow
 

Most Rooms are most definitely not made for grow operations ;) - With some creative pvc construction and wiring, you can make "lamps" of any height for just about any purpose quite cheaply. And, take a look at the crazy lumen LED screw in lights you can get these days (gotta be mindful of the wattage):

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=high+lumen...ref=nb_sb_noss

and

https://www.amazon.ca/s?k=high+lumen..._ts-doa-p_2_11

My plants have been thriving in a smallish breakfast nook type space with the light mentioned in my previous post.

Its an idea anyway :D

Re: Winter Grow
 

huh! wonder when you can cook moonshine legally. i talked to a state revenuer a number of years back. 10,000 dollar fine for anything under a quart and 10 years federal pen for anything over a quart, even if it's mixed with water for the non taxed stuff.

a few years back montana said they could grow the erb and then the feds came and arrested all that did. took away their porsches and everything.

your best off if you research this instead of listening to what comes from a friends lips while those same lips are holding a doobie. lol

Re: Winter Grow
 

Those utility lights are adequate for what we must do for the time we have to do it, they do the job for the seven months I have to use them.
While most are not full spectrum one may supplement the red and blue color spectrum with blurples if you wish.

The introduction of the versatile screw in directional fold-in lights makes spot growing much easier for me.
They are great for making pendant lighting so you can move them around and they look pretty decent too.

Re: Winter Grow
 

All interesting options mentioned here.
I will have to worry about transport (It will need to transgress between two properties during our warmer months) And i have acess to at least one space in wich i can store A tall plant. im limited to where the chandelier hangs though. If any of you have reccomended SOOJW based hanging bulb sockets, i could setup a reel type system in wich the height of the pendant would be closer to the plant. (or ill just suspend the standard grow light… its not very ideal conditions in my household. one of the older house types. 2M tall ceilings, both floors. One about 4-8ish metere tall space, limited by the hanging light fixture.

Re: Winter Grow
 

This is a DIY pendant lamp for a small footprint plant.
Combinations of economical bulbs and configurations are endless.
Buy what you can afford it doesn't have to look pretty, it just has to work as supplemental lighting for the winter.





DIY pendant light
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

Re: Winter Grow
 

I dont feel good suspending a plug in bulb socket on a exstension cord, so ill find and buy myself a pendant bulb socket that i can wire. Then, its more secure and im not worried about cracked cfls or my plant getting hurt.