Howard007

I dug up and potted my banana plants that were in the yard this fall to bring inside for the winter because they were all first year TC plants and I was thinking if we had a really nasty winter they might not pull through, and I didn't want to lose them.

The economy setup I came up with was to purchase fixtures with somewhat improved reflectors and then use a combination of 48" Sylvania and Philips 6500K 32W bulbs mixed with a few Gro-Lux bulbs. The 6500K bulbs are rated at about 2900 lumens, and the Gro-Lux bulbs are considerably less. I have everything on a timer to run 15 1/2 hrs. a day, I mist everything down twice daily, and the temps are pretty steady at about 67F. I was considering replacing the Gro-Lux bulbs with more 6500K bulbs for the additional lumens?

Most have already put out several new leaves so far so something must be working

Please feel free to make any suggestions, comments, etc.

cincinnana

Nice set up.
Your plants have good color and they look fresh.
I use a similar setup for some of my plants with the mix of full spectrum light bulbs and 6500ks, very economical. Those two types of bulbs will hold you over the winter, they have me.
Changing out the full spectrums with 6500k daylights might not give the fuller spectrum punch that your jungle requires......just my op.
My set up is similar, using tubes and spirals.

What kind of music do they listen too........I see a radio.

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designshark

Looks great! I could hang out in there a while! Do your plants enjoy listening to the radio?

monicacalhoun

Low (or even no) light shouldn't really be a problem if you install good quality grow lights. I grow all my orchids in my basement under regular florescent fixtures my plants, phals and one or two other oddball orchids I keep around here sit up ... bright light, which is on a cycle of 12 hours on/12 hours off, all winter long.

What Do You Think???
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Howard007

If I thought the radio would help the banana plants, I'd definitely plug it in and crank up Electric Light Orchestra

Funkthulhu

Okay, here's a question.

I've got a very similar setup to Howard's in my basement. I have a couple big bananas but also some palms and various other oddballs for Nebraska. Absolutely no natural light down there. I just leave the lights on 24/7. Will this cause problems, or should I give them a rest for 6-8 hours a day?

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"In his house at Omaha, dread Funkthulhu plants bananas."

Abnshrek

I left mine on last year 24/7.. Didn't hurt nothing.. :^)

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cincinnana

Me to.....!!!!!! or Steven Tyler

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Snookie

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Abnshrek

Yeah, you probably have yours listening to Zydeco? :^)

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cincinnana

A Cincinnati homegrown.....Robin Lacy....

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Howard007

I seem to be getting more and more yellow/brown older lower leaves and some of the plants just don't appear as robust as even a couple weeks ago, especially the saba plants.

I'm wondering if I watered too much, over fertilized after bringing them inside, the lights are too close to the plants, not enough light, photo period (16 hrs) too long or short, temps too cool, etc?

What are the telltale signs of over watering?

cincinnana

Your plants are just showing their displeasure of growing under lights.
Even though you and I have tubes or Cfls on our plants, it still is not enough energy to GROW our stock. WE are giving the plants enough light to maintain them, not the light to grow them through the roof.
If I ( we ) wanted to do that then the cost to maintain the plants would exceed the cost to replace the plants......Unless it was a money plant

AS for water and fert, our plants are almost dormant with the conditions we are growing them in....our plants do not need fert in the winter because they are not actively growing like they would in the summer, same way with water, keep it dry.
Here are some pics of leaves taken almost daily from my stock, they look just like yours.
Of course this is what works for me and it might not apply for every one .



Do not worry, it seems like we are doing something right. Right.

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CraigSS

I am interested in knowing. How did your plants do in the long run?
Craig

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Howard007

That setup has worked to keep everything alive over the winters for the past few years. I just last week brought everything in again for the winter and the lights are again fired up.