keeping Bananas warm.
 

Any suggestions for keeping bananas warm? Its doesn't get artic cold here so I just need to give them a little help when the temps dip to the high 20's for a few hours every once in a while. I have used coleman gas lanterns before they throw off quite a bit of heat. But It's a real pain to pump up 40 lanterns and then repump and pressurise again at 3 am! I was thinking maybe tiki torches or something? Less heat but light once and they will burn the whole night. I am not sure how well the Christmas light deal works either. Any proven ideas are welcome.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I've never tried it, but lots of folks recommend the Christmas lights. So that may be your best option.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I guess that might save the stem but it wouldnt help the leaves I dont think. I think you have to use those old style lights also and not the smaller modern ones.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I use a couple of infared patio heater to keep my bananas warm at this time of year. The heat radiates and warms a 10 by 9 foot area.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

That won't work for me I have them spread out over about an acre. I would need about 20 patio heaters!

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

electric blanket?

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

lol! any rain might be a big prob with that one!

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Good way to keep stray dogs (or possibly anything alive) off your lawn though, LOL

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I already have the sniper tower for that one lol!

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

If you don't have fussy neighbors and don't care what Al Gore thinks, you might be able to find some old used smudge pots. I was going to buy some last year for about $20 since growers generally don't use them anymore. You can just burn used motor oil (which my local car dealer gave me for free when I ran out), though I don't recommend inhaling the fumes!

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I'll be interested in the responses, too. Perhaps some black plastic on the ground under each would help slightly, especially if it was held in place by stones. The Christmas tree lights are the most practical, you're going to lose some leaves I imagine, but they will grow back as long as the pstem survives.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

i used the christmas lights last year are they seemed to help a little, but i dont think enough to do again this year...

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Once FreezePruf is relased, (sometime next month) I beleive it will help quote a bit.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Hopefully sooner than later the combination of temp drops and high winds are shredding the bananas here.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

I'm with Chironex on the black plastic. If you want to keep the leaves, you'll have to keep the frost off them, and keep the plants warm enough to use the sunlight hitting the leaves (IE: growing slightly).

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Does anyone know of any UK suppliers selling FreezePruf?

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

It's not yet sold anywhere (it's supposed to be available in the U.S. in late fall) and I doubt it would be in the UK this year. Perhaps, if it becomes very popular here, it could find a distributor there.

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

You might also find an idea or two here!
Frost protection: fundamentals, practice, and economics - Volume 1

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Harvey:
What happened to your plan buying the vent less natural gas heaters?
I just ordered one new and see what it will do me.
20k BTU. with built-in thermostat. Cost $129 plus shipping.
I am building an enclosed banana shed with all glass cover on top (installed already). 12foot high.

Benny

Re: keeping Bananas warm.
 

Hi Benny, I did buy two of them and have one running in my greenhouse now. I paid about $120 for two, including shipping. One didn't run very well but then I cleaned the nozzle of build-up and it ran fine (the seller sent me a link to an online manual, fortunately).

It took me a while to figure out why I was having problems with it staying running, though. I discovered (and fortunately survived!) that I did not have enough fresh air coming in! So now I have that solved but I am going to work on trying to figure out how to hook up yet another heater that was given to me by a commercial grower. It would be mounted outside and has a blower so I could spread the heat around more evenly and not worry about the ventilation. Unfortunately, no manual came with it and I need to figure out how to wire it. I probably just need to go shopping for a heater some day and look for similar connections and guess from there.