Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

I have a drip system and it has a mister I put on a pole beside the Musa Basjoo. I am located in TN. The bananas have really been droopy lately because of the high heat - 90+ and humid.

Is it ok to mist them over the whole plant EVERYDAY around 11AM? These basjoo are currently around 8' tall and established.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

My plants do the same thing and our growing conditions are similar.
I do mist and spray woodland plants but I do not add additional humidity to my banana plants....just more water to their roots.

Usually our plants leaves will fold/droop vertically when in the hot sun.
Then when the sun goes down they flatten back out to normal only to do the same thing the next day.
The leaves will do this to decrease their exposure to the sun.
It is the nature of the plant.

I also have plants on a turf and low pressure drip irrigation setup.

As the garden matured I had to change the water delivery from drip to spray and now to bubblers and variable drip. Each delivers variable amounts of water to the ever thirsty larger plants.
Which means the 4 gallon per hour drip that I started off with is not enough water for the plant unless you run it often or longer where as a variable bubbler will soak the soil in ten minutes with 1-150 gallons of water.

Our plants will droop in the heat but I think misting will only run up your water bill.
I kinda think its personal preference too. I do like seeing rolling fog/mist over my ferns in the woods though.

I would water your mature established mats deeper and longer and see what happens first.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

IMO ... About 3 times during the heat of the day. But what you are really doing is cooling the plant and the upper soil, not watering the plants. So excess water running off the plants is not needed. Mist enough to dampen. ... Your drip system will take care of irrigation water needs. .... Misting should not cause a large increase of your water bill.



To better understand, you need to know the daily soil evaporation rater for your area. This is a measurement given by your local Ag weather reports. For my area is the soil evaporation rate is .25" t0 .3"; for your area may be a little less. Now a little supersize to see what this means for water loss. We know banana roots are mainly in the upper 12 to 14" of the soil and can extend out as far as 10 to 16 ft. .... So just using an 8ft radius at .25" water loss per day, this calculates to about 390 gals (580 gal @ 10ft) of water loss. .... BUT this amount of water can not be all in the upper 14" of the soil. It is water from the water table and in many locations (except Florida) beyond the reach on Banana roots and other shallow rooted plants. So Bananas and other shallow rooted plants can be in a drought condition even when other deep rooted plants are looking good.


A Banana plant's leaves folding is a direct indication of lack of water to meet the plants transpiration needs: cooling & nutrients. So plan irrigation water as needed.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

Thanks for the advice! My drip system is on a well so no water bill just elec. The mister hits my bananas and a few elephant ears so I think I'll leave it on when temps are over 85. I just didn't want to rot/disease anything. Maybe I need to add more water in the area. Thanks guys!!!!!!! And I love your Ohio tropicals cincinnana.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

The misting does need to dry out between applications to prevent rot and to keep the surface soil dry.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

How often are you actually watering your plants? I'm in Arizona, so I'll obviously have different water needs....just curious for a comparison.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

I have a lot of tropical plants and it's hot now so almost everyday. It's 90's everyday here.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

Thanks. Yeah, we've been hot (except for this weekend when the remnants of Bud moved through). Over 100 for a long time and a few days around 110. Humidity is almost nonexistent. I've been watering every few days but thinking I should up that (my plants are heavily mulched but folding during the heat of the day)

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

I am guessing they get rained on often, if not every day, in the tropics, so not likely a problem.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

This is good info! Here in central TX we are breaking heat records like crazy- my tree is in direct sunlight- Not so much after 3pm but most of the day- I have been watering morning and night and on really hot days on my lunch break. I was curious if I should still be fertilizing during the heatwave

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

How much water are you applying per day, per nana plant?
And, what is the size of the plants?


I'm seeing plantation drip systems applying 5-6 lpd per young plants to 25-30 lpd per at maturity & bunching. Of course this is an increasing scale as the plant grows & size. ... The balancing act here is to replace the water loss due to plant transpiration (size related) & soil evaporation loss to maintain the air-water ratio of the soil.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

Down here I would worry about leaf streak fungus issues but maybe not an issue where you are.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

Do I still need to mist if.

My outside temp is 88.4F with a 2.5mph wind out of the west
My windchill @92.9F
My heat index@104.F

Here is the kicker.
Dewpoint@ 79.9F
Humidity @74%
So humid you can get a close shave with your own sweat.

Is it really hotter in Cincinnati than it is in Miami.:)

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

I would. I just sprayed my small patch. Spray/misted nozzle slightly wide stream above the plants so droplets fall back on the leaves; And, it rained yesterday.

Re: Misting system during hot weather ok for everyday?
 

Thanks.:)