marco

OK...

I found this website a few weeks ago and realized that I was NOT a freak of nature...that growing nana trees, giving them away, teaching others to grow nana trees, etc is indeed addicting!

I've also realized that I've been hauling basjoos in and out of two different houses that we've lived in now for. ......oh........probably 7 to 9 years now. And of course I've come to understand now that I didn't HAVE TO!


Now since then I've thought about it some and I've come up with two realistic 2008 New Year's resolNANAlutions ! ! ! !



(They will both 'spill' into '09 some in order to see total success, though)

ResolNANAlution # 1

I want to successfully overwinter a number of 'patches' of basjoos in and around the yard starting with the moving of my current plants outside in May.
I need more basjoos to do this though, as I gave almost all mine away that got too big for the house.

(Can anyone help with seeds? PM me please. I'll start some now.)

I'm very confident about my success with this 1st resolnanalution after communicating in the 'cold hardy' forum.


ResolNANAlution # 2

...and I'm sure the tougher one.

I want to find the banana that puts up with the most arid conditions of any variety out there.

When you think of bananas you think of 'moisture'.
But I see blogs coming in here from very dry places of the world like parts of Texas and Europe.

What banana plant tolerates relatively dry air conditions better than other banana plants, if any?

My point with resolnanalution #2 is to take a banana that is generally more tolerant to dryer air and, with the help of the moisture-preserving "banana oil" that I used to make the basjoos tolerate the house 6.5- 7 months a year,
I feel very confident that I can 'train' such a banana tree to live in normal house light conditions (non "greenhouse" conditions) 100% of the year.

magicgreen

alrighty now! you go boy!!!!!

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

microfarmer

Well, living in California's central valley and dealing with some hot dry weather, I have to say that I had no problems at all growing bananas in dry hot conditions. I did notice the leaves would fold together to conserve water, but if you're spraying them with oil, then you shouldn't have a problem.

I will suggest that you collect some of the variegated varieties as these are better suited for lower light conditions and have that 'wow' effect.

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My new hero...

marco

Are you saying the variegated varieties are more suitable for lower light just because the dark colors will absorb more more wavelengths of light than lighter and "greener" ones, or is there some other reason?

And I'm assuming you're talking about CA outside conditions- probably consistantly pretty hot, right?

That is quite a departure from what my basjoos experience all winter in the house here...67-70 F temps, heat pump supplied humidity with normal light coming through venetian blinds.
In the summer we do go 'old fashioned' and leave the windows open quite a bit,
(We have good shade trees & nice breeze generally)
The house inside temps can get to the mid to upper 80's with higher natural humidity in the summer, though.

My goal, again, is to grow a 'arid tolerant' banana in high 'natural' window-front indoor light conditions completely year-round.
If the oil that I've used on the basjoos helps me get to that goal, I'll use it to help hold in the moisture in the 'arid tolerant' variety if I have to until I learn the plants limits.

jason

I have had a musa dwarf that only gets about 8 feet tall in my house for almost 5 years it has never seen outside and does great and gives me about 6 pups a year! but never will it fruit!!! thats the only downside.

magicgreen

Jason, have you ever taken a pup off the mother plant? Is it possible to plant it outside where you are? Got any pictures? Magicgreen

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

microfarmer

I suggested those not because they grow easily under low light or humidity, but because they are usually grown in some shade. They'll burn in bright sun. The white areas won't photosynthesize. Plus, they're just cool looking!

Yep, outside in the bright California sunshine. I have seen 5 weeks straight of over 100 degrees with the highest being 112 daytime in July, and then down to around 55 at night with the Delta Breezes (gotta love 'em). Some nights, we get a hot, dry north wind for the nights, and the temp is still over 90 at 11pm. Humidity around 20-25%. I did get leaf folding and some minor sunburn.

I ran my ground level drip sprayers at about 5-6pm for about 45 minutes, more to drop the temperature, than to raise the humidity. Next year I'll spray overhead instead of at ground level just for the humidity and cooling and hook them to a timer for more waterings, and less duration... The lower temp days in the 80's have low humidity and there is no leaf folding.


Now the question is are you going to truly go 'arid' and purposely going to withold water from the plant, or will it get regular watering? I'm sure most of us try to supply all the water the plant can handle, the indoor growers probably less so, Jason seems like he's got it going on, but I think you can (with proper soils or water holding crystals/gel, etc.) cut watering down and, maybe, still get a couple of bananas to ripen... Do you want fruit production? If so, then more light, water, and nutrients are going to be required.

If they will get regular and deep waterings, and the soil holds water well, you may not have humidity and heat related problems and grow a lovely houseplant. I grew 1/2 a dozen different bananas last winter in my livingroom with no humidity related problems. They were in a very gloomy room with little light. I only watered them once a month, but they were in oversized containers and the soil held water well. Now, my intentions were only to keep them alive, but they grew and looked good. If your oil will deter mites, now you may be on to something. I'll bet an oiled plant looks muy sexy!

__________________
My new hero...

jason

do not have close up pics but some of my deck photos you will see a banana planted in the ground just on the left hand side of my deck that was a 6 inch pup this june when i took it of the mother plant thats inside the house and planted it outside it grew about 4 feet tall this year and gave me 5 pups from it.

marco

GROOVY!
You and I need to talk!
(And I think we should do it out here in the open so that others in our same situation can possibly benefit too)

Help me out here...I've been growing for a while, but I'm a newbie to the jargon.
What's a musa 'dwarf'? What is the specific variety name?

At your Indiana home, do you have lots of skylights and /or picture windows?
How do you heat your home in the winter? And at what temp range?
Do you do anything special in the dry winter months to help preserve / maintain the moisture needs of your 8' musa dwarf?
Finally, do you notice a discernable 'perking up' of your indoor banana tree as the season gradually moves from winter towards summer?


Congrats on your consistant pup success!
I only get pups inside the house once in a while... and as I said mine are basjoos I've been moving in and out incessantly for years now.

Fruit?
Not worried about that for now.
Maybe that will be my 2009 resolnanalution, who knows?

I just want permanent exterior hardy naners ( I assume those will probably be basjoos);
and the permanent interior ones as well.

marco

Yeah...I've been doing the same 'keeping them alive' bit in the winter now for almost a decade. ( And as I said before I feel like an idiot now that I know I could've overwintered basjoos very easily had I KNOWN BETTER!
Never an mite or insect problem on any of my naners, and the Banana oil watered down to the ratio of 15 : 1 with distilled water doesn't really leave any muy sexy sheen!.....sorry! :06:

harveyc

What is banana oil? Never heard of it. Link to product info would be appreciated.

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jason

hi the name of the nanner is Musa Cavendishi it sits about 2 feet away infront of my deck door windows that are a eastern exsposure above my banana is 2-28 watt fluo,,bulbs ,the scew in kind, 6,500 kelvin is the color spectrum of the bulbs.I keep always my indoor banana on the dryer side sometimes i dont water it for 2 weeks my house is heated with natural gas wich is air forced. day time temp in my house is 77 degrees and about 74 at night I leave the lights on above my banana for 12 hours a day and the humidity in my house is always around 44 %,I feed it only 2 times a year with just a standard miracle grow food 14-14-14 an other than that it really does get neglected but seems to like it . i do have pups that are acclumated already to interior conditions that are off of the mother plant that is inside my house . Take care and i hope this was of some help! Jason.

marco

O.K...Not that anything's necessarily 'right' or 'wrong' either way; from what I can tell the differences between you and me are that :

1) You are supplementing your plant with artificial light; and I'm not.
( I choose not to because of asthetic reasons in the key 'show' area)
2) You sound like you keep your house about 5 degrees warmer on average than I do, both day AND night, in the heating season.
3) You fertilize 2X a year with Micacle Grow.
I fertilize with 8-7-6 w/ micros with every watering; up until the banana slows to a crawl like it is right now. Then I stop the fert completely until the light intensity through the windows begin to 'pick up' quite a bit as the days get longer in Feb and March.

Things that are about the same:

1) Home humidity level- I keep mine between 40-45% too.
2) Exposure- I have both good eastern and western interior exposures through both vertical and venetian blinds for the basjoos.
3) Water cycle- the same, every 2 weeks in winter. A little more often when the windows are open later.

Hmmm.....
The 'extra light' you provide, and the higher temps that you like to have in general, certainly could be key factors in your GENUINE success.

But I'm not convinced yet that the REAL answer couldn't just lie in a change of banana variety.

Microfarmer may be on to something with the variegated varieties....

Jason,
When you began keeping the Musa cavendishi permanently in the house, was there a specific reason you thought that one might work better than ANOTHER one?
Or did you choose it because it was a 'dwarf', and the vision of a 'dwarf' plant made of your wife feel better about the ceiling's fate ?

Gabe15

Bananas do not need humidity really as long as they get enough water. I grew bananas indoors, in containers, in Colorado for 4 years, I got fruit and everything. The thing about bananas is, they really like high amount of sunlight, humidity, food, etc...but they do not need it to just be a nice houseplant. Outside in the tropics, they thrive and use up anything you give them, but they will not usually die given less than what they could use. They can be easily grown as normal houseplants, now if you want to try and produce lots of fruit, you would really have to push them, but its possible. In the winter, I just water less and they usually stop growing, or grow very slow (due to cold temperatures), but they are fine, and as soon as it warms up I start watering more and they grow faster and so it continues. I have lots of pictures in my gallery of plants I have in my house.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

jason

With the lighting deal over my banana it is not some rigged up deal their happened to be a 36 inch track lighting that was already their i just changed the bulbs on in it to flu,,,verse the standard flood style lights that were in it already ,so as far as visual goes as far as decor it looks fine,plus my wife would never let me hang some half you know light fixture above any of my plants that are down stairs,now for the upstairs computer room that is a whole nother deal i have 800 watts of light to light all my rare palms and other plants i winter over upstairs,one light wich is a huge 400 watt metal halide is hung from the ceiling by a big hook that a had to screw into the ceiling cross beams. kelvin plays a key role when trying to light your plants inside your house with artificial light. oh the reason for picking this banana was because it didnt get very tall other than that no really specific reason i choose that over something else .if i could fit a banana that gets 40 feet tall in my house i surely would have one in my house,,lol Take care. one more thing i found my ae variegated bananas when inside for the winter because they dont get very good light the new leaves tend to come out very heavily variegated and if they come out to white you can run into problems with them starting to rot out in the center ,I had to wak my almost 6 foot tall ae because of this problem so on my other ae bananas i started giving them a little food to keep the leave more on the green side verse on the white ,,ae bananas are very tricky to winter over inside a house and they hate it when i bring them in for the winter ,they do not like the change!

marco

I value your hands-on experience and opinion very highly.
And given that you're one of the original grand pooh-bahs of this site I feel especially honored that you'd throw in your two cents !

Thanks!

In the 'earlier' years (7-8 years ago) when I first began to bring the banana trees inside around the end of September of so, I just accepted it as a 'normal response' that the basjoos would begin a slowing of growth, or even a 'decline' of sorts around December or January.

But my wife and I had begun to get exasperated every winter at looking at ugly brown-leaved corpses barely limping towards April.

So, using my (now 25 year) background in EXTERIOR 'green industry' stuff, I began to experiment with the anti-desiccant (anti-drying) concept on them one fall as I put half a dozen of them inside.
At that point in time, I was still using Wilt Pruf. ( A genuinelly labelled anti-desiccant )
After 2 weeks in the house I misted 3 basjoos with the Wilt Pruf solution, and left the other 3 untreated.
I put all 6 of them in the same window exposure and treated them the same way with water.

I'm here to tell you that the 1st year's results weren't 'glorious' by any means; it was the 1st 'run through'.
But we DID notice a discernable difference in the 3 basjoos that WERE treated with the anti desiccant in that they were able to "maintain" their old green leaves and not gradually die off nearly as fast as the 3 control trees.

The next winter I went 'off label' to the horticulture oil as I described in the " ? about over wintering in the house" thread when I first started on this website 3 weeks ago.
Conclusion: I know that there was absolutely no question that excessive moisture loss through the plant's leaf pores had been (at least) a contributing factor in their winter time indoor decline at our place.

Since then there's been no turning back...
Every winter's gotten better and better and now they actually don't turn brown at all but actually grow some!



However I do detect a COMMON DENOMINATOR in both what I see in your beautiful gallery photos (with your skylights) , and what Jason described in his blog......more LIGHT than I know I've had naturally...

And that loops me back to the thread question, but now maybe modified a little :
Now (maybe) I'm looking for the most 'arid' tolerant and 'shade' tolerant banana for my 100% indoor application.

marco

magicgreen

Iam so very new to banana growing. I sometimes understand what is posted, and sometimes NOT! But I gotta tell you; Ever since I brought my nannas into the house for the winter, i have been spraying the leaves with water with a few drops of olive oil which i add to the sprayer. The leaves are beautiful. I havent lost hardly any leaves. The leaves are soft AND pretty,AND green,and strong. Maybe its beginners luck, I dont know. I spray the top and undersides of the leaves, not the trunk. Maybe later I'll learn i did the wrong thing. But right now its working! So maybe the olive oil is working as a dessicant. MG

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(Started growing bananas July 2007)
(Zone 6)

microfarmer

Woops, scratch that suggestion. I guess it's wishful thinking...

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My new hero...