lwabirds

I bought several small basjoos that I potted up in September and placed under 2 grolux 40watt bulbs inside the house. I haven't over watered them. I've kept them on the dry side/moist. They're not doing good at all. They're turning brown and dieing. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong?

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the flying dutchman

Yeah, well, i don't know exactly. It's quite a shock for the plant. First the
fact that you have potted it and second the circumstances under wich it grows have changed.
Maybe the air is to dry where it is now or the temps too high or the spots
are burning it or a combination of those facts.
Just some guesses as most people keep their Basjoos on a cool spot and
dry in winter.


Ron

musa_monkey

FYI, I have 3 growing in the house well for the last two months. They are all potted and see natural light during the day. (No additional artificial light) The room temperature is around 20c and the humidity is always above 70RH and i dont spray the leaves. I also only water when they dry out and then vary sparingly.

bencelest

I am just guessing.
It sounds like you have an ideal surrounding for your plants to live.
But you have that problem.
If I were you, I would not put it on direct sunlight and since it appears that they are now in shock, I'll go easy on them. Then hopefully they should recover.
Sometimes they don't . When you say you don't water too much, that's a relative term.
And don't put fertilizer at this time. If you did, that maybe the problem.

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Banana Nut

lwabirds

they've been inside for about a month. Just can't figure them out.

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bencelest

Maybe this is another guess:
I also bought a bunch of small bananas last spring. I only have gotten to live about 70 % of them. They are mostly cultured bananas. Even the spears that I got 3 or 4 had died. Change of environment I guess, or heat or ?
You see they live in an environment that they were born with and then all of a sudden they got transferred to where they are not used to. So they are in shock!
Only the fittest survive. Those that are weak are eliminated.

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Banana Nut

mrbungalow

I guarantee you it's lack of light. Two 40 W bulbs doesn't do the job. You need a Metal Halide fixture of atleast 300 W to get effective light for bananas. Some special fluorescents work great too, but only for smaller plants.
The more light and the higher temperatures, the more water you need too.

Bananas are not hard to grow, and shouldn't die or turn brown. If they do there is an environmental-factor that must be eliminated. Contrary to what I believed before they can take quite dry air as long as there is enough light. Light is the key.

Erlend

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bencelest

The MH will give you the right tempt for your plants aside from the lights it needs. The downside is the cost of the electric.

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Banana Nut

the flying dutchman

Mine grow perfectly well in the basement with the temps between 50F-60F
and only 4 low-energy bulbs, no MH or growlights at all. The humidity is
90%.

I think the general rule is: the lower the temps the less light you need or
no light at all(then they are dormant)
This goes with rule 2: the lower the temps, the less the growth is, the less
you have to water or not all.

Now, ofcourse, all depends on what your goal is, you can invest alot of
money to create the perfect conditions but it is not necessary.


Ron

cactus6103

I think you said it perfectly. Red

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Family, Friends and Bananas

mrbungalow

Yes, Ron summed it up perfectly.

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Randy4ut

After reading this thread, I do have one question about my situation. I have about 11 pots of bananas in my den ranging from 'Ice Creams', Bordelons, Laterita and all are doing fine with the exception of one; my small Darjeeling Giant. They have all been inside for about 6-8 weeks now, only slightly watered all, once about 4 weeks ago. Some are even putting out pups. On the negative, the Daj has drooped and started dying. I have moved it into the kitchen near a window with indirect light and it seems to be hanging on. If the conditions are the same for all the nanners I have in the den, why would the daj react differently to the conditions than the others? BTW, in my den, I use no artificial lighting (only large bank of windows on east side and French doors (south side). I currently do not add any supplemental moisture, but will be within the week. I just received a humidifier and waiting on filters to arrive and will crank it up. Any input on my situation would be appreciated...
Randy

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mrbungalow

My opinion: This one, is the worst banana there is for inside cultivation. I have actually never seen a banana like it. It hates beeing inside! Whatever you do, however many times you mist it looks terrible! "Darjeeling Giant" bananas seem to need high humidity and strong light in order to look good. Otherwise, they just brown and/or dry up.

My experience:
They do fine and grow fast outside and in the greenhouse. Just not in the house.

Erlend

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Randy4ut

Thanks Erland, I may just have to take it to my friend to put in her greenhouse and hope for the best!!!

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marco

Hi!
I was just referred to this site from lawnsite and I'm excited to be here!

Here, I thought I was about the ONLY 'nut job' in the world who moved his banana trees in and out of the house according to the season, and was brave enough to try to turn them in to house plants!

I couple of years ago I had worked by trial and error and 'fine tuned' the mix rate of a special horticultural oil that I've found was useful in preserving the moisture inside the banana leaves in a home atmosphere.

What other 'home-made' anti-dessicants are out there for making banana tree house plants look nicer?

marco

microfarmer

So, do tell...what's the magic formula...hmmm?

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bencelest

"What other 'home-made' anti-dessicants are out there for making banana tree house plants look nicer?"

I don't understand anti-desicants mean.

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Banana Nut

mskitty38583

a humidifier???

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marco

Anti-desiccants are liquid 'anti -drying ' agents.

A little background about me 1st:
I have about 25 years experience in the Ohio 'green industry' including (primarily) professional turf grass maintenance, nursery management, arboretum management, landscaping & other 'outside' areas...

Anti-desiccants are used quite a bit by landscapers when they're moving trees during warmer periods, for example, as to not allow too much valuable transpiration of water vapor out of the tissue in transport, especially when they're transported on trucks under tarps. Or, in other situations, it may be used as a 'winter coating' for some plantings that were planted too late that year, or otherwise planted in notoriously difficult climate conditions that may make them susceptible to winter 'wind burn'.

In the trial and error experiments I did, I used a Horticulture Oil that has a 92% unsulfonated residue. (92% 'free' of sulfur)
And then I eventually, after some mistakes, learned that the ratio of 15:1 works best (15 p. distilled water to 1 p. hort oil).

All I do is gradually condition the trees back inside around the middle to the end of September, taking them out of the ground still in the 10 gallon pots that I had planted them in the spring (with extra holes, of course).
Two weeks after I get them in, around the middle of October or so, I just mist the tops of the leaves, not even to the point of runoff.
Then, I'm careful not to put them in to direct sunlight in a picture window- I give them decent light only behind venetian blinds in 70 F temps.

Once during the winter I rinse the leaves in the laundry room to shake the 'dust' off the oil. Then I'll reapply the oil after the leaves have dried.

Come the first of May I will reverse the process to condition them 'outside' gradually, also making sure all the oil is off before they're in full sun.

If not, they're toast!

marco

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