buckeye5755

Hello,

New to growing Banana's, actually just ordered them yesterday, waiting on them to arrive. I am going to plant them in containers (2 Dwarf Cevendish and 1 Gran Nain). I live in Zone 6 (Central Ohio), so they must come in for the winter.

My Primary goal is to get them to bear fruit. I am looking into indoor lighting options. I am planning on using our garage (Insulated and Heated) during the colder months, as we do not receive much sunlight during the Winter, and have lots of shade on our house.

I don't want to "break the bank" so to say on lighting, but obviously if I want them to Fruit I may. I was looking at some different Flourescent Light Bulbs. If I hang 10 of these from a close distance over the plants, will they continue to grow throughout the winter if the Temp is 70-85, with regular misting? Or do you recommend something else?

The specs of each light are:
2200 Lumens
40 Watts
90 CRI
5000K
Full Spectrum

Bob

I would consider a metal halide system. I was able to purchase a 400 watt remote ballast set up last year for about $250. I already had a "mover" that will move the light 6' every20 mins increasing your effective growing area. A 1000 watt system is not too much more expensive to purchase but mine was in my front porch so went with the 400,

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buckeye5755

Thanks Bob,

Would both of the options, Halide (adding HPS too for flowering) and Flourescent offer growth and fruit, just faster for Halide?

Bob

I only purchased mine for the naners last year so I have limited experience. The one thing you picked up on that I initially didn't was the need for humidity and that is good, I had a lot of spider mites last winter and didn't add a small room humidifier till near spring. Misting by hand I don't think would be practical. The higher the temperature(and heating bill) the better your plants will grow while in the garage. Since your goal is to produce fruit I would first read up on the different systems and their benefits. I believe there are also dual systems or at least some that are able to convert from MH to sodium. You have the advantage now of being thorough in finding what will work best in your situation since you can leave your plants out all summer.

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fergus banana

buckeye,
i have a 600W HPS grow light that i just set up in my living room. it is super bright. i am growing a hydroponic dwarf cavendish and an ice cream and dwarf red-green both in soil. i read that HPS is better for flowering and metal halide is better for vegetative growth. supposedly, metal halide will keep the plants from growing too tall - it will keep them short and bushy. however, i also read that there really is no major difference between growing under MH or HPS. since i just bought the HPS system i am gonna stick with it and see how they grow. for the best prices check out hydroempire.com. they got a real good selection and the lowest prices i have seen. you can buy lights with both MH and HPS fixtures in them, so check out those too. but, those are pricey. it seems like there is more of a selection for HPS, so u probably couldnt go wrong there either. i think u can control growth with either by amount of lighting, timing, nutrients etc...and thats the fun part.

kman84

If I buy a 400w HPS or metal halide bulb, can I put it in a regular lamp? Or does it have to be a special lamp? This is the bulb I am looking at...

Buy 400 Watt Metal Halide Lamps Here!

I just have one small plant I want to use it on indoors.

fergus banana

no u cant put it in regular lamp. u have to buy a 400W MH ballast for a 400W MH bulb. the best thing to do is to buy the complete system which has the reflector, ballast and everything else u need. check out Grow Lights, Advanced Nutrients, Hydroponic Supplies and more at Hydroempire.
they have a great selection and the best prices. i bought my 600W HPS system there. MH bulbs and HPS are called HID and require a special ballast in order to ignite and run them without exploding (or so i have read). they are hella bright though and work great for growing.

LilRaverBoi

Well, to be honest, you don't really need fancy lighting if you have a south window to put them in. I have done this for years and it works just fine so long as they get direct sunlight several hours a day. If, however, a tree/etc block the direct light or you do not have a south-facing window to use, purchasing some lighting might not be a bad idea.

Here are some other options in order of cost....

Many people use fluorescent bulb set-ups for grow lights. These are typically affordable and easy to find. Try using bulbs specifically designed for growing plants. I've heard something about T7 bulbs...not sure what these are, but maybe look into it. Make sure you have an efficient way to raise-lower the bulbs as the plants grow. You may have to create some sort of chain-system hanging from the ceiling. Fluorescent lights produce light more in the blue range of the visible spectrum and are therefore, better for vegetative growth, rather than flowering/fruiting.

I've seen some LED grow-lights that claim to work well, but I've also read that due to the very narrow color-output of LED's they do not work well as grow lights.

If you want to go to the next level, consider an HID (high-intensity discharge) system. These consist of either a MH (metal halide) or HPS (high-pressure sodium) bulb. Some systems have a dual-bulb set-up so you can change between them depending on what type of growth habits you are looking for (MH is more blue and works best for vegetative growth and HPS is more red and is better for flowering/fruiting). And some systems allow you to use a conversion bulb so when you are ready switch to flowering stages, you can change the bulb to a conversion HPS bulb. When purchasing HID systems, look at ballast design (basically the electronics to generate the proper electrical voltage to power the bulb. Some are attached to the where the bulb is, making the part you hang heavier. Others have an external ballast so you can hang/raise/lower the bulb more easily. IMO, the best system you could get would be a MH/HPS system with the dual-bulb set-up and external ballast. 400W is probably sufficient for your uses, but they come in larger-output systems. HID systems are more pricey, but offer more versatility, more compact design and higher output than fluorescent lighting systems. I know Ebay has some good prices/selection if you look around. Again, remember you will need some sort of chain system to raise/lower the bulb as the plant grows. However, with HID systems (especially with an external ballast) the part you hang will be lighter and less bulky making it easier to hang and manage.

Hope that helps in your lighting search! Good luck!

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BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
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I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

fergus banana

i think the fluorescents that are good for growing are the T5's. but they are expensive too; maybe more so than HID's.
i am trying the 600W HPS cause my living room gets crummy sun light and also cause i just kinda wanted to go all out. i am really hoping that my hydroponic cavendish takes off, but i have had some trouble transferring banana plants from soil to hydro - problems with root rot - and this is the second plant that i have tried to make the switch.

my HPS has an external ballast and the reflector unit is really light weight so it was easy to hang from the ceiling. it gets as bright as the sun and warm as well.

LilRaverBoi

Crap are they T5? I wrote T7....I couldn't remember for sure what it was.

__________________
BANANA RAVE!
Feel the beat from start to stop, dancin' and movin' from bottom to top!
lilraverboi@genxglow.com
RIP Tog Tan. We love you and will always remember you!
I'm Bryan with a Y! There is no 'I' in BRYAN!

alpha010

I have a potted DC that (in the winter indoors) sits in a west facing window and did extremely well, albeit, I wont get fruit this year and maybe not next year either but I think my window rocked! I was getting 1 new leaf every 2-3 weeks, and still kept growing very well and was virtually problem free. No special lights or hydroponics, just a pot o dirt, a nanner, water, and a window.

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David Harritz

Well the preparations which you have done is looking to be quite enough for your setup and requirements. So no need to worry about it. Keep sharing nice information.

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a1nipper

My poor banana plant was near dead when I received it. I was out of town and it sat at post office for two weeks. I have it under GE Daylight CFLs. New leaf starting so I am hoping it survives.

Starwanderer

It should be just fine. I had a mix-up of my billing and shipping addresses and mine sat at the post office for 13 days. All but one survived without issue and the one that didn't happened to be a little wet when packed and it rotted.

Bananas are tough. If it's pushing a leaf I doubt you'll have any problems at all. I wouldn't worry about it. It will be fine.