Hot water heater insulator
 

I'very been looking at the hot water heater blankets at home depot and thought the use of this for winterizing 1 banana might just work. I would also use mulch and a plastic sheet as weLloyd. What do you THINK.
BILL

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Bill
What kind of plant are speaking about.

There are some good threads on ways to wrap your plant in the forums and even better youtube videos.
Some folks even use Christmas lights on cold nights.
.
An old blanket or comforter will save you some money if you chose to wrap your plant....

ME...I heavily mulch my basjoos

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

I want to plant my 10' Ensete and winterize although I upstanding that this may be difficult in my zone. There were times last winter where Temps dropped to below 10f. The Ensete is much too large to move indoors.

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

I am glad that I don't have to deal with temperatures that low anymore, but have you looked into the Agribon frost cloth? It may not protect your plants all the way down to 10 F, but it comes in different thicknesses. There is also something called "De Witt frost blanket" which is supposed to protect plants even better than the thickest Agribon available.
I would also recommend not only to focus on wrapping the plant but also to harden it off as good as possible. Stop fertilizing at least 6-8 weeks before growing season ends and maybe feed an extra dose of potassium for stronger cell walls of your plants.

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

You could take a few pointers from this member....for that 10 foot Maurellii
every time I see this pic I say wow...LOL


http://www.bananas.org/266939-post26.html

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Yes, I have read several posts by crazy banana an respect his input.
Thanks

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

I buy moving blankets when they are on sale at harbor freight to wrap my nanas. Several layers of wrap on a five foot pstem. Then waterproof with plastic It works into the high 20s F 10F is pretty cold without a heat source..

cheaper than waterheater blanket...:2738:

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

If your winters get below 10 degrees and it's not a Basjoo, I would either bring it in or kiss it goodbye. That's some serious cold.
Maybe... MAYBE you can mulch heavily and keep the corm alive, but I doubt you will keep the stem. From everything I have read on here, low 20's is pushing it with even the cold hardiest varieties, except Basjoo.

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Dude....I keep telling these new peeps to do this

Take a can of soda.... before you go to bed .....wrap it in the warmest clothes you got; and put it in your freezer.....check it out the next morning..

For the fellas whom they are bada$$.......set a can or two on your dashboard of your Dodge all wrapped up.....

Bottom line your plants will not like your dashboard and your a## will be cleaning the frezzeer

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Hi Bill,

I'm kind of curious how you plant to winterize all those other banana plants you have been acquiring like the red jamacian or williams hybrid. Do you have a green house?


Erik

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Hi Eric
Actually, I don't have either one of those plants yet, but anyway, I have a very large room downstairs with 10 foot ceilings and heated. I will be using a vast amount of cfls in providing the light. I'm hoping that the plants will continue in this type of climate as I have been doing this for awhile with other tropicals and they have done fine, although, I do know that bananas are unique. But, I'm hoping so anyway. I see you are in zone 6. Tough zone to be in from my understanding. I am getting a basjoo shortly and I will attempt to winterize it outside, we'll see.

Re: Hot water heater insulator
 

Oh very nice. Yea the tall ceiling will be helpful to keep them growing.

I've managed to keep a few not so cold hardy banana plants alive over the winter with a small LED light in my unheated basement. I just rotate the plants so that a different one is directly under the light every day or two. It seems to be a practical solution for me. I really don't want them growing indoors and I don't want bugs either so I keep the soil pretty dry.

Basjoo are pretty easy to keep outside. I don't bring them indoors. My basjoo grow like weeds up until November.

Thanks and good luck!

Erik