Valor_X

My bananas are starting to look miserable again like last year. Daytime highs are in the 90s where I'm at and next month through August they will likely hit 100. It seems they don't really like to grow much at these temps.
I don't have any natural shade in my backyard besides my back porch where I keep my potted plants so all my nanners on the ground take full sun all day.

I've been building some raised beds and I just thought about adding on some long 2x2's to use as stakes to add a shade net. I've looked at Amazon and found some 40% nets for fairly cheap.

Any thoughts?

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Varieties I'm Growing

From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol

JaredZone9a

Now I don’t feel so bad about my plants having on 4 hours of sun. :-)


I’d stake out some posts with a ladder and put some shade cloth over them if they’re stressing.

cincinnana

I love mine.

I use a 40% black poly 24x12 shade cloth for many bananas and tropicals.
There are other shade cloths that have an attractive stripe pattern too.
Full exposure to the south during the summer months for me.
Your plants will thank you for it.

For me it cools the containers from 135 degrees to roughly the ambient air temperature.
Huge temperature difference underneath one.
Plants will not burn and harden off quicker and perfect for seedlings and cuttings.
You will water less also.

I picked it up about 18 years ago and it is almost good as new.
They can be cabled between poles or trees and angled to give visual interest to the garden.
You may angle them to block afternoon sun if you wish.
Do an internet search "shade cloth designs"

They are very inexpensive for what they do.
Make sure the cloth is UV resistant and has lots of grommets.

Harbor Freight has them as well.

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Valor_X

That's amazing! Yeah I thought 40% would be a good percentage, I'm really glad that worked out great for you.
Do you have any pictures you mind sharing?

Looks like I'm definitely going this route now

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Varieties I'm Growing

From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol

cincinnana

You can see the light intensity difference on the deck floor.
Just enough to tame the heat and take the edge off the sun

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cincinnana

Just tossing out a detail which is a buzzkill.....ugh.

Dark black mulches while they look awesome....slowly cook your plants roots through heat gain.
Ornamental crushed rock has a fair ammount of heat gain which dissapates well into the night.

Pine bark minis and fines are an excellent choice as well as pine straw

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Valor_X

That's a beautiful deck you have! You can definitely tell a difference for sure.
My local garden center has uses shade nets as well and the difference in heat is insane.

__________________
Varieties I'm Growing

From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol

sirdoofus

You could turn it into an oasis not only for plants, but for people too. Incorporate some seating surrounded by beautiful plants, and maybe some other features........could be a perfect place to escape the most intense heat of the day while still getting some sun and, I don't know, enjoying a cold beverage of choice?

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Who keeps calling me nuts??

Tytaylor77

I’m in about the same climate and keep 99% of my Musa in full sun. I’m talking large plants in ground. Anything in pots I keep in 50% shade cloth. Smaller stuff under 70% cloth. As long as they get enough water they do great.

I’m all about pushing growth and lowering cycle times. To get the fastest growth you need full sun. The more heat/sun the more water they transpire. So make sure you keep up on watering.

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150+ Varieties!!. See profile for list. Help me add more!

www.bananapups.com

smeash

Worth noting here, but I put one of my super hot peppers back in the ground last week as it was looking terrible in its 3 gallon pot. When i removed it from the pot (black plastic) I was stunned at how hot the root ball was. I dont typically keep plants in pots other than to overwinter, but man this thing was cooking.

JaredZone9a

Exactly why a dog will go lay belly down on the cool dirt. :-)


Could definitely see this being an issue with container plants if not shaded or watered enough. I bet the pot material makes a big difference.

JaredZone9a

Interesting observation today:

cincinnana

Yep..... the house def needs paint.

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cincinnana

Great that you had mentioned that Smeash.

I just happened to document a few years ago what happens to a 18 gal black landscape container that receives 7+ hours of setting sun to the west.

Temps 135 +on the west side of the container.

.Guess which side was in the sun?


Heat damage to the left
by
Hostafarian,
on Flickr

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JaredZone9a

Crazy how the roots didn’t grow at all on the LT

Valor_X

I just installed a 40% Shade Net on 3 of my Bananas I've finished moving into raised beds. (Dwarf Cavendish, Veinte Cohol, Manzano)
You can see from my pictures my backyard gets absolutely no shade whatsoever. Full sun for 12hrs a day. (All those trees in the background are facing north so I get zero shade from those and there are no trees anywhere else)
Feels like temperature yesterday was 108, today it's at 105. It's extremely difficult to work on it in this heat as well.

The Dwarf Cavendish is already extremely happy, you can actually see the difference where the sun is still hitting it and where it's shaded. The heat difference under the net is crazy. The other 2 bananas still look a little weak since I just transplanted them.

I need to find a way to shade my container bananas, they are suffering the most and getting bad leaf burn.

__________________
Varieties I'm Growing

From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol

smeash

Try planting in a tighter block/multiple rows. You will be amazed how many plants in the same space thrive.. they shade each other and hold in water/humidity.

JaredZone9a

That looks pretty epic. Didn’t take you long to get some shade cloth. :-)

JaredZone9a

What city do you live in?

Valor_X

Yes definitely, I want to get to that point where they can all shade each other.
I spaced them out like this because my end goal is to grow mats for each one.

My hardest obstacle at the moment is getting them to mature in these conditions.

__________________
Varieties I'm Growing

From Corm/Pup
Dwarf Cavendish ○ Super Dwarf Cavendish ○ Grand Nain ○ Niño ○ Manzano ○ Raja Puri ○ Tall Namwah ○ Blue Java ○ 1000 Fingers ○ Praying Hands ○ Orinoco ○ Variegated Florida ○ PR Red ○ California Gold ○ FHIA-03 Sweetheart

Plantains
Puerto Rican Dwarf Plantain ○ African Rhino Horn

From TC
Truly Tiny ○ Manzano ○ "Blue Java" ○ Dwarf Namwah ○ Thai Black ○ Veinte Cohol