There's a good chance that unless you can replicate summer growing conditions, this will happen repetedly. Warmth, sunlight, watering/feeding, and fresh air circulation are criticle in overall health and growth. Personally (and this is only my opinion) I'd never by a banana plant and overwinter it in my house. It's in the garden or not at all.

Cheers, Barrie.

Thanks, Barrie. DC will never make it overwinter in the UK outside, but I'm thinking wrapped in the garage or greenhouse is a better bet. I'm thinking there might be something in a lower temp preserving them.

Most of my Banana varieties survive the winters indoor EXCEPT the SDC. The pups always survive, but the previous winters pups that become large plant always die. The annoying part is they usually survive pretty well all the way through February, then just fade fast.

Rob

Same here. I've had SDC for the last 4 years. Every summer, the SDC in a pot will get nice huge leaves and 1 or 2 big stocky stems. Every winter when I bring em in, the nice stems die out and I get an overcrowed pot with about 5-7 pups.

Well, mine lived through the winter in the greenhouse. It was not real warm(we have a heater in there but just a small one, temp stayed between about 75 F - 50 F.) but I did not water it hardly at all since the greenhouse seems to stay wet in the winter. So most of the winter it was dry. I also think the soil needs to be fairly dry to begin with and that you need one that is very well draining. Mine do get sun most of the winter in the greenhouse and put out maybe one leaf all winter.

You know, Red Beard and gardenguy, I think we should try much cooler temps and put them into (perhaps) some sort of stasis, like those folks who have plants lying under houses.

It really annoys me as you get them to a decent size for nothing.

Paul, I agree with you. I was thinking of taking my SDC's that are in a large pot, fairly big and just taking it out of the pot and letting the soil dry. Does anyone know if this will work?

What I believe to be dwarf Cavendish (discount store/Lowe's variety) have overwintered in good shape here as small plants (up to about 15 inches in height) under fluorescent lights.

Temps are mid 60s-low 70s and plants are allowed to mostly but not entirely dry out between waterings. Light is fairly good (plants are about 6 inches below a four-tube fixture.

There is a way to overwinter DC in your house. You will have to remove all the leaves except the unfurled one at the top which you will cut in half. Then place somewhere dark with a temperature at temperature of 48-56 deg F (9-14 deg C). Water only one cup per pot per month the entire winter. Bring it out when MINIMUM temperature CONSISTENTLY stays above 55 deg F.

Thanks, Joe Real for your advice. I'm thinking the only consistently dark place indoors is the attic, yes?

But a garage might be an option, do you think? I take it consistent dark is important.

Gardenguy, I think I'm going to dump my SDC or really give it an extreme winter test. Good luck with yours.

Paul3: Yes, consistently (little variation) dark (not really extremely dark), cool, dry are very important for dormancy storage of bananas. The interactions of light with non-freezing but low temperature causes chilling injury in most tropical plants which can progress to cell tissue death and subsequent attack by molds and fungi. What happens in this case is that when light strikes the leaves or stems or any photsynthetic tissues, the electrons gets fired up. But the low temperature lowers metabolic activities such that there are no active electron acceptors down the photosynthetic factory. The excited electrons when its energy cannot be diffused would literally damage tissues around it. Damaged tissues are susceptible to attack by fungi or bacteria. Only small wattage light are okay to use, and intermittently only when you need it. The dryness is important to discourage rotting away the corm. The cool is something natural during winter time and induces dormancy of tropical plants as long as it is non-freezing. These three things should be played out in balance. I have kept mine in garage where I have stable temperature that varies only by 10 deg F every day (45 deg F to 55 deg F) during the winter. If your attic temperature varies only by 10 deg F during the entire 24 hours, then that should be okay.

Cheers, Joe. I love a hard science explanation. It discourages you from thinking life's just giving one a kick!

Only thing is, I'm not quite sure if my attic is dark or really dark. Might have to lock myself in with the light off.

That was a great explanation! My babies are in the basement.I dug them up gave them a drink of water, left them outside until Oct 10,07' and now are in the basement. Only time the light comes on is when I wash clothes, and the filtered lights between the shutters.

Just use a flourescent light fixture in the house and water lightly before the soil dries out completely. I kept a pot of Dwarf Cavendish alive with green leaves over last winter, although they look a little rough at winter's end. That clump of DC now consists of about 7 plants, all about 6 feet tall each.

I am a little lost on details here. I want to try to harvest bananas next year; should I place my containerized plants indoors under lights or keep them dark and semi dry?

Mid 40's at nights now with 80's in the day. Wind 20-30 with 40 gusts.

I have a 5' Dwarf Cavendish, (3) 4' Ice Creams, a 3" Dwarf Oronico and 2' Dwarf Brazilian.

I have a Mother in Law's apartment in the back which I intend to hang grow lamps for my citrus and tropicals for wintering.

What do I do with the bananas, let them hibernate? Will this reset their flowering clock or put them under lights for 12 hrs a day?

Gratefully, Mick -- Abilene, TX