Banana, Pineapple and Ginger Care?

[Bananapple]

Not really questioning the "care", but I just received two Gran Nain nanners, two Dwarf Cavendish nanners, two Kona Sugarloaf pineapples and a ginger plant. I have them sitting in my bathroom by the window to acclimate them to the light. Just curious if they are hardy enough to stick them in the greenhouse with temperatures in the low forties to fifties at night and about seventies during the day inside the greenhouse. It does have a heater/cooler, but they are not turned on yet. They will be soon. Are bananas, pineapples and ginger hardy enough to deal with huge temperature and humidity swings? Should I wait until I get the greenhouse heated, cooled? It should stay 50F at night and 80F during the day with the heater/cooler going, plus higher humidity when the swamp cooler is on.

Ideas on hardiness?

[bsbullie]

Where are you located ?

What type of ginger is it ?  This will greatly factor on the answer to your question.

The 'nanas and pineapples will not be happy with temps in the 40s.  What duration are we talking about of temps in the 40s/50s ?

[Bananapple]

I'm in zone 9b... These are our winter/spring transition temperatures. 40s and 50s are the nighttime temperatures. I have pineapple tops out in the greenhouse that have rooted, so I think the pineapples should be okay. Not sure about the bananas though, never kept them before. I guess I should move them out there when it's heated? When it's heater, the lowest the temperature will be is around 50F.

[Bananapple]

Bump?

[Pancrazio]

I have big troubles with DC during winter.
But i don't have a climate as good as yours.
To give you an idea, during the coldest night my greenhouse approaches 32F, and for at least 1-2 months during the day it doesn't go over 50, and during cludy days it can be even lower. Still this year i have been able to keep the stem of my DC alive (till now) and even a single leaf.
It has been kept very dry, anyway. Just a glass of water/month.
In my humble opinion bananas don't suffer from big temperature swing, they simply grow slower than in a costant hot climate. What they really don't like is steady cold. If kept alla the time in a cold environment, they can decline, and will start to rot, sooner ot later.
Gran Nain is apparently a bit more tender than DC, but i don't know if it is true, since i don't own one.

[Bananapple]

Can they survive 40F nights if they get 70F-80F days? If so, I'll chuck those, the pineapples and the ginger out there now.

[Pancrazio]

Well, i think that depends on what you are gonna do. If you plant them in ground, expecially if your climate is wet, those 40F nights won't be enjoyed from a lighly damaged corm or freshly cutted roots... If you just put a pot out from your greenhouse, then they can stand those temperatures: at least mine do. But if i were you, i would stay on the safer side, and would wait some more time. 70F doesn't create any problem at all, but isn't enough for a vigorous growt, and less vigor usually means more troubles.
Just my 2 cents.

[Bananapple]

I have the heater set now. It will keep it around 50F on the coldest nights. It's not going below the low forties (won't even get down to 40F) from now on, so I'll put it out tomorrow. The pineapples should be fine though I think.