asacomm

Hi friends,
Here are the pix of the flowering and the fruits of Musa Sikkimensis.
Although the flower was big enough and vigorous, the fruits were so litte and
poor and recently some of them became shrunk and black and seems to be
dead.

The questions is "Must pollination be needed for this species?". I beleave it
is not needed like most other bananas.
If so, why the fruits were so little and poor despite the tree was big enough
and the flower was vigorous? Or is this the original feture of its own?

Taylor

Thats all its gonna do asacomm. Its a seeded Banana and wont produce edible large fruits. (Life cycle) Where did the seeds come from, the fruit, which produces seeds which makes a plant that fruits and creates seeds etc

mrbungalow

Hello Stan;

If I understand correctly, Musa sikkimensis is in the Eumusa-group, along with species such as musa basjoo and musa acuminata. Bananas in this group do not self-pollinate, but the Rhodoclamys group does that. (Such as musa velutina, musa ornata, musa coccinea, etc.)
Did your fruit contain seeds? If it has large, viable seeds it has been pollinated. But it sounds to me like it has not been pollinated.
Sadly, I am no expert on this!

Erlend

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asacomm

Hi Erlend,
I checked the fruits of Sikkimensis and found the flesh and seeds were rotten,
that meant they have not been pollinated.　This is the same case as of Musa
Basjoos and in order that they are pollinated, pollen from other stems should
be applied.

Do you think the case of Helen's hybrid is the same? Or can it be self-pollinated?

Stan

mrbungalow

Yes, I believe it's the same for all "Eumusa" and only "Rhodochlamys" and a few "Australimusa" can self-pollinate.

I think Gabe knows more about this, since he is involved in banana breeding projects. I know GAtroops also did some pollination trials on musa velutina earlier.

Erlend

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asacomm

Hello Gabe15,

Erlend suggested me that you know more about this subject.
So could you please explain more about this especially for Helen's hybrid case?
Thanks in advance for your explanation.
Stan

Gabe15

All species bananas need pollination of some sort to set seed, whether it be self pollination (inbreeding) or pollination by another plant (outbreeding). The species that do this do not belong to any special groups, there are a few in each group that do, from Eumusa there are some forms of M. acuminata subsp. banksii that do it, and from Rhodochlamys M. velutina, M. rubinea and M. mannii (although mannii and rubinea have bisexual flowers, however they do not often self pollinate in cultivation). M. ingens and M. boman have this trait along with M. monticola and Ensete ventricosum.

The moral of the story is yes, they need pollination to set seed.

I know nothing about Helens Hybrid, as it is very new to the market I have not seen any flowers of it so I cannot say weather it self pollinates or really anything about it.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

asacomm

Thanks a lot Gabe15.
As for Helen's hybrid, I have three trees that are expected to bloom sometime
next spring, so I will try to see what really happens.
Stan