Musa sikkimensis 'bengal tiger'

[GREVILLE]

I've been very impressed with this nana bought as a corm from Himalayan Gardens eighteen months ago.

At present it has two identically sized p-stems and three pups. The red colouration has only now disappeared and no longer seems to show on newer leaves. However, the red flush underneath remains as strong as ever. While stored dry in pot in the unheated garage last February temperatures were below freezing for three nights running. There was some damage on the leaves but stems remained intact.

This new leaf was early June.



Is this the same as M. sikkimensis 'red tiger'? One website suggested that 'bengal' showed more red than 'red'.

[Dave Brown]

I assumed you had put the wrong name on the title Greville . I've never heard of a sikki called that before, although that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Canna striata is commonly called 'Bengal Tiger'.

Red Tiger is supposedly as hardy as standard sikki, but I do know of a few people who lost them back in winter 2008/9. I could not get standard sikki stems though the winter here, and eventually lost the whole plant in 2008/9. I planted Red Tiger out in summer 2009, but dug it out again in autumn and it has been in a tub ever since, and overwintered just about frost free.

Sikki is the most variable Musa I know for hardiness, wiith Ade and people in the northwest growing huge flowering clumps, while mine were killed to ground level every winter.

PS My new Musa Helens Hybrid leaves look the same as your pic, and that has proved to be about as hardy as sikki was here in the past, coming back from below ground in summer, and eventually wiped out in winter 2008/9.

[Bob]

Greville,

Do you mean you now have completely green emerging leaves or are the markings there but faded?

My GH overwintered 'Red tiger' is still pushing out marked leaves but only from the middle to the end of the leaf.

Pic taken a few days ago, you can see the markings through the back of the unrolling leaf. Bit too wet out there to get a better pic atm.

[derrick]

I got this one in spring has good markings for now Think i will lift it come winter it has 2 pups so maybe next year i will protect it outside .

[jezza]

My red tiger is lifted and put into a heated greenhouse. It's now getting on for 10 feet tall but it has lost all it's markings and looks like a standard sikki.

[call]

i have a young one i brought from amulree during there summer sale only little but for a fiver worth it

[derrick]

They grow fast i think do they grow faster than Basjoo ?

[GREVILLE]

Dave, Plant Delights mention bengal and red tiger as separate plants and suggest that Bengal has more colouring.

Bob, my two stemmed plants are almost the same size. The newest fully open leaf on one has the slightest hint of red whist the new leaf on the other is all green. A few red markings remain on older leaves but they are continuing to fade. I wonder if recent dryness at the roots encourages the red colouring to fade.

Call, does your Musa have the red markings?

Derrick, I have (an older) potted basjoo that seems to grow at the same rate as bengal tiger.

It is inside the greenhouse at the moment to allow some heat to continue on it after the recent hot spell.

[jezza]

They grow fast i think do they grow faster than Basjoo ?

Not here they don't, basjoo much faster.

[GREVILLE]

Jezza, both basjoo and bengal tiger are in identical-sized tubs. Are yours both in the ground? I have another basjoo in the ground which has to deal with a mass of root competition and this is much slower. A standard sikki was planted nearby this Spring in enriched soil and grows much faster.

Next year, I plan to divide Bengal tiger and try one outside to compare.

[jezza]

Both in the ground 6 feet apart in the same soil since mid may. Sikki has been very slow and only put out 4 leaves but basjoo now putting out it's 10th. It was the other way around last year

[Bob]

Bob, my two stemmed plants are almost the same size. The newest fully open leaf on one has the slightest hint of red whist the new leaf on the other is all green. A few red markings remain on older leaves but they are continuing to fade. I wonder if recent dryness at the roots encourages the red colouring to fade.

Maybe, I suppose we ought to consider the growing medium and what we feed them on too.