Canna 2012

really nice Harry , not much luck at the moment with mine , but i would love to publish a note on my thai canna vs musagrande , the flower of the thai are just big and yellow but what it really catch me was the slender long blueish leaves , still try to find the red thai canna has the stem was actually red with green leaves .

 

Mine (in greenhouse) have hardly grown at all in the last month and probably only have one more leaf than shown in post #147 above. Is this to be expected?

 

I have experienced 'stalling' stages with Canna seedlings in the past; usually just after potting on, warmer weather and continued tlc usually kicks them back into rapid growth...

I potted mine on last week and interestingly a couple of the more vigorous varieties have picked up and produced a new leaf almost instantly..

 

Hi Harry, not much to update with my Cannas, they're going through a quiet stage that they seem to do before they 'hopefully' start to grow more rapidly. As mentioned above I did pot them on last week as they were just about ready for larger pots. They are currently in a warm bright spot in our kitchen, I'm just waiting for constant warmer nights and then I'll move them to the greenhouse so they can hopefully put on some growth for a few weeks before being put out in June sometime

 

I think my Cannas must have heard me talking about the quiet stage they were going through and didn't like being called lazy.., they have all started to grow away much quicker over the last few days and range from 6" to approx 18"; some, including C.glauca and C.musifolia are producing early suckers..

 

wow , really love you thai cannas , yours are bigger then mine , but both look healty , can really wait to see them fully grown .

 

Looks nice and cosy in there John It must warm up sometime soon , so we can move outside !

 

Sounds like the whole of my conservatory John :( Although I've got a dozen pot-carriers of 20 pots each that are going out each day now, so in a week [if warm nights arrive ...] I'll have that space available ... but there is a lot of stuff that will be ready to move from 9cm to 1L by then ...

Definitely growing more plants than I can cope with this Spring ...

 

Guys , while we are waiting for weather to remember that we have global warming and almost summer , I was thinking to get the soil ready for my cannas , as they will join the bananas and the calocasia, as anyone got any good soil mixure tips?
I was thinking first to get some roots grower , algae fertilizer and have a mixure of sand , manure , bark chips and existing soil .

 

Hi Sal, I've never really worried too much about specific mixes for my cannas; as long as its moisture retentive and fertile that should be fine.

My cannas in pots last year were planted in Wickes GP compost with some added plant food and some well rotted manure. They were also "over-fed" with liquid feed during the growing season.

The spot I had cannas in the ground last year was a little light and sandy so I added plenty of rotted manure, compost and leaf mould. I also put a pipe in before planting to get water to the roots directly; again once growing these were "over-fed".

 

Doing cannas again this year for the first time in ages with seeds I've had for over 10 years...great plants

 

My Cannas are being planted out in a mixture of soil B n Q MPC and some manure. They seemed to do fine last year

 

if you want the best and don't mind paying a little more ...

plagon bat mix .... use approx 30% ....

http://www.hydroponic-shop.com/plagron-bat-mix-50-litre-sack-buy-1654.html

add 20% extra perlite ....

add 20% worm humis ....
http://www.basementlighting.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?page=1/prod/plgwc

add 30% topsoil from the hole that you dug .... and use rootgrow ...

plagron batmix will cost you approx £14 for 50 litres .... worm humis costs £10 for a 25 litre bag ....

perlite and rootgrow are available from your nearest garden centre

batmix has perlite and worm catings/humis, but I add extra

google to find your nearest hydroponic store in your area for the bat mix and worm humis ... very good stuff