Canna 2012

Hi Keith ;

Are they greedy feeders?, well when they're in the full swing of things they're about as greedy as it gets, I don't think you can overfeed them in my experience

Again from experience a good green leaved variety for me would be the one that I have grown for years; Canna altensteinii, lovely apple green leaves a soft 'muted' orange flower..

Last year's plants


The flower


I may have some spare seed for this Keith if you're interested??

 

I'll try two of the ones that I lift in pure horse doo doo next year and the rest in a good mix and the main bed too as an experiment.

I like that one Bilbo and would certainly be interested.

I saw this one on the site that Kristen linked to re the Canna virus - Canna "Panache"..............

 

Only tried it on my horses kristen,which keeps most midges away and helps with sweet itch problems Like you say..its no a nice aroma so it thought it might help as an oily, smelly deterant for healthy cannas x

 

I'm not sure its useful as a deterrent. I am sure it would work, but because it doesn't "stay" on the plant you would have to treat very frequently I think.

I don't have an answer though, systemic insecticides obviously not good for other things.

 

Regarding systemic insecticides, do they actually affect insects that are not sap suckers?

I'm just wondering how, once dry they could be a problem to the friendly insects, do the friendly ones eat poisoned prey, I wonder.

 

Forgotten the details, but I think there was discussion that systemic insecticides were upsetting Bees (and might be a cause of colony-collapse).

Dunno if, for example, Ladybirds, eating systemically-infected Aphid, suffer?

 

OK, it was always stated even years ago that you only spray plants in flower very late in the day in order to avoid killing bees.
There used to be a very good aphicide available to the public, I used it for years on broad beans, it didn't kill bees or ladybirds, but it's now not around.

I'm tending to think we are actually going backwards regarding insecticides.

 

I still do do that, but IIRC the issue was that the systemic insecticides were getting into the pollen - but my memory may be unreliable!

 

Oh Ok, but we have had systemics for a number of years, and its only starting to happen now, with all the bad ones banned, and all these super expensive new ones we now have that are safer than what has gone before, it seems strange to me.

Its just been a few really bad years for bees, I blame the weather, why not, we blame it for most problems

 

Just had a little sort through my seeds in the fridge and here's my Canna seed stock so far;

C.glauca
C.altensteinii - collected from my own plants
C.russian red
C.musifolia 'grande'
C.paniculata
C.speciosa
C.limbata
C.brasiliensis
C.generalis 'red'
C.generalis 'pink'
C.'tenerife' - collected from my own plants

I also have some Thai Canna seed (from Sal I think ) that are similar/same as C.glauca and I got some seed from an unnamed hybrid that should produce a yellow and orange bi-coloured flower, looking forward to growing that one next year

I think I have a Canna problem....know any good doctors

I won't be growing all these next year as I have some that I grew this year and am hoping to get them through the winter, but should I fail to do so I have seed as back-up

 

Nope, we canna help yee

 

Hi Bilbo , where did you get the brasiliensis seeds from? as apparently they are the hardist of all the cannas , the roots can be left outdoor as it can take up to -20c ....

 

Hi Sal, I got them from Plant World Seeds;

http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/2157

 

I'm thinking of buying some C. Pretoria rhizomes ( can't find any seeds ? ) . If I buy them now - should I store them in a cold garage and plant them up in March , or plant them up now ?I really don't want to grow them on over winter in the house , as need all my alloted inhouse plant growing space.
It seems Canna rhizome stocks are quite limited ,so to buy them next Feb. may not be an option.