Canna 2012

It`s to late to take pictures but look at this one , this is an edilus canna (the roots can be cooked) , in good condition should reach 7 feet , but not this season , it`s a real crime to trough this one away , but look at the leaves .

 

Good point , that is what i though as well at the beginner , keep it as it is , as the virus doesn`t kill the plant , but just make it look unhealthy ....the problem start when even the healthy plant start to look like them just because we didn`t dare to bin them.

 

Are teh veins actually "broken"?

Certainly can't tell if it is a virus form a "long photo shot", need a close up of the leaf, with the sun (if you can find him!) shining through it

 

this is the edilus

the altenstinii

the pretoriana

and finally the musifolia grande

 

Dont mean to rome off the 2012 topic and i think all your cannas look great by the way im jealous but when are you all planning to start your next lot of seeds off for next yrs cannas early or about january??? ive got a few to have a bash at but not sure if its worth starting them early
xx

 

Hi Joolz, I usually start mine off in late January or early Feb and in a normal year (this not being one of those) they make good sized plants ready to be hardened off by early to late May. Starting them off early though often means you'll need somewhere to protect them from spring frosts until they can go out, some species can be 2-3ft by the time May comes round...

 

Thanks bilbo i was thinking id need grow lights to keep them over winter or heat in the green house,so i can start them early but keep them in the house on or near window ledges(as much light as poss) til they can be planted out?x

 

Yes Joolz, I start mine in a heated propagator in the kitchen and then once they're through I move them into our bedroom windowsill as it lovely and warm and gets plenty of light even at that time of year. They'll eventually be potted on a couple of times and then moved to the greenhouse by April time (by then they're usually too big for a windowsill ) , they then stay in there until they're ready to be hardened off..

 

Brilliant,i might start some sooner then and save some seed for later just in case its my 1st attempt with canna so fingers crossed im eastish(back) and westish(front) facing so i might have to swap them over during the day for maximum light or will it not matter in winter? sorry for the questions xx

 

All look to have broken veins, don't they? Not good news I fear :(

Well ... this may be how NOT to grow them! but my first year was Autumn 2010:

Around now (end September) Gardeners World said to sow them [i.e. now] so they would flower in the First Year. They said that sowing now would require a grow lamp over winter. Given that I had bought some Canna seed, but I didn't have a Grow Lamp ... I rushed out and bought one

The Seeds germinated ... grew ... flowered in Nov/Dec (that was definitely the First Year!!) and set seed in January - from my original 6 seeds I then grew about hundreds more plants in the Spring!

I've found the thread where I was discussing it, but most of the photos I uploaded have been lost in the various forum migrations over the last two years, but this one remains - the seeds were sowed around 01-Oct-2010 and this photo was taken (in my home-office) on 27-Nov-2010 - 2 months old!!


http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/grow-lights.1288/

 

I know Kristen , not a good news , but a good lesson , plus thank to the forum I`ve learned how to overwinter them and growing them from seeds as well.
Never mind .

 

Sad news Sal... I have no experience of Canna virus but I know the 'altensteinni' leaf should look a brighter 'apple' green than that with the veins not that visable, such a shame if they're all terminal cases.

 

I'm sure its been posted before, but here is a very good site explaining how to detect Canna virus:
http://www.canna-collection.org.uk/canna-virus.html
and what the early signs look like: