Canna 2014

What a cracking idea Bit warmer than outside, and as dry as you choose them to be

 

I seen a clip on overwintered carrots left in the ground,a thick layer of straw and plastic sheet over,could that work for cannas if you watched they didnt dry out too much?

 

Most of mine saved from last year are now throwing up shoots

They're yet to be potted up and have been kept in baskets in an unheated greenhouse with a fleece cover

 

You can leave them out, and most years they will survive - more so if you mulch them with straw and keep the wet off etc. but for-my-money if they are left out (Dahlias too) they start into growth later in the spring (than if started in greenhouse) and thus flower later too. Depends how much Faff you can put up with - and how much greenhouse etc. space you have in springtime.

 

In 2010 I was able to lift Parsnips without difficulty, when others were saying their crops were frozen in the ground. Forgotten exactly but from memory it was -10C several nights on the trot. We have heavy clay here, so lots of retained moisture to freeze in such conditions ...

I put it down to my raised beds - presumably draining better, or warming better (can't image that was the case - it didn't get above 0C during the day!) ... so raised beds might be a solution to that too?

Mine aren't raised much - I dug out the paths and put the soil on the beds in between - so more lowered-paths than raised-beds!

Raised beds probably not a good idea on light / sandy land though.

 

Cramped Canna Corner ... Photo of the spare bedroom with Cannas doing rather well , my office is exactly the same, very cramped . The inevitable question.......... very very mild winter, night temps are a little cooler this week at 6°c . So when is it safe to move them to an unheated GH ? I do put a heater on if it forecasts a chill.

 

Hi All you Cannafanatics

A lot of you have grown from seeds, has this proven more successful with not getting the virus later during the year and that the plants you are growing the following year are also clear ?from seeds.

Spruce

 

Looking good @HarryS 3 of the 5 rhizomes I split from the rhizome you sent me have started to grow
I'd stick them in the GH

 

Hi spruce,i didnt get the virus last yr,i did grow from seed only not sure that matters as the virus can strike at anytime but there is maybe more chance of it being introduced by a bought infected rhizolme

 

They look snug what variety are they jwk?

Those are reet tall harry,how did you get them that size?

 

My answer would be: no different to any other season, warm weather early in Spring is not indicator that there will / will not be late frosts.

Spring means lovely sunny days which, in turn, means clear skies and thus frosty nights :(

5 day forecast is the only one that is accurate, and even thought that is mostly right the two day forecast is the only one safe to rely on.

If folk around you are not growing them then probably reasonably safe to grow yours - provided that you start with virus free stock. Once you've built up a collection then worth putting any new ones in quarantine for a bit until sure they are clean.

Growing from seed will give you virus-free plants (there is some talk that virus can be transmitted in seed, but that it has never actually been known in practice). But the range of plants / colours available is much more limited than the Named Varieties (propagated vegetatively)