I think we did talk about cannas at some point but it may have been in a thread about something else.

I don't have any tips, but i was going to post a question about cannas too. Last fall when it was time to lift the bulbs, i couldn't separate them. They were in a container and short of taking an axe to them, they weren't coming apart. I cut them back, took the whole thing out of the container, put it in a grocery bag and left it on the floor of the porch. Within a couple of months, they were sprouting, so i eventually potted them up and put them in the living room where they're doing quite well. No blooms, though. And that's what i was wondering - will they bloom? Should i just leave them be or cut them back again before they go out in the spring? What about separating them? Is an axe what i'll need?

Canna tips, please, for Sierra and me!

Cannas need to be warm in order to grow. I have found that they like to be kept off cement or dirt floors and out of any place where it is drafty, if you start them in a greenhouse, keep them off the floor and put them on a shelf in a warm corner. I usually put mine on a table in the same room where I start my plants and the heat from the lamps gets them going. Sierra when starting them they need to be kept a bit moist until they get going. Then just put them in a place where they will get lots of light. Once they are growing they like lots of water with regular fertilizing.

Marcia your canna will bloom, it just takes more time and it might need stronger light like what we get in the middle of summer. I do not usually split my cannas until I pot them up in the spring (usually the beginning of March) that way I can remove the dead parts of the roots before potting them up. To split them I use a sharp knife and cut so that I leave a couple of eyes on the root. Yours will be alright the way they are, no need to split them now once they are growing but you might have to put them into a larger pot when they go out.

Hope this helps

Cheers Al

Next question - will my husband be mad if i use his butcher knives to split them? :O

Seriously, thanks, Al! I already put them in a larger container (their own container is inaccessible at the moment, under the deck, blocked by snow). They're getting decent light right now (when the sun shines), situated between south and west-facing windows. It'll be great if they bloom because they didn't do that well last summer, and had a lot of brown patches on the leaves.

Marcia I give you my permission to use your husbands knives. Just tell him that I told you that you could. I live too far away to catch H**L!!!!!!:O

About the brown patches I can't answer what might be wrong. Some times the leaves get old and they start to look bad so I just remove them. What kind of soil do you use to grow them in. They like a soil with lots of fibre in it and a spot where they can get lots of sun and heat and they will do well as long as they have lots of water and fertilizer.

Cheers Al

My husband has a loooooong reach! :)

I don't remember exactly, but the soil was probably Pro Mix with some regular potting soil added. I tried to fertilize fairly regularly but maybe it wasn't enough. I resolve to do better this year!

I have never started my cannas earlier than late April, usually I forget or don't have room. I started them one year in old wooden grape boxes full of shredded newspaper and peat moss (couldn't afford potting soil that year LOL) anyway they did great. Peat moss seems to be a good medium to store them in, and to start them if you are planning on putting them in the ground reasonably soon. I plant mine in the garden, not a pot.

As for dividing them, when I dig them in the fall they are about 15 lbs per clump, so I give them a couple of days to dry, then peel the soil off and disentangle them from each other. Sometimes they really grow in a knot. I have an idea in my mind that leaving clay soil on a geophyte during winter storage will dry it out. I don't know if this has any basis in truth. I also check in the spring if any parts have gone rotten. Not disagreeing with Al's advice here, this is just what has worked for me.

Oh, also my cannas always seem to send up a few hopeful shoots in January, but I just ignore them. They will give up and wait for spring.

Thanks for the info here. Hmmmm when I went to pot up the big one that hasn't sprouted yet...a piece just fell off. So I just planted that in the other side of the pot.

I wonder if I can find a spot in the ground this year...maybe they would do better there. Last year the one didn't bloom and the other one just started blooming at frost time. So I was quite disappointed. Oh ya and they didn't get a very good start last year either...their leaves were shreded by a major hail storm. So it took them a while to grow new leaves.

Also we just don't get the hot temps here in the summer that most of you get. So that is probably why I have a problem with heat loving plants. Ya I know, I need a greenhouse! LOL!

Sierra

Sierra, as long as they were firm and not dried out, they will grow. Might need a couple of weeks of warmth and light to wakey wakey.

I don't know if they are better in the ground or a pot. Maybe if your soil doesn't heat up much a pot would be better. I just don't have a lot of pots or a lot of places to put them. I need a greenhouse too, let's see if we can find a 2 for 1 deal shall we? LOL

I was wondering if hail might be the reason for Marcia's spotted leaves too. They are susceptible to mechanical damage even from wind, but luckily the insects seem to leave them alone for the most part. Although the slugs started eating mine last fall after they had finished everything else in my garden :-(

I grow my Cannas in huge pots and overwinter them pot and all downstairs in the cold-room (10C today). Water sparingly once a month, no fertilizer and low light; at present they have a few sprouts poking thru :)

I will take them out to the unheated greenhouse around the first week of May and outdoors around June, they do love the heat and full sun to make them bloom. If growing in containers they do love daily watering and weekly fertilizing.

Sharon

I find in the spring when I pot up the cannas and put them in the greenhouse they grow very slowly..when I put them on the deck on the south side of the house where its quite warm,they then take right off...savona

Here's a picture of my cannas, taken in July. We probably did have hail at some point in the summer but i can't remember for sure. This doesn't look like hail damage, actually. What do you think?

{{gwi:529224}}

That doesn't look like hail damage to me. If it is hail damage the leaves are usually shredded or split. I don't know what that is, maybe post on the Canna forum and see what they have to say.

Cheers Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Canna Forum

I posted over there and will let you know what the answer is. Thanks, Al!

Looks like leaf scorch to me Marcia. Firstly did you acclimatize your Canna? Over fertilize? Inconsistent watering, allowing it to dry out?

I doubt if they were over-fertilized, and they were acclimatized. I started putting the container outside on the deck for a short time during some of the warm days in April, even. The "scorched" look didn't start until later in the summer. It was awfully hot, and though we did water often, it might not have been enough.

At the Canna Forum, someone has suggested overcrowding, and that's a possibility too, because there are quite a few bulbs in the container. I should have asked before i potted them up! I'll try again to separate them before they go out for the summer, maybe make a couple of containers out of them.

Marcia....as Sharon has mentioned it looks like scorch. This can be caused from watering over head or even if you hand water and hit the plants with water...Then the heat and sun cause this to happen. Its even worse if you are fertilizing and the fertilizer water hits the leaves. This goes for many kinds of plants. Fuchsias are bad for doing this, as well.

Sierra

Yeah, i can be lazy about watering from below. It has a resevoir (the container, i mean), but often i just aimed for it with the hose. :) I'm going to have to reform! Change all my terrible habits!

It's going to be a long summer....

Well Marcia.....I am hoping for a VERY LONG SUMMER! LOL :-))

Its really not that hard to water without hitting the plants.....I have a wand and water the pots and a few "babies" by hand so they don't get hit. Or water before the sun hits....so they will be dry by the time the sun comes around. I had problems with some of my hostas so had to change the watering method. I actually enjoy hand watering in the early mornings....I find it relaxing. Or just drape a soaker hose around those and turn it on very low...so it doesn't spray up onto the leaves.

Well it looks like only one has survived the winter or maybe my care. LOL. Now I would like to add one or two more, but which ones? Any suggestions?

Sierra

Sierra, there are so many nice cultivars to choose from, but I guess I have to say my favourite is good ol' King Humbert ;)

I'm hoping for a long one too, of course! I'll have to water the cannas by hand, i guess. Our watering system consists of dh pumping water from the pond into a 250 gallon tank, sprinklers are put on the vegetable garden and another pump runs the water from the tank to the sprinklers. When most of the water runs out, he pumps more in, we leave one sprinkler running and i drag another hose around to get the flower beds and the compost heap. Pretty labourious, but that's the way we have to do it. Last summer, we tried to water every second day because it was so hot.

Tips coming from the Canna Forum say the scorching thing might be right, but that overcrowding is the likely culprit. Also, cannas apparently need a lot fertilizer, so i guess i'll fertilize them on the same schedule as the petunias.

Sierra, a few suggestions for cannas. Of the eight different varieties that I have these are my favorites:

Tropicanna- green, yellow and red striped leaves with orange flowers.

Bengal Tiger or Pretoria- green and yellow striped leaves with orange flowers.

Black Knight- bronze-green leaves with bright red flowers.

I ordered three more cannas from Guildwood cannas in Toronto in January and they will ship in April. This is the first time that I have dealt with them but I understand that they are very good.
Hope this helps!!!

Cheers
Al

Here is a link that might be useful: Guildwood cannas and Tropicals

I've been liking the looks of "Cleopatra" and "Picasso". I might invest in some new cannas when I have some more sunny space. I have the regular old red ones - don't even know what they're called. They multiply like crazy.

I ordered 'Cleopatra' from Guildwood this year and am hoping that this time I get the right one. I ordered it from Hole's a couple of years ago and all I got was a dried out root. They were sold out so all I got was a credit. Last year I went to Hole's and bought a good root and also ordered one from Dominion Seeds. Both bloomed but the flowers and leaves were not like the 'Cleopatra' that I have seen.

Cheers
Al

Thanks for all the suggestions....they are all sooooo pretty. The one that has survived is 'Wyoming'. I really like 'Black Knight'.

Ohhh soooooo many choices!

Sierra

Northspruce?? I am starting my cannas inpots today and would like to put them in the ground, when do you put your s in the ground?? I live in Alberta.

Thanks

Milllenia -Cannas should not be put in the ground until all danger of frost is past. They are a sub-tropical plant and are very frost tender. If you are just starting them now, only water them sparingly until they get established. Provide lots of light and they really like bottom heat. They will not start if they are on cold ground or cement. Hope this helps.

Cheers Al

Yup, what Al said. He's the canna man :0)

I don't know where in AB you are, but you should probably plan to plant them out at the beginning of June. By then they should have some good leaves on them and a nice head start.

Darn it, I have to remember to get my cannas planted up too!! Something else always seems more pressing and I forget.