Potted Intrigue seedlings yesterday. Round pots have 4" top diameter:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/IntriqueSeedlings2.jpg

Observe the prolific guttation, a sign of healthy roots.

Progress of potted canna rhizomes:
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/PottedCannas2.jpg

Aruzinsky,

Thanks for
posting your canna Intrigue seed trial. I will be interested in the results
obtained.

Several
years ago, I also used Intrigue in several preliminary breeding trials. Just
for the record, did you harvest your seed from open pollinated parents (unknown
pollinator) as opposed to using a controlled pollination procedure as in emasculation
and pollen application?

Emasculation:

In
plants, the removal of male flowers
or anthers to prevent self-pollination, such as removing tassels from
corn, Zea mays, for hybridization.

For clarification, our hybrid canna cultivars
(such as Intrigue) do not necessarily self-pollinate. Our specie cannas typically
do self-pollinate.

In all of my trials I simply harvested
seed from the open pollinated parent plant and assumed (hoped) most of the seed
would be the results of self-pollination: Sometimes referred to as “shotgun”
breeding.

My results typically produced roughly
50% red leaf plants with salmon (reddish pink) blooms and 50% green leaf plants
with yellowish blooms. The degree of color intensity would vary to some degree
in both leaf and bloom. The typical plant characteristic of Intrigue remained
fairly consistent: tall, upright with narrow lance shaped leaves. I do not
recall getting a plant with red leaves and a true yellow bloom.

Good luck.

Kent

"did you harvest your seed from open pollinated parents (unknown pollinator)"

Yes, and my Intrigue were down wind from my Pink Sunburst, Durban, Tropicanna and Pretoria.

"My results typically produced roughly 50% red leaf plants with salmon (reddish pink) blooms and 50% green leaf plants with yellowish blooms."

But, mine are 6/22 = 27% green and 16/22 = 73% red foliage. If red was from a dominant gene and green was from a recessive gene, one would expect 25% green from self pollination. And, probably some of my red offspring no longer carry the recessive green gene, in which case, all of their self pollinated offspring would be red.

IMO I think
you will find that wind plays a very minor role in the transfer of pollen
relative to our hybrid cannas. I certainly accepted that possibility in my very
early years of canna breeding; but flying insects (bees, etc.) carry the heavy
load in this process. If we were discussing corn, wind would be a viable asset.
Obviously it really does not matter if the pollination is successful.

If Simple
Mendelian Genetics (Pea Law’s) are applicable for your trial, your conclusions
are correct. Assuming self-pollination, one gene controls one trait (Rg – gR –
RR – gg) for leaf color along with all the other physical characteristics. This
discussion point might be better suited over at the hybridizing forum moderated
by some very talented geneticists’. That’s out of my comfort zone.

I do think
you can rule out any pollination from Tropicanna and Pretoria as their pollen
has no if any viability (triploid as opposed to diploid plants). Pink Sunburst definitely
produces viable pollen and I am not sure about Durban.

Hopefully in the next 6 weeks or so you will
begin to see your trial results and share them with us.

Kent

Those are coming along great. I love the round white pots. Where did you find those?

I bought those pots, maybe, 25 years ago from Florist Products, Inc. which went out of business, maybe, 15 years ago. I think that those pots were made for forcing Spring bulbs.

I was thinking they look good for that. Great find!

Yesterday, I finished planting all of my cannas outdoors:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/IntrigueSeedlingsOutdoors1.jpg
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/PretoriaOutdoors1.jpg
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/DurbanOutdoors1.jpg

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/TropicannaAndPinkSunburstOutdoors1.1.jpg
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/TropicannaAndPinkSunburstOutdoors1.2.jpg

Nice! My cannas from rhizomes didn't do so great this year. I ended up buying them already grown.

For the first time, I overwintered my Durban rhizomes packed in milled sphagnum moss. Previously, as with the rest of my cannas, I packed them in newspaper. Not only was my Durban attrition rate lower than before, but, now, my Durban are the most vigorous growing of my canna rhizomes.

Unfortunately, milled sphagnum moss is very expensive so I probably won't be doing it again, especially now that my Durban population has increased 5X.

Appreciate
the updates along with your methods. Have you considered/tried using peat in
place of the expensive sphagnum for winter storage packing material?

Kent

I have considered packing in peat moss but have been reluctant because dry peat moss is hydrophilic.

I
totally agree that dried peat moss is hydrophilic (will absorb and retain moisture). That is the
very reason I highly recommend using moist (damp) peat for most extended canna
rhizome storage situations. The primary goal in storage is to prevent excessive
moisture loss in the rhizome and to a lesser degree pathogen infection or their
spread. Moist peat moss has worked better than all other affordable mediums I
have tried and used over many years. I have never used sphagnum.

For other
interested followers, it might be worth noting that sphagnum peat moss is the living
organisms growing within a very narrow band on the top of the decaying peat moss
bog and keeps the bog healthy. It also contains a number of potentially harmful
fungal pathogens. The harvested sphagnum is generally treated or dried to reduce
this issue but rubber gloves are often recommended when handling. I am unaware
of this issue with peat moss but dried peat moss can be very dusty and somewhat
difficult to get to absorb water. The user may wish to use a dust mask in
handling. Once you get it wet it’s good to go. Nothing worth having is ever
easy or free.

We will be
looking forward to more growing updates.

Kent

"It also contains a number of potentially harmful fungal pathogens."

I don't think so. It contains antibiotics and is often used as a planting medium for seeds to prevent damping off disease. I also read that it was once used as surgical dressing. In my experience, sphagnum moss has quasi-magical properties. If I could afford it, I would use it often.

I would like
to think we are both on the same page; sphagnum moss can have beneficial properties
and is likely too expensive to use as a general storage medium for our
rhizomes. I think that takes us back to peat moss unless we can find a better
alternative.

Individual’s
personal storage location and time frame often determines the choice needed in
making a good decision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporotrichosis

“Sporotrichosis (also
known as "Rose gardener's disease"[1])
is a disease caused by the infection of the fungus Sporothrix schenckii.[2] This
fungal disease usually affects the skin, although other rare
forms can affect the lungs, joints, bones, and even the brain. Because roses can spread the
disease, it is one of a few diseases referred to as rose-thorn or rose-gardeners' disease.[3]

Because S. schenckii is naturally
found in soil, hay, sphagnum moss,
and plants, it usually affects farmers,
gardeners, and agricultural workers.[2] It
enters through small cuts and abrasions in the skin to cause the infection. In
case of sporotrichosis affecting the lungs, the fungal spores enter through the
respiratory pathways”.

Kent

Thank you for the information on sporotrichosis. I wasn't aware of that.

I think we are not on the same page in that, unlike you, I strongly suspect that the primary reason that no commercial grower has successfully mass produced Durban is that they never treated their plants with sphagnum moss. Presumably, most of the commercial growers are in semi-tropical zones, like that of California, where winter storage is unnecessary and, although some have the resources to do tissue culture, they still failed. My opinion of sphagnum moss is so high that I would advise micropropagators to try adding sphagnum moss juice to their culture medium.

Otherwise, why do you suppose Durban is so rare? Surely, you don't think it is because commercial growers don't believe that Durban is marketable.

Unfortunately
we seem to be sidetracked from your original post regarding your interesting C.
Intrigue experiment along with sharing of your ongoing canna season results.

In regard to
C. Durban (any European readers please note that this cultivar is NOT the same
cultivar sold in Europe as your C. Durban aka Tropicanna or Phasion). It does
get a little confusing.

IMP canna
Durban is an excellent collector’s canna cultivar since being introduced into
the US about 30 or 40 years ago from South Africa and likely originating in
India.

Kelly’s
Plant Farm in Sanger, Ca. received some of the original cultivars and grew and
listed this plant for sale as C. Durban. I think they were priced at about $150.00
per 3-5 eye growing rhizome. His production was very low and the price remained very high relative to commercial available cultivars. The primary purchasers were botanical
gardens and collectors of rare plants. Kelly’s Plant Farm collected and sold several
rare forms of cannas and other plants including hybridizing C. Intrigue. Like
most any commodity, Durban is rare because it’s not widely available along with
other reasons I guess. Is this a test?

I think I
must abstain from the sphagnum moss juice issue. You might need to contact the
tissue culture folks. I am not sure Durban would be a good candidate for TC lab
production. Many of our tetraploids do not successfully TC.

Kent

"Durban is rare because it’s not widely available"

That's like saying men are bachelors because they are unmarried, a definition rather than a cause.

"His production was very low and the price remained very high relative to commercial available cultivars."

But, we don't know for certain whether production was low by intention to keep prices high or whether it was because of poor growing skills. There is no doubt in my mind that, if I lived the Sacramento Valley (and were young), I could easily mass produce Durban and sell it for low prices. As I said before, I had a 5X increase in population last year. If I sustained that for 5 years, I would have a 3125X increase in population. And, I think that I could do a Hell of a lot better, if I lived in the Sacramento Valley, California instead of northern Illinois.

"Is this a test?"

Not by design.

Update:

Durban is first to bloom:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/DurbanOutdoors2.jpg

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/TropicannaAndPinkSunburstOutdoors2.jpg

Weed problem:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/IntrigueSeedlingsOutdoors2.jpg

Update:

First bloom on green intrigue seedling is orange, same as parent:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/1stBloomGreenIntrigueSeedling.jpg

Effects of some plant growth regulator sprays on Pink Sunburst:

Brassinolide (BR) 0.5 ppm plus Triton X-100 (surfactant) 1250 ppm:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/Brassinolide_0.5ppm_PinkSunburst.jpg

Diethyl Aminoethyl Hexanoate (DA-6) 250 ppm plus Triton X-100 (surfactant) 1250 ppm:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/DA-6_250ppm_PinkSunburst.jpg

Gibberellic Acid (GA) 25 ppm plus 4 tsp./gal. Newport Quillaja Extract:
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/GA_25ppm_PinkSunburst.jpg

Of all my cannas, Pink Sunburst is the only one to show overt effects with BR and DA-6 treatments. I had hoped to undwarf Pink Sunburst, but, as you can see, failed. Although petioles of GA treated plants elongated, the leaves failed to completely unfurl. There seems to be a lack of phototropism and gravitropism in the GA treated plants. The BR and DA-6 treated plants show symptoms similar to those of calcium deficiency or 2,4D treatment. I will eventually try Brassinolide and GA in combination. The season is still young.

Remarkably, there seems to be negligible transfer of PGRs between shoots along connecting rhizomes. New shoots of treated plants show no effects.

These are my last pictures for this year:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaTropicannaAndPinkSunburst9-2-16.jpg

Canna Durban has the largest leaf area, but, the leaves do not lie flat:
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaDurban9-2-16.jpg

My Canna Intrigue are 7 Ft. high:
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaIntrigue9-2-16.jpg

Only one of my Intrigue seedlings had yellow flowers and it was green leaved:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaIntrigueSeedlingYellowFlower.jpg

All of the red leaved Intrigue seedlings had orange to red flowers.

Unexpectedly, one canna Tropicanna and all of the canna Durban have grown extra large this Fall:

http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaDurban10-8-16.jpg
http://www.general-cathexis.com/images/CannaTropicanna10-8-16.jpg

I will dig up the rhizomes within 3 weeks.

All of your cannas are great! Mine didn't do so well this year.