Canna Virus Resistance

8 years ago

I would like share my experience dealing with the highly destructive canna virus syndrome. I live in the Orlando area and have grown cannas for many years. Five years ago, I noticed the vigor of my canna plants was greatly compromised. After searching on the web, I discovered the problem was caused by a virus(s).
One variety of canna that I grow and shows no symptoms of virus infection is Canna musofolia, common name is Banana Canna. It is a wild species, has a insignificant red flower and grows 10-15 feet. It makes a wonderful back border screen. If this species does have natural resistance it could be very useful used in a breeding program to develop resistant hybrids.

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Comments (4)

aruzinsky
8 years ago
Unless, it is a Typhoid Mary.
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canna2grow
8 years ago
Ontac55,

Thanks for
posting and glad you are able to grow your Canna Musaefolia free of virus symptoms.
The Musaefolia group of canna cultivars (Banana Cannas) are considered to be
hybrid cultivars (not a species) such as ‘Musaefolia Hybrida’, 'Musaefolia Rubra’, 'Musaefolia Grande’ along with several other cultivars.

Roughly 15/20
years ago when the canna virus first began to be more widely recognized many
breeders sought to breed cultivars that seemed to be resistant (viral symptom
free for most of the growing cycle). Resistance is usually considered a good
thing but in the long term it has likely contributed to the widespread
transmission of the disease. Viral resistance tends to be subjective in cannas.
We often find growing location, temperature etc. produces plant growth that
allows the plant to grow faster than the viral load; hence we get few if any
viral symptoms. This resistance certainly varies between cultivars and where
they may be growing.

The positive
side is that you are able to grow a great canna. The negative side is IF it
does carry one of the canna viruses it can and likely will be transmitted
(Typhoid Mary).

If possible
consider posting a photo. We might be able to I.D. the one you grow.

Kent
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deanna alleman
3 months ago
I have a yell and green cannas maybe Pretoris sp?) I am not sure of the variety. It has orange flowers. It's been growing great in my yard for years having to pull out many rhizomes that overtake the borders. A couple of years ago I purchased Tropicana from a big box store and it quickly, what I am assuming, showed signs of canna virus and I pulled them out and threw them away. I would now like to move my yellow and green ones to the spot where these were. Can I cause them to develop the virus just by moving them to the spot where the other ones were or does it get the virus some other way? Any help or comment will be appreciated.
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canna2grow
3 months ago
The transmission of canna viruses typically is associated with sucking insect. Canna viruses’ pathogens survive only in living cells and not in the soil.

Best,

Kent
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