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Gloucestershire, United Kingdom Gb

Cannas from seed in just 4 months!
Still can't believe it but I have managed to raise 8 Cannas from seed bought for £2 off ebay and they are now in flower! Beautiful and so easy to grow.
I strongly recommend everyone to try, brings a touch of the exotic.



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Well fantastic - I've got cannas on the balcony, had them 3 years, and they're barely growing this year, never mind flowering. I will admit, though, that they were left out all winter.

22 Jul, 2010

 

Thanks Bamboo. To be honest, I knew very little about Cannas before this year and I am really surprised that they have done so well. I think the hot dry June has helped. I suppose it was easier this year because they were from seed. I think the trick will be to keep the rhizomes dry and frost free in the shed over the winter and get them started earlier next year in the greenhouse. We'll see!

22 Jul, 2010

 

superb flowers & excellent photo's also. From seed eh? Hmmm !! think I'll try my luck next Spring, thanks for sharing.

22 Jul, 2010

 

Wow! They're better than the ones I bought as rhizomes earlier this year as an experiment. What did you do & when? I'll make notes....

22 Jul, 2010

 

Hi Beattie & Bizzb.
The important thing was to nick the seed which are very hard! They are not called Indian Shot for nothing. However, it was easy with a pair of toenail clippers. This exposed the white inside. Then soak them in tepid water overnight. They expand a little and then they are ready to plant, a bit like sweet peas. I put 4 to a 5" pot 1" deep and covered them with a poly bag and put them into the propagator at 22 degs on 22nd March and they came up in 10 days.
When they were about 4" high I transplanted them individually into 4" pots at the end of April without any covering but still in the propagator. I planted them out into big stone planters facing south at the end of May and kept them well watered. I feed them every week with tomato feed and seaweed extract. The flower spikes appeared when they had 5 leaves unfurled. They are only about 2 feet high but I think they will be bigger next year. Some varieties are taller than others.

As you can tell, I am pretty pleased with them!

22 Jul, 2010

 

Beautiful, Superscouse! That yellow one is much better than the average yellow canna, you might want to consider patenting it.

22 Jul, 2010

 

I wish there was a way of saving or bookmarking answers on the forum. I've copied your answer into Notepad, Superscouse, and have saved it in a gardening folder.

I think I need to feed mine more specifically - they just have a general fertiliser that I added when planting everything.

22 Jul, 2010

 

I also have found them to be very hungry plants, though they seem to need more nitrogen in our heat.

23 Jul, 2010

How do I say thanks?

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