I planted some Cana tubers in the spring of 2004. Originally, I planted them around 8 or 10 inches deep. Today I went out to trim them down for the winter, and found that in several of them, there were large branched tubers with growth points on the surface or breaking through to the surface.
Is it normal for Cana tubers to migrate upwards like that? Would the original tubers still be "down there" below the surface ones? I'm concerned about them freezing out now.
them around 8 or 10 inches
in several of them, there
through to the surface.
original tubers still be "down
This is completely normal. I have spent the last two days lifting canna rhizomes ( and have about three days to go). They tend to multiply like crazy. It isn't unusual for them to expand by a factor of three or four in a single year with good growing conditions. Of course, the ones you really like will barely survive!
The original rhizome will be just where you placed it. However, over a year or two, the mother rhizome will eventually die. That is why it is good to lift and divide them every year or two even in warm climates. That allows you to cut away the dead parts and replant, eliminating overcrowding and dead zones.
If you are in a marginal area, like zone 7, it would be a good idea to heavily mulch them. In zone 6 I lift them although some people have luck leaving them in the ground. The times have left them, they always die.
around 8 or 10 inches
several of them, there
through to the surface.
tubers still be "down
I just dug up 32 Cana plants two days ago in GBay, WI.
The two biggest plants had 10 & 11 new shoots on a flat surface with the
original main 'tuber'..... All was very visible after I spray cleaned the
soil off the tubers.. Dried, Full plants are now in the basement root cellar
in 8 large brown grocery bags. I plan to remove the canna tops & split
tuber shoots off in Mid-February when I repot all Cannas for a basement
early planting... About May 15th the 12" growth will move outside
to the garden beds...
them around 8 or 10 inches
in several of them, there
through to the surface.
original tubers still be "down
Why did you put the entire plant in the basement?
That is the way my relatives have stored Cana for many years. It works.
As a thought, I'm wildly guessing that the Cana plant may pass
'plant nutrients' back to the root/tuber as the leafs die.......
I did the same with my 2 Dinner Plate Dahlias... have 80 new bulbs
and 5 more 25' gardens for next season all tilled & 'mossed'...
This reminds me of the old story about the woman who prepared a ham for the oven each Christmas by cutting off about four inches from the shank end. After years of observing this, the woman's daughter asked why she cut the end off the ham. The mother replied "that's how my mother always did it." The daughter asked the grandmother why she cut the end off the ham. The grandmother told her that when she was a young bride, they didn't have enough money for a large roasting pan, so she had to cut a piece off the ham so it would fit into the pan she owned.
In other words, what you are doing may "work" but it is probably neither beneficial or detrimental. I guarantee that if you cut the foliage from the rhizome and store it properly it will be just fine. I only say this to save you a lot of hassle. I'm sure you realize that canna growers do not remove acres of six-foot plants from their fields and store them intact until it is time to ship the rhizomes to market. Life is too short to do needless work.
As soon as it warms up a bit, I'll be out lifting cannas and dahlias. I'm at the point where it isn't so much an issue as how to store them as it is how to give them away each spring.
Thanks for the 'good' stalk cut off advice.....
And yes, as I was finished rinsing the rhizome bottoms, the local church Deacon
walked by & I gave him my biggest Canna plant, stalk & all, with 11 shoots
to bag in his basement over winter.......
Canna RHIZOMES only have to be planted a max of 3 inch deep, I've had them grow with only 1 inch of soil on them. Canna grow by making more rhizomes and each new section will grow a new stalk and the old part once used up will rot away. I've planted ONE small rhizome in fall and during the winter it would grow underground and come spring time once the temps got up to about 50F I'd get 2 oe 3 stalks growing all from a much larger rhizome.
BZZZZZ >>> Canna = Rhizomes Dahlias = Tubers Onions = Bulbs
That's true, but I find that if you plant them only three inches deep in well amended soil they are likely to blow over in moderate wind. If you plant them in heavier clay soil, they are less likely to fall over, but they are a bitch to lift.
I live in the High Mojave Desert and the dirt is a combo of sand and fine clay and we get winds up to 75mph to even 100 mph gusts at times and I've not had one canna get blown over and I plant from 1 inch to 2 inch deep in a rasied bed. The roots go deep and hold it in and I've got about 100 canna growing now.
I guess you are lucky. Even taking precautions, I have had a few fall over this year. In the past I have had some major wind damage. This happens primarily in bed that I have amended heavily with compost. Of course, the ones that fall over are the tallest varieties that get over 6 feet tall with large flowers, like Miss Oklahoma.
Good they you don't grow the Omega Canna, I dig up rhizomes that are from
18inch long to 2ft long and can grow stalks up to 18ft tall. I normaly sell it on ebay in the spring.
Eighteen feet is way out of scale for my garden. It would be a novelty though. Now that all the rhizomes are dug and boxed, the worst part comes. I have to carry them all to the basement. I have two brugamansia that I had to chop down to 6 feet high and about 4 feet wide to get indoors. They have main trunks thicker than my wrist and are almost too heavy for the two of us to bring inside and into the basement.
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