Canna seeds

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Brian

Canna seeds

Post by Brian »

When is the best time to germinate canna indica seeds :?:
Petefree

Re: Canna seeds

Post by Petefree »

I usually stick them in a heated prop in Jan or Feb, Brian. They are pretty fast growers and if you sow them fairly early in the year you can get them into flower in their first summer.
The seeds need chipping to get them to germinate - or you can pour almost boiling water on them, which seems to crack the seed coat enough to get them started.
Pete
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Dave Brown
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Re: Canna seeds

Post by Dave Brown »

I'd agree with Pete, Brian. You don't want them sprouting in winter as there is not enough light, unless you use gro lites, and the seedlings would become straggly. They need a temp of above 24-26C to germinate, and the breaking of the seed coat is important if you don't want to wait 12 to 18 months for germination. I have them self sowning occasionally, normally in gravel or from the gaps between paving, so a warm even temp seems to be important.

Same with any seed, an open just moist mix does best. Basic seed germination requirements for most seed is moisture and air (equally important) coupled with the correct temperature for the plant :wink:
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Dave
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sanatic1234

Re: Canna seeds

Post by sanatic1234 »

Im growing my canna (indian shot) seeds now brian i soaked them for 24 hours last week in warm water, also chipped them before soaking. and as soon as i see a small white root poking through the chip i put them into my heated propagator and i now have all 4 canna seeds with shoots roughly around a inch in height not bad going for a weeks work. :DD
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Re: Canna seeds

Post by Dave Brown »

Sanatic, the point of chipping the seed is to allow moisture into the kernel, which may take many months left to it's own devices. The chip is not to let the root out, at that point the seed coat will split and the root will emerge through the slip. . A root will only appear once germination has taken place, and you need the heat for germination. The normal idea is to germinate in heat then remove from the propagator once the shoot appears and to grow them on in cooler conditions.

What temperature did you have them in before the root appeared if you moved them to the propagator after that.
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Brian

Re: Canna seeds

Post by Brian »

Well mine seem to be doing fine I tried two methods to chip the seeds I poured boiling water over some and chipped some with nail clippers and left all the seeds to soak in warm water for 24 hours (leave the cup of water in the propagator to keep the water warm), then I potted them into 1" seed trays and left them in the propagator until they began to put out a green shoot then I transferred them into 3" pots and placed them on my kitchen window sill.
I had my first green shoot after 1 week and some took 4 weeks regardless of chipping method and out of 30 seeds 28 have germinated :D
sanatic1234

Re: Canna seeds

Post by sanatic1234 »

Dave - I took my seeds out of the warm water as soon as the roots came through the slit. then moved it into my propagator. I left the warm water at room tempature and they started to germinate just fine. but once in the propagator they soon took off.
pat

Re: Canna seeds

Post by pat »

ive just germinated some canna seeds. The compost was sterile before use. The seedlings were ok till they reached about an inch long and then i noticed them all seeming to go brown and rot. The compost around the seed itself seems to have lots of mould growth. this looks like it has transferred to the seedlings rotting them. Does anybody have any ideas what this can be. its not like the normal damping off you can get on some seedlings.
dave2166

Re: Canna seeds

Post by dave2166 »

it might not be damping off but i think it is,, did you remove heat or keep it on, and could be you didnt remove the prop lid during the day... dampness kills more seedlings than anything,
i tend to lift the lids off during the day and replace at night, that way you can get some air around them
sanatic1234

Re: Canna seeds

Post by sanatic1234 »

have you got plenty of perlite or grit mixed in with the compost to help break it up a bit to let more air into it so that it dries out quicker? How wet is the compost? All i do with my canna seedlings is spray the compost a little with the water bottle like you would if you mist plants. but i only do this when the soil has nearly dried out. I keep my vents closed for the first 7 days on my prop, then i open after 7 days. one it helps build up heat for the germination, secondly the airflow is needed when it gets to humid in there. and it lowers the temp a little so they don't cook inside the prop. I had some do the same last year but i started some off to early In my opinion, that was about this time. I normally wait till start-mid February.
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