Questions of Canna, Cracks and Feebleness (with pic)

16 years ago

Well I have been planted for 6 weeks and am starting to like what I see. My Cannas flowering make me smile but I think they look a bit too spread out. I got a potential crack and a couple of snoozer plants I have questions about. Thanks in advance for the help! Here's a pic.

1. Bad Crack or just ugly?

This spot has appeared recently and has me nervous. The wall is concrete with a liner between it and another layer of concrete. All of a sudden this spot of wetness has appeared along a thin hairline crack in the concrete. What I hope is the case, is that the concrete cracked a little below water, the water is seeping in but is stopping at the liner and just leaving a wet spot. Thoughts?

2. Sweet Flag...more like Sleep Flag. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

My sweet flag essentially hasn't grown an inch since I put it in. It's in one of the sunniest spots, though the whole pond gets a lot of shade. Might it be my Hard water?

3. Canna Questions!

Trim Yes/No?

After my first Canna flowered, hard little ponds formed at the base of the flowers and shows no sign of flowering again. Are these seeds or fruits? Would trimming the stalk help it devote more energy to flowering?

How big of pots?

Right now all the canna are in 5 gallon pots that are about 18" deep and maybe 10" wide. I like their heigth but was hoping they would fill in together more. In time will they bush out? Or do they only grow vertical and I need wider tubs or more dense plantings?

4. No Rush here.

This Pickeral Rush is pathetic. It keeps putting up one leaf at a time then the other one dies. Essentially it looks the same as it did when I got it, but it is on its 10th leaf. It is in a 3 gallon pot at about 3"

5. Booster Chair?

This lizard tail is growing ok, but I think it may have hit a wall. It is getting wider but not taller. If they don't get much taller than this I think I want to move it. Its in a 3 gallon pot at about 6"

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Comments (5)

comettose
16 years ago
Lizard tail likes the shade. Sweet flag may benefit from time and fertilizer.
sheepco
16 years ago
Canna pot size sounds good. When mine start a seed pod I trim it back to ~ 2" above the next leaf. Don't know if that's right, but mine continue to bloom most of the summer. They will bush out/spread in time. My dwarf canna (1 plant) got so root-bound it split it's 10" plastic pot the second year.

You might try raising the sweet flag on a brick 'til it gets going, then sink it again. Yes, time and fertilizer if you haven't.

Give that pickeral time, it's one of my best doers. Again you may try putting it just under the water 'til it gets going, then drop it. Mine hang out at about that 3" over the pot level and thrive. My pond only gets about 4 hours of sun/day.

Don't know about the others :) But, if you're anything like me, you can't wait to have lots of lush plants...so you buy a few more...then just one more...then all of a sudden you have 3 ponds and 2 veggie filters just to hold plants and you're starting a local pond plant exchange!!!
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watergal
16 years ago
Give the plants some time to fill in, and try an aquatic fertilizer to encourage growth. Pickerel and canna will fill in, growing additional stems and spreading across the pot in time. In full sun, it happens pretty fast, although the pickerel may take a while to get going. In shade, growth will be much slower.

Those hard pods on the cannas are seed pods. Cut them off to encourage more blooms.
azponder
Original Author
16 years ago
"Those hard pods on the cannas are seed pods. Cut them off to encourage more blooms."

Where should I cut them? Should I just cut the pods off or cut the stem at the node nearest to the pods?

Anyone have any thoughts about my potential leak?
watergal
16 years ago
I cut my pods off right above the topmost pair of leaves. I later read that for cannas in the ground in warm climates, you should cut the entire stalk down at ground level to encourage new stalks to grow, since new stalks will bloom more. But if you're wanting the plants to get fuller, I wouldn't do that just now.

Can't help you on the leak, sorry.

Questions of Canna, Cracks and Feebleness (with pic)

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comettose

sheepco

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Questions of Canna, Cracks and Feebleness (with pic)

Comments (5)

comettose

sheepco

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watergal

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