Found a good way to grow canna from seed

18 years ago

I found this at some other site, and found that using this method I had about 95% germination. Thought it might help someone to post it so here it is:

Canna hybrids do not come true from seed and although some of the progeny may resemble the parents, they are rarely as good. Nevertheless, it is fun to grow a few this way and you never know, you might just get something that is even better. The best time to sow is in January or early February , which will give the plants a good 14 - 16 weeks growing time before they can be hardened off for planting out of doors. Thankfully Cannas are extremely easy to grow from seed if you observe a few easily followed rules.

The seed coats are bullet hard (hence the occasional common name of 'Indian Shot'). The best way of enabling water to penetrate this seemingly impermeable barrier is to nick the seeds, by holding them in a pair of pliers and using a file, carefully cutting into the coat until you reach the white endocarp within the seed. Only the tiniest amount needs to be exposed and it is better to file too little away than too much. If you look at the seed carefully, you will see a scar (hylem). It is through here that the growing shoot will break through. You should file the coat on the opposite side to the scar in order to avoid damage to the embryo.

The next step requires a bit of bravery, so you'll need to 'grit yer teeth'. Place the seeds in a cup or beaker and pour freshly boiled water over them. As soon as you hear the seed coats starting to crackle and pop, immediately add enough cold water to cool them down to luke warm. The seeds should then be allowed to soak for 24 or more hours in a warm place - an airing cupboard is ideal.

Inspect the seeds and most should have swollen to almost double their original size after 24 hours. Sow these just below the surface of lightly moist, sterilised, soil-less compost and maintain temperatures of 25C (77F) or higher. Germination will take no more than 48-60 hours and don't be surprised to see first shoots appearing in as little as 24 hours. Those seeds which have not swollen immediately, can be left to soak for another day or so before sowing.

In the early stages, seedlings need to be kept at around 21C to prevent damping off. Canna seedlings need lots of light and should be left to grow to the second leaf stage before potting up into 8 - 10cm, diameter pots. Once they have established well, temperatures can be gradually reduced to 15 -18C. Pot on as necessary and keep the young plants moving by applying half strength liquid feed at 14 day intervals. By May, the seedlings should be in 25 -30 cm. diameter pots and will be ready for hardening off for planting out in the first week of June.

If you start early enough in the year and maintain good growing conditions, you can expect first flowers by July or early August.

Featured Answer

bfern

17 years ago

i use my dremel with the metal filing tip to score outer coat. goes a lot quicker when you have lots of seeds to do.
fern

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Comments (11)

nicolo
18 years ago
One thing I saw in this second year of my canna seed experience is that the seeds of Canna coccinea were much more reliable than the seeds of cultivated varieties. I had six of the species seeds, all of which germinated in less than 48 hours. My germination rate among the cultivar seeds I saved from last year was about 1 percent. Some did absolutely nothing while soaking in water and some swelled up and then did nothing more. Only one seed in roughly 100 of them put out a root. The rest appeared to have gone bad. Maybe in the water too long or maybe just not viable to begin with.

If I save any seeds for next year, I'll try the hot water treatment.
Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)
18 years ago
What kind of file? A metal nail file? Would you use the flat surface or the edge? I don't think an emory board would stand up to the job - either on the flat surface or the edge. Maybe you mean a carpenter's file? Please - more info!
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I was unaware of that. Good to know. The canna in Q was a generic BBS plant. I will likely plant the seeds next spring since I have them, but without any expectations. Thanks.
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The best method I've found so far is to go to the bench grinder and just hold them between your fingers and buzz against the stone for a second. It gets through the shell in a flash and you don't have to file your finger tips off with a file. I get through about 100-150 in ten minutes that way. Then I soak them in water for a day or three and stick them in starting soil. I'm getting about 90-95% starts. If you use the peat pellet starters the roots will stick out the bottom within days of germination and you'll be potting them up within the second week. I'm currently starting about 3,000 seeds and expect flowers just before frost, or more likely next season.
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Here in CA, USA, I got my Canna x Generalis Seed from TradeWindsFruit.com. They have two varieties, orange and what they call Tiger Lilly Red. I had a good deal of trouble getting them to germinate due to the high temperatures here in Bakersfield. However, after moving them to shade, they have now nearly all sprouted. I would think that folks in cooler zones would have less trouble getting them to germ, especially if they start them indoors and put 'em out later. See the post I started on 'Observation on Canna Germination' for more info and photos of the young plants.
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Brian, There are several books on tissue culture that give more details on zygotic embryo culture than the In Vitro Plant Breeding book that I referenced. I mentioned it first because it is introductory, and I happen to have a copy of it. I think "zygotic embryo culture" is the technical term for the subject of your inquiry. Many of the books in this subject area are relatively expensive, so you will benefit from learning to use Amazon's Search Inside! feature. You can find more detail in the book, Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture by M. K. Razdan, in Chapter 11 (beginning on page 128) titled "Zygotic Embryo Culture". Apparently you can't link directly to specific pages within a book. At least, I don't know how to do it. But this link, Search Inside! Introduction to Plant Tissue Culture should get you inside where you can enter the search string "129" in the Search box and press the red Go button to get a list of hits for that string. At the top of the list is hit 1. "on page 129" and clicking on that will link you to page 129, which is the second page in Chapter 11. Just use the left arrow in the margin of page 129 to go to the beginning of Chapter 11 on what would be page 128 if it had a page number, which it doesn't. At $49.50, that book is fairly affordable, but it is temporarily out of stock at Amazon. Another good book, Plant Tissue Culture: Theory and Practice by Bhojwani and Razdan costs $370, so there is motivation to use Amazon's Read Inside on it. Once you get into the Read Inside your target is Chapter 11, titled Zygotic Embryo Culture, beginning on page 297. Entering "297" in the Search box is the quickest way to find a link to that page, because it does have a page number. There are a bunch of good books on tissue culture, and tissue culture techniques can be used to culture embryos that otherwise wouldn't develop into viable seeds. That makes it possible to grow interspecific and even intergeneric hybrids that wouldn't grow without using zygotic embryo culture techniques. You might be interested in the Kitchen Culture Kits, Inc. website. Dr. Carol M. Stiff is the proprietor, and she might be able to put together a kit specifically adapted to your zygotic embryo culture needs. MM
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lee53011
Original Author
18 years ago
I used a regular metal file for sharpening knives, and I used the edge. A metal nail file should work, use the edge. Almost anything will work that will cut through the outer shell, but not the meat.

Lee
kellyinflorida
17 years ago
I use large toe nail clippers to clip a corner of my seeds, then I soak them until I see a white nub appear from the seeds and plant them.

Kelly
chknlkn
5 years ago
I got to the boiling water part and only ONE seed "popped." Now what? Should I just keep pouring boiling water over them til all of them pop?
Dorion Fields
5 years ago
Personally the boiling water method is unnecessary to me...I achieve max results by doing your first step hold them with pliers and sanding with a file or other means then I drop them in a jar of collected rain water. Next I observe a few days when the white nub appears I take it out and examine it further and if the skin flexes I peal the outer layer off then...and if not I put it back in the water until it is peal able. .but that step is also unnecessary cause all you really need is to see is growth (the embryo starting to emerge) and plant it as is and it will grow...All other steps are just us being impatient lol
chknlkn
5 years ago
Thank you so much! I will soak them. :)
Dorion Fields
5 years ago
Soaking is so Dam easy...once you scar the seed thats all the work...the water will do all the rest...the only thing after that is to be careful of your seedlings in the early stages cause you cant water them too much but you also don't want to dry them either...what I do is check on them every day or so depending on conditions and if you see it getting a bit on the dry side dip your finger in some water and let some water drip off your finger onto where the seedling is until it develops leaves cause over watering can cause root rot and/or fungus to take over
sophia pinella
5 years ago
SUCCESS! So, I potted up dozens of seeds down about an inch or two in regular potting soil, in 2 very large pots, and less than a week later I was getting tiny leaves sprouting through! So I potted some more in the same pot, and now almost all of them (dozens!) are about 4 or 5 inches tall, leafy & healthy, but no flowers yet. Wondering if I need to repot a few for space, or if they prefer crowding? They are flanking my front door, north-facing. They get lots of light (Colorado) but not full sun. I'll report back...
Dorian W
5 years ago
I have had pretty good success getting the seeds to germinate but after a few months they begin to wilt and dye off. Some just stop growing after 2 inches and others after 3 feet. I have about 10 plants left and have put them under a grow light. They were in a large pot and had enough (maybe too much) water. The last one shot up a pup and both died. Do anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Found a good way to grow canna from seed

bfern

Comments (11)

nicolo

Carol love_the_yard (Zone 9A Jacksonville, FL)

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Found a good way to grow canna from seed

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