I don't know about coir fiber from Vietnam but I do ammend most of my soils with coir fiber and I also use it in my reptile and amphibian cages. I buy it in compressed bricks. I just checked and they are imported from Sri Lanka. I've never had a problem. That's not a guarantee but I think I'd have seen something with my amphibians if the coir contained toxins. I do buy bricks specifically made for reptiles and amphibians and they might have stricter controls then garden supplies.

Your 'Tropicanna' is likely NOT virused. I just got one of these and it is doing fine. Note that we are both SoCal, you being further south maybe, but our Cannas probably originate from the same source, Tesselaar. I got mine at Orchard Supply and know that they sourced it from Tessalaar from the tag on it. Further 'Tropicanna' is a marketing name, not the actual name of the Canna. This is a Canna x generalis from the Italian Group of hybrids and is known as Canna x generalis 'Phasion'. It even states that on the reverse side of Tesselaar's card. Their card pictures a rather pretty image of the plant, but keep in mind that photos can be retouched in many ways to make them look better than the actual object, contrast, color saturation, color substitution, defect removal, etc. My plant is not as pretty as the picture on Tessalaar's card. You can see a picture of my plant here in the Canna Forum by looking in on the "Bloom'n Canna" thread I started to show pictures of my Canna Flaccida. If my Canna x generalis "Phasion" or as you know it "Tropicanna", propogates through rhizome spreading like Canna Flaccida does, I'll be happy. Cheers!

Talk about viruses... While I was logged on to the Hart Canna blog http://cannanews.blogspot.com/2008/01/thoughts-on-virus-from-hart-canna.html a rogue virus program (Antivirus 2008) tried to install itself on my computer. I have several security programs which blocked it but I just wanted to give you a headsup about the potential problem. This program will automatically scan your computer and inform you that your system is infected and tries to sell you their product. Exit immediately! Major problem.

I stopped by and saw he has updated recently. Given that he wrote to us about the hosting company cleaning its new servers, and he knows there was an issue with the hosting company, I think he will keep a eye on this. It should now be safe for people with Windoze machines to visit the site. Philip