Cannas: stuttgart anyone??, 4 by SilkKnoll

SilkKnoll wrote:
What virus? I think I'm coming late to the party.......

I bought three Stuttgart rhizomes that arrived prepackaged (Netherlands, I think.). One was DOA. Another was half brown, and the third was a tip cutting -- normally not a problem, but I had the feeling it was too tender to come out of dormancy and re-establish in our heat.

Wanting to make sure they had sufficient aeration, I used at least half perlite, put them in a bulb pan in part sun and kept them moist. the 1/2 dead one put out one root, but rot overtook it (pic 1). The tip cutting did nothing, and, when I took it up after it had had plenty of time to root, it was hollowed out by fungus gnat larvae, except for the tip, but the rot reached within 1/4 inch of the last node (pic 2). I didn't think there was enough margin for the cut to cure and leave a viable node. I still gave it a shot, angling half of the tip into peat & perlite in a 2" pot on a window shelf where I would see it often and spritzed the tip, avoiding the cut, at least twice a day. Even if the cats hadn't disappeared it, I doubt it had a chance.

Are these "virus" symptoms? I'm in correspondence with the seller who seems willing to work things out. Another canna I received from him was misidentified. It was supposed to be Pink Sunburst, but sprouted as either Striped Beauty or Pretoria (pic 3). I don't know how to tell them apart until they bloom. It was a massive field-grown rhizome, thick and about 14" long, but it only produced one weak shoot that is growing very slowly, as if stunted. In the same pot, I started a small Tropicanna that is progressing just as slowly (also pic 3).

On the other hand, the third canna in that pot, a NOID that, to me, resembles Alberich (from the seller's pic), is growing well.

I took pic 4 just now, two weeks later.

Are these also signs of this virus? If so, I'm glad I kept them in pots instead of putting them directly in the garden.

Please educate me, or, at least, give me a link where I can learn about this.

I was determined to add the "top five" variegated cannas (Tropicanna, Pretoria, Striped Beauty, Pink Sunburst, Stuttgart) and canna Australia this year, and my plan is NOT proceeding as hoped!