How do you save Cannas seeds and what do they look like? I have a bunch of cannas. They have purple looking seed things on them.
How do you save Cannas seeds
Hi Garfieldkae
Those will develop seeds and break open and drop everywhere. LOL Watch and you'll start to see the seeds when the pods begin to dry. They store easy by just putting them in a paper bag and letting them dry out. Look almost like round black bean seeds. Keep them cool. That's how I store mine.
They multiply so rapidly with rhizomes that I use them for compost when they bloom out and cut the seed pods off. :) They're a run away plant here in coastal GA.
Seray, you are SO RIGHT - I have them in several places in my yard and the hummingbirds love them, but I sure don't let them set seeds - they multiply faster than mice in my yard! I keep digging and giving rhizomes away, but they just keep multiplying.
I wrote this for a previous thread and copied it into here:
After the flower is gone you will be left with little green capsules if the flower was successfully pollinated. The green capsules will grow bigger and bigger and finally turn brown. Inside you will find brownish black seeds. Canna seeds will keep for years. Store them as you would any seed .. cool dry place.
Canna are hard coat seeds. What this means is you have to put a hole in the coat in order for it to germinate in a reasonable time. Just a little one .. enough to see white. Some people use a nail file, I use my dremel tool and drill.
Once you have your hole in it, soak it overnight starting out in hand hot water then plant it about 1/2 inch deep in some good potting medium. They can take anywhere from 1 - 6 weeks to germinate. If you plant them early enough they will bloom the first year.
The neat thing about growing canna from seed is that you will never know what you are going to get. They rarely breed true to the parent. So don't be surprised if your canna grown from seed doesn't look anything like the plant you got the seeds from!
X
garfieldkae I keep my seeds in little plastic zip baggies.
Xeranthum I wish I had found your explanation before. LOL!
Canna seeds a lot of fun to germinate.
Canna seed pod on the left and flower on the right.
Thank you everyone for posting. It helps so much.