Last year I had several cannas, but I never saw seeds. After the bloom falls off there is a brown part. Is that where the seeds are supposed to be? Do you have to hand-pollinate or anything? I know these are obvious questions to some, but I can't find the dang seeds! Would love to trade some if I could ever just get some.
LOL Thanks
Tanya
how do you harvest canna seed?
I believe most Canna's in the trade today are hybrids and they will not set seed. The old timey species cannas do set seed; attached is a photo of the seed pods on my favorite species, Canna Warscewczii.
The red pods ardesia posted, will turn brown and papery and when you squeeze them, large black round seeds about the size of green peas are in them. If yours are making seed, you probably would not miss them. Could they be dropping to the ground before you see them? I usually don't let mine set seed until close to fall. I keep the spent flowers snipped.
Their are tons of ways to start them once you have them. You could nick the seeds and soak them. This works well but if you only have a few to work with. For me I put my seeds in large trays 500 a tray or more these trays have clear domes causing it to be a humidity chamber. It gets about 100f in the dome and the seeds will sprout but not all at once in the summer i get about 50 seeds out of the tray a week. It is more than I can keep up with usually. Specially when I have 5 trays going.
Thanks, guys! very helpful. I appreciate the advice.
Tanya
Not all cannas make seeds. Many hybrids do and some do not. But you will not get the same canna if you grow it from seeds. It may look similar or completely different, but it won't be the same.
My Richard Wallace cannas do not make seeds altho they make sterile seed pods. My Red Stripe makes tons of seeds. Everywhere there's been a flower, there will be a seed. You just have to watch and see if your seed ponds round out, like they're pregnant.
When the seeds are ripe, the pods will turn brown and papery and split open. Do NOT force a pod open. If you do, you may interrupt the process and your seed may never finish it's cycle and will be useless.
The seeds should be nearly black, smooth and round, not pruned like a raisin. They'll be big, about 1/4 of inch in diameter. My sis thought she was going to gather me some seeds one day and rushed in with all these tiny little "seeds", so thrilled to help. I had to laugh. She just brought me the "guts" of a sterile seed pod of Richard Wallace. LOL
i just threw some seeds in a pot with other stuff growing..and they came up on their own...i didn't even cover them....course i water there well.
And you are in zone 9 cheater. LOL I imagine they would come up easily in a climate that makes them happy. I sand mine and soak them then plant them. The ones I did about 2 weeks ago are about four inches tall.
Thanks so much, Butterfly chaser! I must just have a lot of the "sterile" ones. Oh well, they spread so fast anyway! I'll check my mom's cannas, though,too. She has a ton also. I guess so many of us just cherish the hunt of the seed. One of my biggest thrills of gardening is harvesting seed (my kids think I'm crazy when I'm searching in summer for the "motherlode of seeds").
take care, all!
Tanya
This is wonderful information! I posted over on the Canna Forum http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/588975/ but didn't get an answer.
I'm one of the "Zone cheaters" too, so I'm just going to put them in the ground.
Thanks folks,
Pati
I'm another zone cheater. I have some that set seed and some that don't. Occasionally I just poke a hole in the ground and let mother nature do her thing. Of course, they multiply so quickly here year round that often, I just throw out the seeds. I'm told our landfill get to be a regular nursery at times. LOL
Here in Wisconsin I had canna self sow and grow from last years seeds..
Surprised the heck out of me but made excellent filler plants ;-)
