Here is a stalk of pods and some are just about ready. I scraped off the covering so you could see it. It's not quite ready yet. The seeds should be a very dark almost black brown.
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More seed pods with almost ready to harvest, seed.
My cannas have developed seed pods this year for the first time ever. (here in zone 3/4) If I harvest them, what do I have to know to germinate them and get flowering plants from them? How many years will it take? (I have to lift them in the winter, but could pot a few and bring indoors just for the challenge.)
Hi,
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 are hard coat seeds. What this means is you have to put a hole in the coat in order for it to germinate. 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 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 show up. 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 don't always breed true to the parent. So don't be surprised if your home grown canna doesn't look anything like the plant you got the seeds from!
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Thank you! I look forward to the challenge. In my zone we have to lift the bulbs each fall, so I will be starting my seeds in the greenhouse in Mid to Late March with my other seeds. I appreaciate the detailed info!
I can tell that signing up as a member is the best thing I have done to promote my gardening habit, even though I am a fairly new member!
The hardest part to growing canna from seed is getting a hole in the seed without drawing blood from yourself! LOL .. I usually take a pair of wirecutters and put a dent in the coat so you can hold onto the seed with the wirecutters without it shooting off when you apply pressure to it. If you do this, don't grip it too hard or you will break the seed in two.
I've tried using exacto knives, nail files and anything else I could think of. The dremel tool is the easiest and works the best. You could probably use a regular drill with a tiny bit in it and get the same results. Just be careful!
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I use a cordless dremmel with a sanding drum to cut into the seed coat. It is what I use on my dogs toenails. Works great.
Tammie
gotta love them dremels! best birthday gift I ever got from my brother .. he's finally learning I like tools! Lol. Last Christmas he gave me a deWalt cordless drill.. wheeeeeeeeeeeee!
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So how deep do you make the hole in the seed? Do you go all the way through it?
Not deep at all .. just enough until you see white.
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whoohoo, i finally have a few seed pods. this plant came from girlgroupgirl...check out her churches plant sales in atlanta! anyhow.......how long approx until i can harvest my seeds from now. anxious to do some seed trading. - jon
They have a ways to go .. pod has to start turning brown.
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