Canna Lily 'Tropicanna Black'

While I agree in general with the comment above, please be aware that there are efforts by propagators using tissue culture to clean up a...Read Morend reintroduce virus indexed, clean versions of many of the cultivars. Have patience, waiting for the redevelopment, asking vendors if material is virus indexed before purchase. My understanding is that the "ugly" is expressed only after multiple viruses have silently piled up in material and then suddenly present after a critical mass of interacting viral infections are present. Many of these viral strains may be carried by other genera without showing any visible symptoms which makes management difficult within any nursery or garden center. Please correct if I'm mistaken in the above.

I am getting pretty angry with growers pushing diseased, ugly cannas into the market. I am even more surprised by the lack of response t...Read Moreo the growers from retailers on how bad the products look when they arrive. Black Tropicanna has been one of the worst performing cannas in the face of the present canna virus that has infected most EVERY canna in retail sale. Bagged or growing cannas all are generally infected. Some just do not show symptoms which means they are more resiliant than others to the affects. Do not assume you can plant any healthy appearing canna in your yard and keep it from infecting existing cannas within an insects flying distance.

Do growers expect customers will buy cannas that can't even stand erect with green/neon yellow off coloration and morphed leaves? The canna growing industry needs a severe reality check but its likely coming soon. Yes they will be hurt by the loss but they can grow other plants or build a healthy plant stock from seed. Thier material looks bad and will potentially scare people from buying any canna in the future whether virused or not.

I am equally offended by the green industries response by keeping the general public largely uninformed of this epidemic and selling dieing, infected material to hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide. This is akin to snake oil sales with a shot of HIV. You are getting taken for your money repeatedly and being given something that will kill any healthy plants you have that are susceptible to the virus.

I tell nurseries and businesses locally about the disease and they continue to order cannas regardless rather than tell people why they no longer carry them. The problem has been around for nearly a decade and still nothing is being done about it. It is not to say that this virus can't morph at some point to hit other species too or already does. I have read that the virus is capable of going to other species. The spread must be stopped. The public needs to be informed or else this is a giant unethical scam.