Grow Your Own Magazine

Hi Chaps,

I tried growing Cannas for the first time this year. All are in tubs, but stopped producing flowers some weeks ago. I want to lift them for the winter, but all I've read is to lift before frost and when the leaves have died down. Thing is, the leaves haven't died down yet and it's almost November!! Would it be OK to life them now? Could they be stored (as I've also read re. Dahlias)in dry newspaper until spring? I'd hate for them to all die, I was pretty pleased with them this year. I really need all those tubs for spring Daffs etc I wanna grow.

I'm having the same problem with the Begonias - STILL loads of flowers on, but I really need to lift them to plant something else! Advice needed with these too please. You've probably guessed, I'm new to this growing lark...

Thanks a lot,

AngeTheHippy
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The reason to leave them for as long as possible is (I think) so that they maximise the food store in the bulb for next year. Therefore you can lift them now OK. I grow some, but only in tubs and tend to simply store the tub in a dry, frost free place before repotting in the spring. As you need your tubs you'll need to dig them up. What's important is that they don't get either rotten or dry out to a lifeless state - yes, I know, it sounds a pain. I've never stored in newspaper but would guess it would work. Have managed OK in a cardboard box of dry straw in the past and that's probably fairly similar.

__________________

Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

Thanks Alison, appreciated. I don't have straw (but could easily get) but I wonder whether shredder paper (ya know, letters, bills, sensitive stuff etc you don't wanna put in the bin)would do the same job?? Could get loads of that!!

AngeTheHippy
x

I used to store my cannna's in their pots in the greenhouse keeping them dry, you say you need the pots for your daffs IMO the time needed to let the daffs die back and potting up the canna's is going to overlap that is of course unless you are just going to ditch the daffs after they have flowered have you thought of dedicated pots for the daffs and the canna's.

Hi Paul, no - the plan is to next year plant the Cannas in the ground. As I said, this is the first try of them this year, and wanna try them in ground next year. I've got a LOT of Bulbs, a LOT of Tubs and plan to lift the Daffs after flowering next year. I find them very untidy in the garden, just waiting for the leaves to die back.

The Begonias I'm trying to save too bu they still have loads of leaves on. I'm based in Lincolnshire by the way.

Ange
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What about putting them in the ground now where you are going to plant them and covering them with a good mulch of straw.

I saw Alan Titchmarsh on the telly last week cutting his Canna right down to the ground and covering it with mulch to keep it warm during the winter. It seems that you will have an overlap now so why not do Paul's idea and plant them into the ground safe and snug for the winter?

If you are going to leave them in the soil over winter, you need to think about your soil type. If you have a heavy soil then there is a risk that they will rot in water logged soil, particularly if it becomes frozen. However, this is obviously not a problem in sandy soil.

__________________

Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

I've just tipped my cannas out of the pot, in the past I've left them in the pot & put them undercover for the winter in the mini plastic greenhouse but this year I thought I'd turn them out & dry them off & wrap in paper.They hadn't flowered this year at all although they did grow leaves, one set of the leaves got eaten by slugs/snails so I thought that was the problem. When I tipped them out though I realised the drainage hole had got blocked & they have been rotting due to all the rain. Managed to save one & am now drying it off under cover in a tray & then going to wrap it in paper & pop in a bag in the shed to see if it's still worth using next year.(Think I might as well give up & buy new ones!)

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Into every life a little rain must fall.

Hi Guys, thanks for these msgs. I don't have a lot of spare ground to bed them in for the winter. What's more, it is CLAY around here, and not adviseable. I think I'll join ya SueA, and dry off once out of pots and store in Paper.

Thanks again,

Ange