Bananas.org - View Single Post - Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence.

Olafhenny · 07-21-2012, 08:16 PM

Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence.

These cannas are clearly showing signs of feeling good in a planter with 27” deep soil and compost
(My brand new "tropical" planter).
I stuck the chair there simply to indicate scale.

These plants are clearly under stress, same age and size when they were planted out, but subject
to flooding since the middle of May with the water level of the pond, only 3 feet away from the
plant to the left only between 4 and 10 inches below the top of soil at the plants all that time. (Same
chair)

Interesting observations: The lower leaves were formed during the early stages of the flood
and look quite sickly, while the cannas seemed to have adapted to the soggy conditions over
time and now sport much healthier looking foliage. Still the stress is evident, because they
all have flower stalks, while the same age cannas in better environments show no flower stems
yet. That seems to confirm, that stress triggers propagation mechanisms.

This canna, sharing a large elevated pot (in one of my ‘pot pyramids’) with a Musa Ornata, has good
soil, but not in such massive supply as the one in the top photo and is accordingly a good foot
shorter at this time, though healthy and in no rush to bloom.

This shot shows the bananas, which were rather unimpressed by the ample supply of prime soil
and have consequently been dwarfed by the cannas. The one in the background is a young
Basjoo and the other two, still connected by a common corm and so far producing one pup
between them, are Ornatas.

07-21-2012, 08:16 PM	#1 (permalink)
Olafhenny Olafhenny's Photo Gallery Location: Penticton, BC, Okanagan Valley, Canada Find me on the map! Zone: Hardiness Zone 6 Name: Olaf Join Date: Apr 2010 Posts: 1,705 BananaBucks : 233,435 Feedback: 0 / 0% Said "Thanks" 2,050 Times Was Thanked 2,012 Times in 876 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 77 Times	Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. Of cannas and bananas, under stress and in opulence. These cannas are clearly showing signs of feeling good in a planter with 27” deep soil and compost (My brand new "tropical" planter). I stuck the chair there simply to indicate scale. These plants are clearly under stress, same age and size when they were planted out, but subject to flooding since the middle of May with the water level of the pond, only 3 feet away from the plant to the left only between 4 and 10 inches below the top of soil at the plants all that time. (Same chair) Interesting observations: The lower leaves were formed during the early stages of the flood and look quite sickly, while the cannas seemed to have adapted to the soggy conditions over time and now sport much healthier looking foliage. Still the stress is evident, because they all have flower stalks, while the same age cannas in better environments show no flower stems yet. That seems to confirm, that stress triggers propagation mechanisms. This canna, sharing a large elevated pot (in one of my ‘pot pyramids’) with a Musa Ornata, has good soil, but not in such massive supply as the one in the top photo and is accordingly a good foot shorter at this time, though healthy and in no rush to bloom. This shot shows the bananas, which were rather unimpressed by the ample supply of prime soil and have consequently been dwarfed by the cannas. The one in the background is a young Basjoo and the other two, still connected by a common corm and so far producing one pup between them, are Ornatas. __________________ The reason I joined this forum was to share experiences, my own and those of others and to learn from them.