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View Full Version : Is my canna virused


TrailGaiter
07-28-2011, 09:07 PM
Ok, so I learned a lot about cannas this year after discovering them, and knew I was totally in love! I found a tropicanna locally, but it just didn't look good to me, I wasn't sure if it was virused, or just not receiving enough sun, but either way, I didn't take the risk and buy it, as much as I wanted a tropicanna. Well, I had decided to hold off until next year on my canna venture....since I started "going bananas" this year...but then I came across some somewhere else. Australia Cannas. They looked BEAUTIFUL! Totally healthy, nice and dark... not a speck of discoloration anywhere, they looked great! So I brought one home.

It's been planted in the ground awhile now, and it's producing leaves like wildfire. Produced some beautiful flowers (it's the foliage I like, not the flowers), and starting to pop out some more. But now the leaves aren't looking so good. One of the leaves has a perfect green stripe on it. As if someone took a paint brush and painted it on there. The last photo included shows that leaf. The leaves were unrolling nice and dark, now they're unrolling quite green. The leaves towards the bottom are drying somewhat, and becoming green tinted. Perhaps it's that I'm not caring for it well. I'm watering it daily, maybe I shouldn't be? Up until the past couple days, it's been very dry here. I fertilized it with milorganite. Perhaps I should/shouldn't have done that either. So perhaps someone who knows cannas well can tell me if that fertilizing and daily watering is my problem. Of course, we'vd had rain the past couple days, so I'm not watering anything...

I took several pics this evening. As I said, it's producing leaves like crazy, but now the leaves are greenish, rather than the beauiful reddish/black they were. Is it a virus showing up? Is it the fertilizer? The watering?

And IF my beautiful canna is virused, I will want to find some more, NONvirused canna (tropicanna, bengal tiger, intrigue, australia, red stripe...), when would be the best time to get them? Yet this year, storing rhizomes for winter, or just waiting till spring?
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1147.jpg http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1141.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1145.jpghttp://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1146.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1144.jpghttp://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1143.jpg
http://i205.photobucket.com/albums/bb236/grullablue/IMAG1148.jpg

sunfish
07-28-2011, 10:08 PM
I don't know if it has a virus,but no inground plant needs water every day.

cherokee_greg
07-28-2011, 10:13 PM
It looks ok to me.

palmtree
07-29-2011, 01:12 AM
No, it definitely doesnt look virused! My canna looks very similar to yours (different variety, but same coloring, and Im not worried about it.

TRAY
07-29-2011, 01:26 AM
Hart Canna (http://www.hartcanna.com/virus.htm)
Plant: Canna Intrigue Care and Maintenance (http://www.learn2grow.com/plants/canna-intrigue-care-and-maintenance/)
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Personally i wouldn't say it's virused. I planted 2 Aust. in Mal. mixed with 2 other ferts. and mine are looking like the top pic. ( deep satin purple).I pretty much water everyday when its really hot out.(no where near as big as yours). I also planted some intrigue and cordyline's that were purple and are now turning green. 1 intrigue turned green and stopped growing period. The other 2 intrigue turned green but are putting out new purple leaves, (of course they are kinda mixed to begin with). So i don't know, your guess is as good as mine! Just know that the weather hasn't been consistent as in normal.

RobG7aChattTN
07-29-2011, 04:43 PM
It is totally fine. Early in the season you tend to get fresh, new growth so the plant all looks uniform. Later in the season the effect of light, heat, age, etc. will change the look a bit. Plus, there is often a bit of variation in the different shoots and it is normal for some to be more green or have a flash of variegation (or un-variegation).

TrailGaiter
07-30-2011, 08:33 AM
Thank you for the opinions, I'm feeling much better! This is my first canna.... and after reading so much about the virus, I didn't know. I don't typically water it every day, only when we've been so very hot and dry....I'll give it a drink every day. not a pure soaking, just a drink. It's growing like a weed, and I'm just loving it! I will be a total canna junkie before you know it!

On the striped kinds, I'd seen what to watch for, but I never really read anything about the solid colored kinds, so when mine was turning so green in spots like this one is, I really wasn't sure. But my mind is much more at ease now!

So...with the solid colored kinds, what DO you look for in a sick plant?

Angie