Growing Canna from seeds?

[JohnAndSancho]

Okie dokie. Has anyone ever tried growing cannas from seed? I know rhizomes are a million times faster and easier, but seeds are cheap. And I have sandpaper and time. I watched a YouTube video and after filing and soaking, this woman had some of hers blooming after 5 months which seems impressive. 

https://ebay.us/m/GKJnIC

I'm a little skeptical on this one because it seems like most of their feedback is a buyer and none as a seller. I also went down a rabbit hole and learned lots of hybrids don't keep their traits if grown from seed, so I don't know if this would. 

https://ebay.us/m/iFKpXt

And these are like $4. And apparently a very basic common Canna. I think both should survive as long as we don't have another crazy polar vortex winter, but those do seem to be the norm now. 

Feel free to remind me that I don't have a greenhouse, it's August, I want another philodendron, I have about 12 million seeds germinating (some of which may take eternity to pop anyway, but my biggest fear is everything popping at once), and I've got a pile of seedlings that aren't ready to be planted out. I also want some purple cordyline australis to border out my beds, but they've gotten really expensive - I bought one for like $4 just 5 years ago and now they're like $20+ if you can find them. I don't think I have the patience to grow them from seed, though - says the guy with 6 baggies of Sabals on heat mats. Oh and I still want a Causarium and the hybrid Palmetto/Causarium. 

[N8ALLRIGHT]

Hey Jon,if you can wait till November, I'll send you some rhizomes of our red variety. That SOB is unstoppable. We started with one little plant, now we've got it growing in 4 places. It's called " Canna Daddies Buckaroo", kinda whack name, but it grows a bunch. Gets 6 or 7 ft tall, only complaint and it's kinda nitpicky. The flowers aren't real big, but they're red and the hummingbirds love em. Maybe I'll throw in some elephant ears ( jacks giant) those sobs are f'n out of control as well. I've probably gave away a couple hundred this year and that's after we'd planted our beds. My wife loves them, they're her babies. Never started Canna from seed

 

[N8ALLRIGHT]

Here's Buckaroo and the ears

 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, N8ALLRIGHT said:

Here's Buckaroo and the ears

 

Hell yeah! I'm just thinking about how funny it's gonna be for the next, I dunno 5-10 years seeing giant canna tower above slow growing palms. 

[Darold Petty]

John, I have germinated Canna from seed several times.  As an experiment I did 50% by scratching the seed coat (tedious) and 50 % by pouring boiling water over the seeds in a ceramic cup, then waiting until the water cooled to room temperature,  (easy).

The germination rate was the same, but the water method is much less work.     

[Fusca]

7 hours ago, Darold Petty said:

John, I have germinated Canna from seed several times.  As an experiment I did 50% by scratching the seed coat (tedious) and 50 % by pouring boiling water over the seeds in a ceramic cup, then waiting until the water cooled to room temperature,  (easy).

The germination rate was the same, but the water method is much less work.     

I've done the same thing scratching the seed coat but never tried the boiling water.  For me it's hard to scratch the little ball-bearing-like seeds without scuffing up the tips of my fingers!  😖  At least Texas Mountain Laurel seeds and Pride of Barbados seeds are easier to get a handle on to do the scratching.

[happypalms]

One plant you can’t kill John. Easy to grow you just need a wet area. And in the years to come you will curse yourself as you dig them out. Iam not a fan of them but each to there own!

[gyuseppe]

On 8/3/2025 at 7:59 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Okie dokie. Has anyone ever tried growing cannas from seed? I know rhizomes are a million times faster and easier, but seeds are cheap. And I have sandpaper and time. I watched a YouTube video and after filing and soaking, this woman had some of hers blooming after 5 months which seems impressive. 

https://ebay.us/m/GKJnIC

I'm a little skeptical on this one because it seems like most of their feedback is a buyer and none as a seller. I also went down a rabbit hole and learned lots of hybrids don't keep their traits if grown from seed, so I don't know if this would. 

https://ebay.us/m/iFKpXt

And these are like $4. And apparently a very basic common Canna. I think both should survive as long as we don't have another crazy polar vortex winter, but those do seem to be the norm now. 

Feel free to remind me that I don't have a greenhouse, it's August, I want another philodendron, I have about 12 million seeds germinating (some of which may take eternity to pop anyway, but my biggest fear is everything popping at once), and I've got a pile of seedlings that aren't ready to be planted out. I also want some purple cordyline australis to border out my beds, but they've gotten really expensive - I bought one for like $4 just 5 years ago and now they're like $20+ if you can find them. I don't think I have the patience to grow them from seed, though - says the guy with 6 baggies of Sabals on heat mats. Oh and I still want a Causarium and the hybrid Palmetto/Causarium. 

Mine produce seeds, they fall to the ground and sprout, but I don't know how long it takes for them to sprout, over time they become invasive.

[JohnAndSancho]

Welp. I bought these. $4.07 shipped for 18, we'll see what happens. It sounds like this is gonna be another of the 80,000 times I regret letting a neighbor borrow my Dremel. 

https://ebay.us/m/iFKpXt

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Welp. I bought these. $4.07 shipped for 18, we'll see what happens. It sounds like this is gonna be another of the 80,000 times I regret letting a neighbor borrow my Dremel. 

https://ebay.us/m/iFKpXt

Did the nurse next door come over and borrow your dremel?

[JohnAndSancho]

37 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Did the nurse next door come over and borrow your dremel?

No, I loaned it to a neighbor ~10 years ago and it was in one of those canvas tool bags. Their cat pissed on it so I just left it. I had tons of accessories with it too, I had the router and the drill press. Oh well. 

[Chester B]

I just threw out probably 20 bulbs of Canna musifolia.  You likely have Brazilian skippers in your area so if that's the case then I wouldn't bother with cannas.  You'll have to buy Thuricide BT caterpillar controller and spray every inch of every plant weekly and after every rain.  On top of that you'll need to also manually remove any caterpillars you see.  Look up "Canna Leaf Roller".

The 4 clumps of cannas I have left are going to the trash as well.  It was recommended to burn them by local nurseries.

[JohnAndSancho]

11 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I just threw out probably 20 bulbs of Canna musifolia.  You likely have Brazilian skippers in your area so if that's the case then I wouldn't bother with cannas.  You'll have to buy Thuricide BT caterpillar controller and spray every inch of every plant weekly and after every rain.  On top of that you'll need to also manually remove any caterpillars you see.  Look up "Canna Leaf Roller".

The 4 clumps of cannas I have left are going to the trash as well.  It was recommended to burn them by local nurseries.

Neat. 

 

Wait, are you Texas Tropics on YouTube?

[Chester B]

1 hour ago, JohnAndSancho said:

Neat. 

 

Wait, are you Texas Tropics on YouTube?

That's me

[JohnAndSancho]

27 minutes ago, Chester B said:

That's me

Garden looks great. You didn't waste a lot of time.... Anyway yeah, a quick Google says these moths go all the way to Illinois and Massachusetts, and I'm hardly a moth expert - but if you asked me to describe a moth, it'd look just like these. And most of the articles I read talked about what great pollinators they are, unless you're growing Canna in your yard. I can't really think of anything that needs extra pollination here honestly, and while I've got nothing but time I can see that as getting old fast. 

 

I still think the idea of seeing a 7 foot flower (obviously talking at least next year if not the year after) towering over a 10 inch palm would be funny, but nobody is gonna see it except me and the dog unless I start making videos again. Lol I think I averaged like 7 views last time. I dunno. Thanks for the heads up though, keep cranking out the videos, and go have some Taqueria El Rey for me. The 3 Amigos with 2 Cuban and one fish with a cantaloupe juice always brought my mood up. 

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, kukras said:

Yeah, growing cannas from seed is definitely a slow game compared to rhizomes, but it can be rewarding if you’ve got the patience. Filing and soaking helps a ton.

Hybrid seeds not keeping traits is a real thing, so you might not get exactly what you expect.

$4 for common cannas isn’t bad, but watch the seller feedback like you said.

And yeah, no greenhouse and all those other plants… you’re juggling a lot, man. But hey, if you’ve got the space and time, why not? Just don’t expect fireworks overnight.

I honestly hadn't even thought about just how much I've got going on and how much I need to do until I read this just now 😂 but yeah I've got plenty of space indoors now that I've got the addition cleared out, we've got 6 acres of land and 2 of it is mostly cleared, the rest is all forest. There's a creek. If I felt better and had some money coming in, I'd be unstoppable. 5 or 10 years from now this place will be crawling with Sabals and Trachies for sure. 

[Hu Palmeras]

On 12/8/2025 at 12:42, Chester B said:

Acabo de tirar unos 20 bulbos de Canna musifolia. Probablemente tengas saltamontes brasileños en tu zona, así que, si es así, no te molestes con las cannas. Tendrás que comprar el producto para controlar orugas Thuricide BT y rociar cada centímetro de la planta semanalmente y después de cada lluvia. Además, tendrás que eliminar manualmente las orugas que veas. Busca "Canna Leaf Roller".

Los cuatro grupos de cannas que me quedan también van a la basura. Los viveros locales recomendaron quemarlos.

Beautiful photos. It's a pleasure learning from you.

[Slifer00]

On 8/3/2025 at 6:59 PM, JohnAndSancho said:

Okie dokie. Has anyone ever tried growing cannas from seed? I know rhizomes are a million times faster and easier, but seeds are cheap. And I have sandpaper and time. I watched a YouTube video and after filing and soaking, this woman had some of hers blooming after 5 months which seems impressive. 

https://ebay.us/m/GKJnIC

I'm a little skeptical on this one because it seems like most of their feedback is a buyer and none as a seller. I also went down a rabbit hole and learned lots of hybrids don't keep their traits if grown from seed, so I don't know if this would. 

https://ebay.us/m/iFKpXt

And these are like $4. And apparently a very basic common Canna. I think both should survive as long as we don't have another crazy polar vortex winter, but those do seem to be the norm now. 

Feel free to remind me that I don't have a greenhouse, it's August, I want another philodendron, I have about 12 million seeds germinating (some of which may take eternity to pop anyway, but my biggest fear is everything popping at once), and I've got a pile of seedlings that aren't ready to be planted out. I also want some purple cordyline australis to border out my beds, but they've gotten really expensive - I bought one for like $4 just 5 years ago and now they're like $20+ if you can find them. I don't think I have the patience to grow them from seed, though - says the guy with 6 baggies of Sabals on heat mats. Oh and I still want a Causarium and the hybrid Palmetto/Causarium. 

Hmm I did try for fun from fresh seeds I collected in Girona, Spain, but I believe only 2 of 10 germinated after 6 months. Room temp baggy method, no pre treatment

[JohnAndSancho]

I think I'm gonna do these the lazy way. I read somewhere that someone got them to actually sprout in water, so I'm just gonna let them soak in really hot water and keep changing it daily with a splash of h2o2 and see what happens. I have no idea how far the canna moth travels or how well it smells, but there aren't any other cannas for at least 5 miles if not 10, so we'll see what happens. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Welp

 

I didn't use boiling water, but it was hot. And I left them on the heat mat. I didn't expect flowers in a week or anything silly but I expected some kind of movement. So after destroying an emory board, I went digging around the house and found a big ass old metal file. BAM. Donesies. Then since the heat mat kept letting all the water out of the cup evaporate, I found a small sealable container and put this on the heat mat. 

 

A little peroxide soak since god knows how old this file is or where it's been. Also these are covered in my DNA and fingerprints now, and now would be an ideal time for me to commit crimes.

 

Rinsed and sanitized this little container, and hopefully I see movement within a week. My fingers are all nice and calloused now and ready for the nanner seeds. 

[JohnAndSancho]

24 hours later, all 12 are showing roots. 

My weapon of choice

 

So soak for a day, rub them along the file until you see white, then threw them in hot water and peroxide in a sealed container and put them on the heat mat and literally sprouting overnight. I'm gonna let the roots grow more before I put them in pots, it took me a little over an hour for 12 seeds so it's not like it was super fast but I just zoned out watching TV so it's not like it was intense manual labor either. I did the same thing with the banana seeds so let's hope and pray I get similar results with them. Hold file with one hand, hold seed with the other, did this from my La Z Boy.