Canna is leaning. Is it because of the sun or how I potted it?

17 years ago

Okay, I'm a newbie and I'm not sure what all I need to fix here. A neighbor gave me some cannas just over a week ago. The one in question is about 18" tall already with three good sized leaves (8-12" long). This is kinda goofy, so bear with me.

I just potted this thing and put it outside a couple days ago. I'm not 100% sure, but I think it was vertical when I potted it. Now it's sort of leaning to one side. It happens to be leaning in the direction of where it gets the most sun, in the afternoon. I'm not sure if it's actually TRYING to lean towards the sun or if there's something happening under the surface that I can't see. The top of the soil is still pretty level.

I put it in a huge ceramic wine crock that's about 18" diameter and 24" tall, and weighs about 20 lbs empty. So that I would have a fighting chance of moving this thing if I needed to, and because the pot doesn't have good drainage, I filled the bottom half of the crock with wound up fallen tree limbs & vines and packaging peanuts (don't laugh - I got the idea on GW). I filled the rest of the crock with soil so that the crown (?) would be level with the surface.

Do I need to put this where it gets more balanced sun (vs mostly on one side) so that it doesn't topple over?

I need to find a different pot for it anyway (hubby's crock & he doesn't want me using it for a planter!). I thought they needed tall pots because they're tall plants, but I've since read that they do better in shallow pots. What is the shallowest pot you would recommend for a canna? I guess I should find out the narrowest as well.

Okay, now you can laugh at me.

Thanks for your help!

- Goofy... I mean, Mari

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Comments (3)

amaretto
17 years ago
Mari,

These are the reasons why I have had my canna lean over:

- Too much watering makes them top heavy
- Too tall and planted them too shallow and did not compact soil. I usually plant my canna under 3 inches of soil, but I will compact it if the canna is too tall (over 1 foot).

It sounds like you left a couple of days go by before planting. Your friend probably had to pull them from the ground, which disturbed the plants roots. I live in zone 10, so if I plant them in the sun right after they are pulled, they will not only tilt, but the sun actually burns the leaves. If that happens, don't worry, new plants will be coming up in no time.

Hope this helps
watergal
17 years ago
They definitely lean towards the sun. I have some in 6" pots on my dining room table that I started indoors, and they lean towards the window so much that I give them a half-turn every few days.

I might try planting it a bit lower, so that the rhizome is about 2" inches under the top of the soil.

As far as pot width, they will multiply pretty fast to fill whatever you give them. I can't imagine using anything less than a 14 to 17" pot, and bigger would be better.
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adayfromnow
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the info/advice. I repotted it/them in the biggest pot I could find locally (I think it's about 17"), buried the rhizome a little deeper and moved it to an area that gets more balanced sun. It's been overcast a lot here, so it hasn't gotten burned.

Is it true that they can grow in just about any soil and can take being handled/transplanted a lot? I still have some of the lightweight stuff in the bottom so it'll probably get too topheavy. If they can handle "poor soil" in the bottom, I'd rather keep my really rich stuff for things that need it. (Don't panic - I'll put the good stuff on top).

I also forgot to ask where in the pot to put the rhizome/stalk. I put it where the stalk (?) is in the center of the pot, which pushes the rhizome towards one side of it. Do I need to move it back where the rhizome is centered? (I also put another small one right next to it - bad idea?).

Also, I've read some of the other posts about how fast they multiply/spread/grow. I want this one to GROW, but I don't know how much I want it to multiply - yet (which is why it's in a pot instead of the ground). I don't want to kill the babies unless I have to in order for this to get full sized. Is there any way I can keep it from choking itself out? Can I dig out any new little ones as they come up & plant those?

Thanks again for all your help.

- Mari