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ashley05_gw

Canna Virus

ashley05
10 years ago

Hi all!
I am new the cannas. I just got a beautiful Bengal Tiger canna from a trade. I'm have a few more on the way, so I'd like to make sure that it isn't virused before I plant any new cannas. Since this one is striped, I'm having trouble telling. It was planted a little less than a month ago, so that's why it's small so late in the season.

This is the fourth leaf (sorry the picture isn't great):
{{gwi:535404}}

Another shot:
{{gwi:535406}}

I'm thinking since the line isn't the same width the whole way, but has spots where it is thicker and spots where it is thinner, it is virused. Am I right?

This post was edited by ashley05 on Tue, Aug 20, 13 at 14:18

Comments (2)

  • canna2grow
    10 years ago

    Ashley,

    Identifying virus in cultivars like Bengal Tiger (Pretoria) is often very difficult for everyone. Most pathologists looking at your plant would not likely be able to identify a problem if there was one. You do raise a valid observation concerning the striping but because we are only seeing an immature plant at this point it may not be an issue. The older lower leaf seems to look fine from what I can see. If you have a problem with this plant it MAY become more pronounced a little later in the season. I am sorry that I cannot be of more help.

    I might ask what makes you sure your new arrivals will be healthier and how long of a growing season do you have left in your area? I guess I am surprised that one would just now be starting cannas in your zone. Good luck with your decision.

    Kent

  • ashley05
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the reply, Kent. I'll keep an eye on it, both for the rest of the season and next year. I knew it was late when I planted this canna, but I got it from a trade and it was a bit warm to try to store anything. Our first frost date here is noted as September 15th, but the last couple of years it has been later (like very late October or November). I thought about starting the new ones, but I've decided just to wait now.

    I just got the new canna from a trade. I was planning to wait to spring to buy some, but since I got these for postage from a GW trader, I thought I'd take the chance. If they don't survive storage, then I've learned something :-) I have stored dahlias successfully, so I'm hoping that my success holds for cannas as well.

    I don't know that the new ones are cleaner than this bengal tiger. I just didn't want to take the chance if this one wasn't clean and the striping looked off to me. I thought I'd ask and see if it looked okay to people with more experience.

    So a new leaf might have the odd striping, but as long as the older leaves look okay, it should be? I know this is a difficult type to be able to tell, but is there any way to know for sure?

    Again, Kent, thank you so much for your help! I'm sure I'll have more questions.