I was told that it's rotten and there is no way to save it.

I'd let it dry out completely for a couple of days. If it's firm then, it should be good. Good tubers last a long time out of the soil.

Your tuber looks like it has some nice roots. I geuss it all depends on the bulb part. If it's soft and rotten then....

I actually pulled the 3 rhizomes that were not growing. I cleaned them up. One rhizome had a color red on the inside. It's still solid. The other one wasn't that firm but not mushy.

Do you think this rhizome will be able to recover? I cut the thin black part. After removing it, it was wet. It was smelly too.

Should I say goodbye to her?

{{gwi:536051}}

Well that is pretty nasty looking. But the thing I see that I like is that small eye growing out of the right side of the larger rhyzome. I think that little bud will grow when planted.

In your area I'd pot it, but don't give it too much water till the leaves start to grow. I think canna almost always make their quickest recovery in pots, and when the canna season is over in IL, you can bring it inside for a bit.

I have a lot of canna. But I'd like even more. WHat I started doing this year is growing canna from seed. Seeds are fairly cheap or free. Once you get a nice crop growing, you can just chuck "iffy" rhyzomes like that.

I think maybe that rhyzome is just old. They don't last forever. I think it's "last breath" so to speak, is to put out that small bulb, which should grow.

Good luck!

Final update: they never came back. I had 3 rhizomes that were like that and never made it. Glad I had 2 that are very healthy.

I also noticed that cannas tend to grow fast when there is a lot of water. It has been raining for 2 days(non stop) now and I have noticed a huge growth progress on the leaves that are about to come out. So looks like watering them daily really wouldn't hurt them. :)