I like to divide mine just after they're dug - since you can hose them off and pull them apart. They will do much better next year if they're divided (when they get too tight, they start growing underneath each other).

Mine had shoots coming up, too, and I didn't cut them off. I guess that's the safe thing to do. A word of caution: I have heard that cutting the stalks off when they're not completely dried-up may cause a fungus or mildew to take over the rizomes. The nursery told me to treat them with sulfer powder or a mildew spray and store them in a cool place in paper bags or boxes with sawdust or torn-up newspapers. Good luck to you!

Can you store them in a cool place, like outside, in a frig or in a GH? I am wanting to do dig mine up as they need to be moved. Wasn't sure if I should dig/store them up now or wait 'til spring.
Thank you
Sondra

Fridge is too cold. GH would probably be OK.

OK, well I divided mine up into clumps that generally look like they'll produce two shoots each. I'm letting them dry a bit more then will store them in a box in my 55-degree cellar in peat moss.

This spring, I bought the two cheap rhizomes that only had a single shoot. Each one produced about 12 divisions this fall!!!

Here's my dilemma:

First year with cannas. Got one tuber/rhizome from a friend . . . went to dig it up last Thursday (after several overnight frosts) and it is now a 3-4' diameter clump. This thing is huge; it must have at least 30 new tubers and the entire clump weighs at least 40#.

It is too cold outside now to hose it off, and the thing is too big to fit into my sink :). I have never divided anything before this year, and am unsure of where to divide these rhizomes so I can wash them off and soak them in the bleach solution and all that.

Any ideas? Should I just let the dirt dry (I got as much off in the garden as I could) and brush it off as it dries?

We are going to do our best to keep the thermostat at 55 degrees this winter, and I think that's in the proper temperature range, so hopefully closet storage shouldn't be a problem.

Does anyone have a link to a pictorial of how to divide these things? I don't want to lose any!

Thanks!

:-) Mel

I was curious to as to anyone has ever weathered these things through a zone 7 winter without storing them. My brother said his neighbor, also a Virginia gardener like me, just mulches his pretty well and they come back. I had been digging mine up every winter but storing them gets to be a pain because they multiply like crazy.

Does anyone else have any success with not storing them in zone 7?

I live in zone 7 and I do not usually dig my cannas. They come up fine each year and usually so much earlier. This is the first year for me to dig & store and that is because I am redoing the bed they are in and they needed division.