Canna South Pacific Scarlet

CANNA SOUTH PACIFIC SCARLET

I briefly mentioned this plant several posts back when my new seeds arrived.  South Pacific Scarlet is a type of Canna that can be grown from seed instead of from an underground stem called a rhizome.  This is really exciting for a small greenhouse business like mine because instead of purchasing the bare root stock from another grower, I can less expensively grow them on my own from scratch.  Of course there is risk involved because I have never attempted to grow these and you never know what could go wrong.  Such is life.

Here is the seed packet from +Harris Seeds and as usual there are good instructions on how one goes about getting started with these Canna seeds.  These seeds have a very hard shell, and it is recommended that the seeds be soaked 10-14 hours before sowing to soften the shell.  That's good information to know.  I usually don't soak my seeds but I have read that it can be beneficial to give seeds a head start.  

 

Here are the seeds after I opened the packet.  Yes, these seeds are quite large and they appear to have a very hard shell.  I ordered 2 packets of 50 seeds each.  Time to start soaking so I can sow these seeds tomorrow.

 

I steal a bowl from the kitchen and fill it with about 2 or 3 inches of warm water.  Then I just pour the seeds into the water and let them soak overnight.  Good night Canna seeds, see you tomorrow!

Okay I'm ready to go the next day.  I'm going to use 50 cell trays because the seeds are way too big for the little 406 cell plug trays I typically utilize for seeding.  There is even a warning on the packet advising to sow the seeds at least as deep as 1 1/2 times their diameter to prevent the seed from pushing out of the soil when it germinates.  Wow!  I never heard of that but it's really interesting.  Must be some powerful germinating abilities.

I decide to use a dibble to make the semi-deep holes for the Canna seeds.  A dibble is basically a plastic tool with a point on one end that serves the purpose of making holes for plants.  We use them mostly when we are transplanting from plug trays into retail 6-packs.  They'll start to get a lot of use within a couple months.

Just to show you my dibbling skills here is one of the 50 cell trays with all of the holes dibbled.  It's ready to receive Canna seeds.

These are what the seeds look like after they have been soaking overnight.  The shell doesn't appear or feel any softer to me but I'm sure it is.  So each one of these seeds goes into one hole.  I fill all 100 holes I have made in 2 trays but I still have 14 seeds left.  Wow, bonus!!  Extra seeds and quite a few actually.  I don't usually count them but a few extra seeds is no surprise but 14 is a lot.  Instead of filling another 50 cell tray with soil for 14 seeds, I remember from a few weeks back the Coreopsis seeds I sowed.  I only used 30 of those cells so I easily have room to sow my remaining Canna seeds in that tray.  Problem solved.

 

The packet instructed me to cover the Canna seeds lightly with fine vermiculite.  That's easily accomplished and then I place them on the heat table.  I water them with the sprinkling can and now I wait for them to germinate.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how they grow and how the finished product looks.