Vox Humana wrote:

"Dennis Mayer" wrote in message
...


Vox Humana wrote:

"Dennis Mayer" wrote in message
...

Why did you put the entire plant in the basement?

That is the way my relatives have stored Cana for many years. It
works.


This reminds me of the old story about the woman who prepared a ham for the
oven each Christmas by cutting off about four inches from the shank end.
After years of observing this, the woman's daughter asked why she cut the
end off the ham. The mother replied "that's how my mother always did it."
The daughter asked the grandmother why she cut the end off the ham. The
grandmother told her that when she was a young bride, they didn't have
enough money for a large roasting pan, so she had to cut a piece off the ham
so it would fit into the pan she owned.

In other words, what you are doing may "work" but it is probably neither
beneficial or detrimental. I guarantee that if you cut the foliage from the
rhizome and store it properly it will be just fine. I only say this to save
you a lot of hassle. I'm sure you realize that canna growers do not remove
acres of six-foot plants from their fields and store them intact until it is
time to ship the rhizomes to market. Life is too short to do needless work.

Thanks for the 'good' stalk cut off advice.....



As soon as it warms up a bit, I'll be out lifting cannas and dahlias. I'm
at the point where it isn't so much an issue as how to store them as it is
how to give them away each spring.


And yes, as I was finished rinsing the rhizome bottoms, the local
church Deacon

walked by & I gave him my biggest Canna plant, stalk & all, with 11
shoots

to bag in his basement over winter.......