Every garden needs this plant - how to grow, harvest and use Canna Edulis with Morag Gamble
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
- Every garden needs this plant - Canna edulis or QLD Arrowroot. It is one of my all time favourite permaculture plants - particularly to get a garden started but also to bring so so much abundance, and mulch, and to moderate the microclimate. Great for people and animals. Adaptable, hardy, perennial, versatile. Originally an Incan food. Eat the rhizomes and leaves. Easy to cultivate and almost pest free.
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Impeccable synchronicity, for the first time EVER we will be learning how to interact with this plant on our dinner plates this week! After growing them for less than a 1 year, we have had wonderful shade for our fruit trees and plenty of leaves for mulch and compost. We have just harvested our first batch and I'm super stoked to have seen this clip today to know we are on the right track. Thanks for the in depth details about telling them apart from each-other. Its always daunting when you are learning about a new plant. I m so excited to see what they taste like!
Thank so much Morag. You are a walking plant library/plants woman. I watch, and rewatch your incredibly informative videos. This plant looks so tropical and luscious.I have a super duper windy , often gale force (I need a Tatura trellis system) steep, westerly area (that gets sun) to grow my tiny food forest. So thank you for this special plant. It sounds perfect, and multifaceted. I am really looking forward to your Tamarillo spotlight. I think you said in another video you would be covering Tamarillos.
It's known as Achira in Perú, where it was domesticated 5.000 years ago (look up Caral, north from Lima). Sadly it's a nearly forgotten crop, few people grow it anymore and it's a pity, being so nutritious, excellent quality starch, and so tasty when you bake it. Definitely plan on growing lots of it when I move to my homestead on the Amazon region
I grow a Canna Achira hybrid in Indiana Under State that survives -5°F at least and comes back every year.
I have grown this for a few years and it has spread from our original single root to many of our acreage hedges in a short space of time, plus I give roots away to any friends who are willing to give it a shot. This, pigeon pea, sugar cane, malabar spinach, kangkong and tree lettuce are our ration crop mainstays :) thank you for a comprehensive review of it, beats all the other vids on it out there!
We have another great way to grow this plant. I live on the mid north coast NSW and can get hot in summer. Our neighbour decieded to pull down the wooden fence and put up a metal one. I hate them they are so hot Soi planted the arrowroot along the fence to stop the heat damaging my vegetables. They loved it they grew so big and it works.
Brilliant. Great idea . Thanks for sharing
Love and Peace yallzz!
Thank you so much this was amazingly helpful!!
You are very welcome 🌿
Fantastic ❤
Thanks 🤗
I purchased seeds for canna edulis a couple months ago to start trialing it as a perennial starch crop. Found a few videos on youtube, but happy to see more resources about this plant. It's supposed to do well as a perennial in my climate, but I'll probably hold a few rhizomes in the greenhouse over winter just in case we have a bad winter. I'd love to see a cooking video with this plant. I think having resources available to teach people how to use some of these novel perennial staples is going to be key in their adoption. Also, is it edible raw? You mentioned making cellophane noodles. I'm wondering it you could make wraps like the rice paper used for salad rolls.
Canna edulis doesn't set seed in most places.
You may well have been sold Canna indica which is very invasive and is inferior for food.
@@stephendewsnap8887 I really wanna clown on you for being the picture of an internet expert, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that you're neurodivergent and just infodumping about something you're passionate about, because you'd practically have to be to even know that this plant exists. Speaking from experience.
I feel you.
That said, just today I harvested seeds from plants started from rhizomes. Rhizomes I acquired subsequent to the aforementioned seeds and from a completely different source. I must be in one of those few places because the rhizomes are large and delicious and there are seeds aplenty.
Also a pet peeve when people malign innocent plants as invasive to total strangers on the internet without knowing anything about where that person lives or what the climate is like there, especially when those plants end up being native and people are being encouraged to kill them. 🙄 I'm not a fan of that level of carelessness with misinformation. You never know who's reading it and what damage they'll do as a result. And I see it constantly.
We go 6 months without rainfall here and have a killing frost in winter. I'd be ecstatic to find a rhizome crop that's invasive, but I haven't found it yet. Achira certainly isn't it. My tuberous mints have all died. Sunchokes get 2 feet high and form a single tuber without supplemental irrigation, just barely maintaining themselves. The best you're gonna get is volunteer turnips that size up before the drought starts. And they're not exactly taking over.
Don't get me wrong, there are invasives here, but they're all things that literally wouldn't care if water didn't exist. And they all have spines.
I would love if, as a species, we could start asking more questions before immediately jumping in with answers that are irrelevant at best, or dangerous at worst. Well-meaning people must remember that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. But we aren't actually trying to have intelligent conversations on the internet, are we? We're just trying to feed our egos by appearing smarter than the next guy. It's a lonely way to live.
Hi Sina (?) That's an intriguing response.
No disrespect intended.
I've been sold seeds myself many times that were not what they were purported to be.
I've been growing Canna edulis for about 35 years in 2 different countries and many different microclimates.
Also, you wouldnt believe how many gardens I've visited where people proudly showed me their achira/arrowroot only for it to be Canna indica, and the property where I live current has a massive infestation because someone thought it was C edulis, so from my position it's a fair assumption.
But yes, your right, it was an assumption so my humblest apologies and please don't make too many assumptions about me 😉
All I can add is I have 3 cultivars and regularly try to cross pollinate them without success.
Been trying literally for years.
Obviously to have 3 different cultivars then seed must exist which is why I said 'rarely'.
I'm guessing there's a pollinator specific to it in Peru or maybe the genetics are complicated like bananas?
Anyway, if you have Canna edulis I would absolutely love some, and would love a link to the site where you got them.
I live in SE Queensland and would love to connect and chat more.
My Facebook name is Suveran Dewsnap.
Have a great day!
Are all cannas edible. Have been loking into it but cant find if all is edible
I have been non meat eating for almost eight months, this channel turned me on to this whole other way of looking at food. Thank you. Suggestion to all of your viewers, get yourself a nice set of silverware before the price goes up :)
I would love to grow them here in Hawaii any recommendations on where to by the bulbs to purchase for planting?
Canna flowers are edible and so are the seeds when they are immature. You are supposed to cook them like peas. You can use the canna leaves to wrap tamales in or as a plate when camping. Cannas like dahlias and Jerusalem artichokes all have edible tubers or rhizomes and are native to the Americas.
Beautiful tips - thanks for sharing
I have some yellow Canna that are both medium height and dwarf. Are those edible as well? I want to grow canna for eating but haven't purchased the red yet.
At what stage do you eat the leaves? Raw or cooked?
Is this the same species as Canna indica? Like, the way dogs are still Canis familiaris, just plus domestica because they're domestic? Canna indica var edulis?
I live in qld and can’t grow anything due to grasshoppers….they demolish all my plants….they eat everything except weeds.
That sounds frustrating. Have you got chickens? Mine are having a great time chasing grasshoppers at the moment!
Sorry just had to watch the whole video to get my answers
Can we use this like a potato in chicken curry
Yes 🌿
I thought any canna lily are edible
Edible canna has the edible root as well as the leaves. Canna indica, - you can eat the very young leaf, but the root is super fibrous.
The bush turkeys have absolutely smashed ours. This week they got 20 out of 30 of them. 😢
Oh dear! They like mine too. I have to hide them in secret places these days
Cannas are really quick and easy from seed, so for people wondering where to find it, I'd suggest sourcing seed on the internet. Only odd thing about growing cannas from seed is that it's recommended to scarify the seed, which means do something to break down the hard shell of the seed. I file canna seed down with a nail file.
Thanks for sharing kingofCarrotFlowers I had no idea that you need to do that. I just got some canna seeds so I will be doing that.
I pour boiling water over them & leave for 30 seconds. You'll hear the seeds crack & pop a bit. Then strain off boiling water & soak in just warm water for 24 hours and sow.
thanks for the wonderful video!! Can the leafs be eaten raw? or do they need to be cooked?
Is this the same plant that makes a gluten free substitute that I pay a fortune for? If it is wish I wasn't in zone 5! Lol
You can grow it and over winter those you don't eat. Harvest, dry them a couple days to remove soil, store in a cool place that won't freeze. I put mine in a lidded bucket with damp wood shavings.
All my cannas have huge rhizomes and they aren’t arrowroot
Have 3 varieties in SEQ.
'Rojo' the red variety, the common variety with
green stem and red corms and a slightly squatter green stemmed variety with white corms which is my favorite.
Can the potato like bulb things be used as a potato substitute? (like how a sweet potato / yam can be swapped).
Where I can find the plant? I'm looking everywhere and nothing.
Search online for ‘buy Canna edulis’ and you’ll get some results
I've got lots of Canna Edulis to replant. Does it tolerate very wet, clay soil? I'd like to plant it in my chicken coop, but with the current rain, it is extremely wet and muddy.
I can advise that it has gone beautifully in my sodden clay soil this summer. We have had non stop water seeping from underground after the heavy February rains and it is about 2 metres tall and has huge rhizomes! I think it would almost suit a constantly boggy area.
Thank you so much Morag so interesting to learn about the plants in our garden here in Qld...I've got one type but not sure what it is I need to do more research on it...you are certainly opening a new world for me about the plants in my garden...
Nice video I appreciate
Thanks for watching
Cool! I don't know anyone with rhizomes so I ordered seeds on Etsy from a seller in Australia.
Hello Morag
Are the variegated leaves canna rhizones edible too? I now look at canna differently. Thank you, most informative
Canna indica is also edible right? I think that's whst we have here in the Philippines. And yes, it's called "mock banana" here.
Often in no dig gardens people use cardboard as weed suppressants on the beds. -Cardboard, compost, plant. I wonder if these leaves would make a nice alternative, or so you think they would decompose too quickly?
Can they be grown as an annual in temperate climates?
Had the same question. It is a tropical plant so I geuss it wont do so well in temperate climate.
@@yungxama1606 it does very well. Take roots in when frost comes.
Has same cultural requirements as the decretive canna - Canna indica.
I'm having a hard time finding how canna edulis is prepared to use as a pain killer/anti-inflammatory. Can you help or give a link?
Oh this are big bulbs of Canna😱
Hi Morag.
Grannie Cyndy from South Australia here. Even though this video is 3 years old it just popped up. I have a 1/3 acre block in a 25 year old subdivision in the Adelaide hills. Terrible compacted rocky clay with no topsoil when I moved here 17 years ago. We're a steep hillside facing SW. The north East sunshine is blocked by the neighbours tall gum trees....so, we had the worst of almost everything. But... with years of soil improvement, planting the required fruit trees and bushes and of course, chooks, we now have our very own food forest garden. Windows are shaded by pergolas supporting various vines, grapes, kiwis and passionfruit. We haven't necessarily harvested much yet but it's coming. Our summers have been too cool to ripen our first grapes and kiwis over the last 4 years. Just weather conditions here recently.
One of the very few plants here in 2006 when I bought the place was cannas. I never knew they were edible. Thankyou for your knowledge! Cannas will now be expanded in my food forest garden.
Tending to the wellbeing of soil is the key - enjoy your cannas
Hello would this grow in a cold climate ?
I dontThìnk so
Is this same as canna indica
Same family, but different species - this one has a swollen base at the stem - the edible bit with a purplish tinge, whereas the indica has a straight stem down to the ground. This is the easiest way to tell the difference .
Hi Morag, I love your videos so much. Just wondering how do you tell if the Canna's in your garden are the edible type? I have several growing and had no idea you could eat the rhizomes if the correct variety!! Thank you :) Some of my Canna's have stripey leaves and some just plain green.
Thank you! It's the roots and base of stems that you look for. In this clip you can see the purple swollen base and this is the one that you can eat. If it's think & fibrous it's not going to be edible - ot at least it's going to be too fibrous to be edible. Make sure too when you are selecting the bit to eat that you get the ones that are only just beginning to sprout otherwise they get too fibrous too. at this stage, new ones, they are so nice!
@@MoragGambleOurPermacultureLife Thank you! :)
@@MoragGambleOurPermacultureLife Can the mature leaves of canna be eaten?