Anybody growing Dr. Shane Simonsen’s hybrid Canna tubers?

I really like this guy’s hybrid canna crop, and the idea of a novel climate-resilient staple for extracting pure starch, but it’s really hard to find anyone with the seeds outside of Australia.

I did find someone who was growing it here in the US and got some mailed to me, but was curious if there was anyone else growing it? I would appreciate a greater amount of seed diversity.

Have you tried Etsy?

https://www.etsy.com/market/arrowroot_seeds

Tyler says she tried growing it back in 2016:

https://permies.com/t/57755/root-crops/Queensland-Arrowroot-Canna-edulis

I'm interested in trying to get some edible canna, too. I noticed the "official" gardens around the village square near our Bulgarian house grew canna one year. Not sure it was the edible variety but it definitely thrived. Unfortunately I wasn't around when they cleared the gardens for winter or I would have grabbed some of the roots.

Thanks Anne. What’s special about these is that they are hybrids of Queensland arrowroot, canna edulis, and a few other species. They have lots of vigor and adaptability to various climates. I’m trying to get more of them now while they are still in the F1 and F2 generations.

Jane, if you do get your hands on some be sure to try out processing them for flour. That’s why they are so exciting to me, the idea of a tuber crop that can survive drought, wildfire, whatever and just keep growing away year after year… and then the starch will store for literally ever, and is twice as energy dense as grain! Sorry, nerding out a bit haha. I really think they could be a staple crop of the future.

https://zeroinputagriculture.wordpress.com/2019/10/21/tools-and-techniques-canna-flour/

https://zeroinputagriculture.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/plant-profile-canna/#:~:text=Canna%20has%20a%20mere%2010,for%20transportation%20and%20storage%20space.

This is the old blog, he’s on substack now, but really useful overview of the process.

I would not know one canna from another.  I grew red ones and love seeing them grow in folks yards.

I went to Dr. Shane Simonsen’s website where he said:

My own journey with Canna started long ago with growing the remnant commercial clone called “Queensland Arrowroot”. This plant grows like a weed, as all good staple crops should,

So that is why I searched for `Queensland Arrowroot`.

Edit to say: I forgot the link:

https://zeroinputagriculture.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/plant-profile-canna/

Jake, right, I think it has a lot of potential. Especially useful for us as hubby is gluten intolerant. Ordinary potatoes and sweet potatoes need too much water in our hot dry summers.

The processing to get the starch seems quite a lot of work, very like Ulla's process for producing sweet potato starch described here: https://permies.com/t/271429/preserve-sweet-potatoes-grow . But worth it.

Yep Anne, seems like we are on the same page then

It seems like a lot of work for sure Jane compared to just cooking them (though this is an advantage against pests who also won’t bother eating through all that water and fiber for the starch), but I don’t think it would be all that bad once you grate them up. After that it’s just time for settling in the water. And then you have a super calorie store that never degrades or goes bad! Idk, the idea is just super neat to me.