Question
I have over the past several years attempted several indoor plants.  I live in an apartment and want to creat my own garden.  It used to be that I could grow anything, now I can't keep it alive.  Currently, my cannas have come up.  Initally, the leaves were beautiful.  Now, each is progressively developing bown tips which are spreading.  There is a white dust like subtances along the tip edges.  I am noticing brown flecking within the leaves and a couple of translucent spots.  I have inspected and cannot find any signs of aphids or other visible pests.  I seem to experience the same problems with all plants that I bring into the apartment.  Please help?!?!?!?!

Answer
Heather,

Cannas are not really indoor plants, they need more light than you can generally give them indoors. The brown leaf tips, spots and translucent spots indicate you are giving them too much water. The white dust is powdery mildew, a fungus problem. You need to spray the tops and bottoms of all the leaves witah Lysol spRay daily until the white dust goes away. You also need to put a fan on the plants on low speed and lower the temperature by about 10 degrees when you go to bed. That mimics the conditions they prefer outdoors.  You are better off if you grow plants that are more commonly grown indoors. Go to google and put in "house plants" then click on images and you can learn what poants are easiest to grow indoors.  Good luck.

Darlene