Snowdrop cultivation advice

[steve owen]

Hi folks
I had a clump of snowdrops showing signs of eelworm infestation, so out they came, and out came the soil they were in, which I have replaced.

Could anyone offer me advice on whether it would be worth using a drench fungicide as a sort of cordon sanitaire around the patch that was affected? (Other snowdrops and narcissi grow nearby and are worth protecting). In the greenhouse I have the fungicides Chizm and Jet Five, which I use for twinscaling. Would either of these be suitable? Or should I be considering another - if so I need to be able to obtain it?

Or is this idea of a drench cordon just me being over-anxious? Can't find anything in the literature or Google apart from the old treatment of heating affected bulbs up to a certain temperature.

[mark smyth]

From this year I'll be drenching post flowering with a fungicide against Stag.

[art600]

From this year I'll be drenching post flowering with a fungicide against Stag.

Mark

What fungicide would that be, and is it readily available?

[mark smyth]

Carbendazim. It's off the market 

[art600]

Any thoughts on one that is available?

[Maggi Young]

 Are you worried about eelworm transferring a fungus? How would a fungicide help against eelworms? I'm puzzled 

[art600]

Are you worried about eelworm transferring a fungus? How would a fungicide help against eelworms? I'm puzzled 

Maggi

I am only interested in protecting against stag - eelworms thankfully have never been a problem (fingers crossed)

[steve owen]

Maggi
"Are you worried about eelworm transferring a fungus? How would a fungicide help against eelworms? I'm puzzled"

No, I want to sterilise the surrounding soil against the eelworms. I'm rather hoping that the world's greatest living authority on eelworms will be reading this thread and saying "no no Steve, what you need is product X". I also need product X to be available more widely than restricted to farmers and commercial growers.  Product X may be Dettol or San Izal or Laphroaig Malt Whisky as long as it put paid to the pesky eelworms.

[mark smyth]

Two problems maybe.

Brian Duncan uses hot water treatment on all of his Narcissus and a Dursban substitute as a drench for Narcissus fly grubs. It goes far because it only needs 1 or 2 ml in a litre.

[Gerard Oud]

Eelworms are everywhere but the question is are the good or the bad one's in the majority. If its the last you can better choose to leave that place for a while for growing bulbs. Desinfecting the soil with Vydate is also a possibility but i don't know if this is still available and this is not a solution, because the bad ones return quicker than the good ones. Another possibility is growing Tagetes for a while it reduces the number of Eelworm. The cookingadvice for infected bulbs i have to check the books again, i believe its 2 hour at 42'Celsius exact with some 2% formaline.

[steve owen]

Brian Duncan uses hot water treatment on all of his Narcissus and a Dursban substitute as a drench for Narcissus fly grubs. It goes far because it only needs 1 or 2 ml in a litre.

If there isn't a specific anti-eelworm treatment, I suppose that what makes life unpleasant for narcissus fly grubs might put the eelworms off too. Is Dursban (and Provado, which has also been mentioned) available to us amateurs, and is there a right time to apply it, i.e. during/after the growing season, or whilst the bulbs are dormant?

[Hans J]

Could please anybody tell me what is the sientific name for Eelworm -so I can look in a database what works against it 

[Ian Y]

Hans there are a number of Nematodes or eelworm species. Phylum Nematoda

The most likely one to be the problem being discussed is the stem or bulb eelworm - Ditylenchus dipsaci.

Longidorus, Xiphinema and Trichodorus species browse on roots and can transfer virus etc.

As far as I know there are no satisfactory chemicals available to gardeners and heat treatments as described previously are the common method used by nurseries to contain the problem.

[Hans J]

Ian at all ,

I'm sorry to report but I have to confirm what Ian write - there is no insectide against it -only treatment with warm water ( 41° for 2 hours - after this time again cool )
Earlier is was possibly to treat the ground with Basamid granulate .

[steve owen]

Guys
Tried to post to an old thread since none of the current ones seem appropriate, but the system told me to start a new one.

Quite a lot of my varieties are flowering as they push through the soil - i.e the usual  emerging "nose" is replaced by a little white blob impatient to open up ASAP without attaining altitude. Is this a phenomenon I should be concerned about, or is it to do with the cold snap? If it helps diagnosis, these are all plants that were planted out 10-11 months ago, i.e. this is their first season "up". Advice from the cognoscenti much appreciated.