Stagonospora infection - collected threads

[art600]

Alan I showed your photos to Brian Duncan who is a Narcissus expert here in N Ireland. This is his reply

"Mark,
 If I had such bulbs I'd subject them to Hot Water Treatment with fungicide and insecticide (1112F for 2 hours) - that would sort them.
Brian"

1112F   That would sort out the pan as well.

[mark smyth]

I never noticed Brian made a typo. I'll change it now

[Alan_b]

Alan I showed your photos to Brian Duncan who is a Narcissus expert here in N Ireland.

I take it you mean the photos at the start of this thread?

 This is his reply

"Mark,
It all looks horrible - there is evidence of bulb scale mite, basal rot and neck rot - presumably these all attack snowdrops as well as daffodils.

Well there was rot aplenty in some of the photos.  I wonder how you spot bulb scale mite?

Were the bulbs dry stored before planting?

No.  I don't know of anyone who does this with snowdrops.

Is the plot suitably drained? Were the bulbs planted deep enough? Were the bulbs from healthy stock?

All the snowdrops had survived and prospered in the same location for several years before succumbing to attack.

If I had such bulbs I'd subject them to Hot Water Treatment with fungicide and insecticide (112F / 44c for 2 hours) - that would sort them.
Brian"

Are snowdrop bulbs too small to survive the hot water treatment meted out to daffodils?

[mark smyth]

Brian now concentrates on breeding miniature Narcissus and guess he treats them. I'll show him your answers. Do you want to email him or telephone?

He asks about dry storage because Narcissus breeders lift all their bulbs in the summer, dry them, rub off excess tunics and treat them.

Why not fly in with Easy Peasy jet and spend a day chatting to him? I'll take you.

[Alan_b]

Thanks, Mark, that's a very kind offer.  I'll send you a P.M. (but not straight away - I'm supposed to be working on my tax return).

[Alan_b]

I've just been investigating a pot of G. Rodmarton that were in quarantine by virtue of growing close to one of the unfortunate bulbs pictured at the beginning of this thread.  What I found were ten small bulbs in excellent health, perfectly clean and with really strong root growth.  I suspect they are small because I cleaned them harshly last season but if they ever had any problems they have made a full recovery.  So the message from this thread should not be one of doom and gloom but of the need for vigilance.       

[steve owen]

Alan
I'm well into my programme of digging up bulbs and replanting in lattice pots. The bulb inspection that comes in the middle shows a surprisingly high percentage of bulbs in doubtful or poor health even among healthy companions. The ill-health isn't necessarily apparent from the part of the plant that is visible above ground. So the programme, though as lot of work, is proving worthwhile. Disinfecting/fungiciding the ground the bulbs came from has become a standard part of the routine. Costly on the chemicals though.
Steve

[johnw]

Here is a brief excerpt from the following site:
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/20001007697.html

"Three isolates antagonistic to Stagonospora curtisii on Narcissus sp. were isolated and selected from fields of Zhangzhou Jiuhu. The morphology, cultivation, physiology, biochemistry and DNA base compositions of these isolates were tested for identification. CS5 was characterized as Bacillus subtilis, CS51 as B. cereus and CS121 as Pseudomonas fluorescens. Their DNA base compositions were 43.7%, 39.1% and 66.8%, respectively."

If anyone can access the full document through a university it might well be worth looking into.

johnw

[art600]

Alan
I'm well into my programme of digging up bulbs and replanting in lattice pots. The bulb inspection that comes in the middle shows a surprisingly high percentage of bulbs in doubtful or poor health even among healthy companions. The ill-health isn't necessarily apparent from the part of the plant that is visible above ground. So the programme, though as lot of work, is proving worthwhile. Disinfecting/fungiciding the ground the bulbs came from has become a standard part of the routine. Costly on the chemicals though.
Steve

Steve
Do you wait until the plant has finished flowering before you replant in the lattice pot, or is it a rolling programme?

[GoodGrief]

Uch no!! My Ecusson d'or is dead... brown and mushy with a little white wriggly worm.

[mark smyth]

Clean Ecusson now and get it in to some vermiculite or take some advice from someone who twinscales

I've had mine a couple of years but it hasnt flowered since

[Gerry Webster]

Alan
I'm well into my programme of digging up bulbs and replanting in lattice pots. The bulb inspection that comes in the middle shows a surprisingly high percentage of bulbs in doubtful or poor health even among healthy companions. The ill-health isn't necessarily apparent from the part of the plant that is visible above ground. So the programme, though as lot of work, is proving worthwhile. Disinfecting/fungiciding the ground the bulbs came from has become a standard part of the routine. Costly on the chemicals though.
Steve

What fungicide do you use Steve? There seem to be very few available to amateurs now.

[GoodGrief]

Clean Ecusson now and get it in to some vermiculite or take some advice from someone who twinscales

I've had mine a couple of years but it hasnt flowered since

Thanks for the very useful advise. But I tried cleaning the 'tunic' off and the entire bulb is dead. Beyond salvation...

The annoying thing is I only bought it last year, so have never really seen it in pristine flower.

Win some, lose some.

[mark smyth]

You need to be very observant in June and kill as many Narcissus fly adults you can see.

I've been to so many gardens where people say "I dont have them" or "I've never seen one" and within minutes I see them

[Maggi Young]

Malcolm, if there is ANY bulb material left I would try to give it a clean and keep it in vermiculite in a bag in the airing cupboard for a few weeks..... we have seen before  in the Forum that some folks have had remarkable success in recovering new growth from horribly chewed remains.... worth a try for a special bulb. It may work from even a few millimetres of white bulb.