Fertilizing and disease control on Hippeastrum
Rodger Whitlock (Thu, 27 Oct 2005 15:23:53 PDT)

Interesting feedback. A few comments:

A reminder: don't compost diseased or infested material. Very
few compost heaps actually get hot enough to kill infective
organisms.

Hans-Werner Hammen <haweha@hotmail.com> mentions the bulb
scale mite Steneotarsonemus laticeps. Remember that the concept
of spontaneous generation was disproved centuries ago. You can
reduce the risk of pests getting into your bulb collections by
quarantining new acquisitions and inspecting them minutely
before putting them in with the rest of your valuable bulbs.

Carol Jensen <jorna@mobilixnet.dk> mentions cutting out
diseased portions of bulbs infected by red blotch, a fungal
disease.

Many, many years ago, I heard Paul Christian give a talk on
bulb propagation, and he repeatedly referred to his use of
sulfur as a fungicide on propagation wounds. He felt that
sulfur was a very good choice because it was a powerful
fungicide, cheap, not harmful to the environment, and stayed
where he put it. In cases where the wound was a cavity, he
would pack the entire wound with sulfur.

Carol's idea is a very good one, but a dose of powdered sulfur
on the wounded area might make it an even better one.

--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate

on beautiful Vancouver Island