Narcissus, virus, compost
Max Withers (Wed, 14 Feb 2007 12:00:15 PST)

I was intrigued by the range of responses this question elicited, so I
did a little research. Relevant results from the most recent review I found:

1.

For 27 out of 32 pathogenic fungi, all six oomycetes, seven bacterial
pathogens and nine nematodes, and three out of nine plant viruses, a
peak temperature of 64–70°C and duration of 21 days were sufficient to
reduce numbers to below, or very close to, the detection limits of the
tests used.

2.

Several plant viruses were temperature-tolerant. These were CGMMV,
/Pepper mild mottle virus/, /Tobacco rattle virus/, ToMV and TMV. TMV
requires a peak compost temperature in excess of 68°C and a composting
period longer than 20 days for eradication. However, TMV is degraded
in compost over time, and can be eradicated after a composting period
of 26 weeks, even at low temperature (31°C). ToMV in infected seeds
can withstand over 70°C in an incubator for over 20 days. [TMV=
tobacco mosaic, TomMV= Tomato mosaic; 31 C= 87.8 F; 70 C = 158 F]

3.

It is clear that the detection limits in most studies were quite poor,
with infection levels of up to 5% likely to be undetected regularly

Noble and Roberts, "Eradication of plant pathogens and nematodes during
composting: a review," Plant Pathology 53 (2004), 548–568.
http://blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/…

Since my compost undoubtedly already harbors a wide array of pathogens,
I will probably add the narcissus and keep the result far from my
important plants. I like Diane's suggestion of naturalizing best (though
it wouldn't solve the disease problem), but I can't say I love the
paperwhites.

Thanks all,
Max