broken tulips
J. Agoston (Thu, 15 Apr 2010 10:08:54 PDT)
Ben,
I meant that there is no 100% virus free bulbs on the market. Even the BKD
(Bloembollenkeuringsdienst = the dutch institute for flowerbulb inspection)
says that 1,5% virus infection is OK. (
http://bkd.eu/Pages/08%5FPublicaties/…
)
There is just no-one who can eliminate viruses from tulips. They also have a
list of acceptable infection for different countries, the most demanding are
the Japanese. Here you can read about it (
http://bkd.eu/Pages/05_Inspecties/…
)
What you can buy as a pre-packed flowerbulb with a nice picture on the front
is usually the lowest quality. At the beginning of august we received a
shippment and sometimes 3 of 10 bulbs were allready dried out because of
Fusarium infection. It is also true that they are low price products. I was
just suggesting that buying from a specialty nursery may avoid
disappointment.
But you can go to Keukenhof yourself and see that even in the plantings you
can find infected plants, even in the Oranje-Nassau pavilon. I was there, I
saw several with my own eyes.
Jim, you may have the Absalon and Perfecta varieties.
Jan