Hello StevenNote that I can be very wrong about my presumption that the mites are the (=primary) reason. However, IF Ken told me "well I have a lot of Hippeastrums in their neighbourhood" or such, for example EUCHARIS also being a "very good" source (permanent reservoir) of this varmin, then I would consider infection from mites to be rather likely. Mites and Funghi might eventually transform the whole bulb into a rotten pulp, particularly when the infection occured earlier, in warm weather, and then, the damaged bulbs are being exposed for a long time to cold and rain, which diminishes the power of the bulb to fight against decay from fungal infection. In WARM climates, I actually would not exclude, that mites could spread through the whole garden. Btw, I detected this mite on Miltonia too. From MY Amaryllids, Amaryllis belladonna never became infected, I don't know why. And Nerine bowdenii but on one occasion, and very superficially. But I also had them on Crinum moorei, wh ere they effectuated the whole trunk(=long neck similarly to the false trunk of banana plants) to fatally disintegrate. > Date: Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:38:05 -0700 > From: hartsentwine.australia@gmail.com > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Subject: Re: [pbs] Help requested - Brunsvigia josephinae rot <:-( > > Hi Hans I found this quite fascinating... I was telling Ken about some of > mine that rotted after goats damaged them but mine the whole centre rotted > out like a cup. Do the bulb scale mites eventually cause core rot too or > only damage at the leaf base & then another infection may possibly take over > ? > > Mine could easily be a different sort of rot to Kens but i am interested for > the future because my belladonna looked "exactly" the same as kens photo at > first, & then the whole core rotted away before i noticed & treated it & it > looked a little strange when i got it, so it might have already been > infected when i bought it. Is this something i should be worried about > spreading in the garden or is it pretty random in its attacks ? > > Unlike the Brunsvegias that had been severely damaged from sharp hooves > completely crushing their centres like mashed potato, so a rot was a pretty > sure thing with them. But all quickly recovered & survived after my > treatment thank goodness. > Steven Queensland Australia > On Sun, Oct 16, 2011 at 2:21 PM, Hans-Werner Hammen <haweha@hotmail.com>wrote: > > > > > Hello Ken, to me, this looks pretty much like a secondary infection from > > red blotch (Stagonospora curtisii) originating from an infestation through > > bulb scale mites (Steneotarsonemus laticeps). This would mean, that > > antifungal treatment is not the key,