Hi, Marti. Welcome to the PBS list! I hope somebody with real lily expertise will have a thought for you. Unfortunately, I am not that person; my climate in California is a bit dry in the summer for lilies, and although I tried them a lot in the past, it was too hard to keep them going over the years, so I moved on to other things. So all I can do is give you general advice, and hope it helps a little. The symptoms you're having sound unusual. The most common diseases you read about in lily websites like this (http://lilyflowerstore.com/lily-care/… ml ) are botrytis and basal rot. All the photos I've seen for botrytis show attacks starting at the bottom of the plant (due to spores splashing up from the soil?) or show the whole plant engulfed. And basal rot attacks the bulb. I presume you've dug up the bulb when dormant and it's not damaged, right? Based on your symptoms, I'd assume that the disease is happening at the tip of the plant, but you can't be sure of that. I have seen cases in other bulb species where the plant tips die or wither due to damage at the root level (root damage = not enough water going into plant = parts of plant furthest from roots die or are vulnerable to secondary infection). You'll think the problem is at the tip, but actually it's underground. That could be happening to you -- do the tips wilt first and then turn black, or do they go straight from healthy to black? But even if root damage is the cause, it could be due to either too much or too little water, or to some pathogen in the soil. So who knows where this is coming from. If we don't get a lily expert chiming in with a real diagnosis, I would be very tempted to treat the plant now with one of the systemic fungicides you can get in a general nursery. If this is a fungus, that treatment will hopefully protect both the roots and stems. (Of course, a bottle of fungicide might cost more than the price of that lily. Your call.) Good luck, and I'm sorry I don't have more specific advice. Mike San Jose, CA