Very interesting, I just heard a presentation on soil solarization this morning at a Master Gardener meeting. I don't think I would have thought to use a hear treatment for a virus on bulbs. I'll have to share this info at our next meeting. Karl Church Dinuba, CA On May 8, 2013 3:17 PM, "Chernoff, Ellen A. G." <echernof@iupui.edu> wrote: > Hi, > Since reading about heat treatment for mosaic virus in > Hippeastrum, I thought I'd try it as a last resort for some affected > bulbs I purchased from Thailand (mostly H.reticulatum or reticulatum > hybrids). I removed the existing leaves and roots, cut off excess > basal plate and used a well-controlled hybridization oven in my lab. I > treated 9 small bulbs (largest 4.5 cm diameter) at 56 degrees C for 2 > hours. When they sprouted up again there was still some viral pattern, > though less, so I retreated them. It required dusting with rooting > powder, but 2/3 have new small roots after a month and half are leafing > out. There is no sign of mosaic virus so far on the leaves. (I warned > my plant biologist colleagues I was doing this, but they did not seem > concerned about the soybeans, strawberries, peas or arabidopsis, just > joked about barbacued amaryllis). > --Ellen C. > > -- > Dr. Ellen Chernoff, Ph.D. > Associate Professor of Biology > IUPUI-Biology SL 360 > 723 W. Michigan St. > Indianapolis, IN 46202-5132 > 317-274-0591 > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >