Hi Daffnetters, The home block where I grow some of my daffs has had bulbs [mainly daffs , a few gladioli], for over 30 years, frequently with short rotations between lifting and replanting.
The replanted stocks , almost always have a very thorough H W T and are very healthy at planting.However, as my main consideration is a small scale cut-flower business, the most productive crops are from stock that has been planted from 4 to 6 years — this gives taller stems, good flowering density and picking rates.
Also, importantly for the markets I am aiming for ,the flowering time gets considerably earlier after about year 5.
It is the early birds [flowers ] that get the worm [money ].
However quite obviously this growing regime also can be expected to risk bulb health problems , which varies considerably with different varieties.
For the last 4 years , I have been using Tricho products of different forms to help with basal rot [ fusarium ].
A N Z firm Key Industries are world leaders in this research , but not specifically aimed at the bulb industry and to register products for commercial use is a hughly expensive exercise so no direct daffodil claims can be made. However, onions are high on their registration label claims and they assure me that similar results can be expected with daffs.
This season I will be using TENET,– a granular form of Tricho intended to be sown in the rows with onions, aimed at controlling fusarium based white neck rot in onions and hopefully basal rot in daffs.
It is moderately priced ?? at about $ 320 per 25 kilo bag that will treat a hectare — more than my seasons planting.
My previous experiments have not been controlled experiments but the results have been very encouraging, the lifted bulbs showing less [ but still some ] infection than I would have expected.
A problem in using the Tricho fungi is that if other fungisides are used to treat – dip the bulbs they can also potentially kill the goodactive Tricho fungi that are hopefully aiming to dine on the fusarium.
Also the technology now has isolated different [but closelyrelated ] strains of Tricho fungi for specificstrains of Fusarium and getting the right strain in a suitable product type is uncertain.
It is a very rapidly advancing field and I am sure offers great scope for research on our favourite flower — daffodils. Any research money available in these rather uncertain times.??
A Google on Trichoderma shows some interesting results.
Also a Google on Nemat/Caliente 199 an Arugula — Mustard mix has interesting research from Washington and Idaho Universities and natural control – fumigant from these rotation crops.
Cheers John