Friends,
I’ve just returned from taking soil samples to my county ag agent, only to be informed that the only testing will be for N, P, K. What I wanted now was a diagnosis of what is killing my bulbs. I have areas in several beds where no daffodils are coming up. Does anyone know where I can send soil samples to find out what’s causing my problem? Is it basal rot, nematodes, what? And then after the diagnosis, what treatment to give the soil, and what about the remaining bulbs in that bed? All help will be greatly appreciated.
Mary Lou
I’ll be interested in the response to Mary Lou’s question too. I have a long east-to-west bed that I had planted with various perennials and many daffodils. Suddenly one year everything died, perennials and bulbs both. I have slowly been replanting some perennials, echinacea and rudbeckia mostly, and they seem to be surviving. But it will be a long time before I risk any important daffodils in that bed.
I would send diseased bulbs and/or foliage to your state pathologist…We can take to UT here or extension office and they send to Nashville for the fungus guys to inspect…..well, have not sent daffodils but iris etc. Same deal I would. salaries. Anyway would cover fungi, nematodes but not heavy metals, weed killers though.
Nancy Robinson Tennessee
——————————————————————————
I am not an expert on daffodil diseases as fortunately we have managed to
escape most of them, however I have seen the results of many of them in
other growers daffodil beds over the past 30 years.
The first point I would like to make is that I am sure that you will get
more success in identifying the problem by looking at the bulbs, or the
residue, than you will by any soil analysis.
The second point is that it is a rare occurrence for whole areas of daffodil
beds to show no growth at all. The one disease which is most likely to
produce such a result is basal rot, which usually causes complete
destruction of the bulb with no growth of foliage from the offsets from the
main bulb. If you dig up the bulbs in the infected area early enough in the
spring then you will almost certainly still find the remains of the bulb as
a black rotted mess. As a result of global warming (or current higher
temperatures for the unbelievers) the incidence of basal rot in the UK is
very high, forcing some growers to completely stop growing daffodils.
Eelworm although capable of wiping out stocks over a significant area
usually leaves evidence in the form of residual foliage which is twisted and
leaving the ground at an unusual angle.
Large narcissus fly, although a significant problem in the UK, also is
unlikely to result in a lack of foliage over a large area. The flies usually
miss one or two bulbs, and in a bed of standard daffodils it is the main
bulb which is attacked, and the small offsets produce ‘grass’.
I know of no other disease here in the Uk which is likely to produce a
catastrophic effect on a daffodil bed, as most of the other common diseases
are foliage related and although they may reduce the strength of the bulb as
a result they do not normally kill the bulb.
As regards basal rot, Wendy and I have had very little problem with it in
recent years. We completely ignore the recommended method of waiting until
the soil temperature has fallen before planting our bulbs.
We have a one year down policy with a five crop rotation which involves
potatoes, other vegetables, tulips and daffodils and the fifth a fallow year
(if possible).
When my tulips have died down and dug up in June/July they are replaced by
daffodils. As the foliage of the daffodils dies down they are dug up, one
row at a time (July) and immediately replanted where the tulips were. They
are therefore out of the ground for minutes. We do not dip, or use hot water
treatment and no chemicals except for a few slug pellets which we throw in
the trench, so that the birds don’t get them. We believe that most basal rot
infections occur while the bulbs are out of the ground. We can honestly say
that we suffer very little from basal rot as a result.
James Akers