Keeping faith

Here's the back story: After 12 weeks of chilling in my refrigerator crisper drawer, the amaryllis bulbs were potted up late last year. There's always a little bit of anxiety about removing from the refrigerator the brown paper bags in which the bulbs have been stored and, after the long wait, looking inside. The surprises are generally not good. This year, some of the paper bags had rotted through (maybe too much soil left on the amaryllis roots?), one bulb had turned soft (maybe too long in the cold?), and a "Royal Velvet" bulb was covered with soft reddish areas (maybe both too much soil and too much cold?).

And there was greenish mold growing on its roots.



And the trimmed-down stalk was mushy.



And there was a thoroughly distasteful rotten area on the side that required surgery. No photographs, please.

Diseased? Delicate? I was ready to pitch the poor thing. But my husband, enthusiast of scientific experiments (and thrifty Yankee), argued to keep it, separate from the other bulbs, but save it anyways. Nothing to lose.

Update: So here is a small sign that faith is rewarded. Slowly, slowly, new growth is poking up from the trimmed top of the bulb. It may not look very tall to most people, but to me it's towering.



Happy inauguration day!

Mixed amaryllis messages

The two amaryllises that I potted up last month have sent out new green leaves from the top of their bulbs. That's good.



However, I've noticed something that is not good: a dark reddish area on the side of one bulb. A run through the Amaryllis/Hippeastrum Forum on Gardenweb suggests that this might be "red blotch" or "leaf scorch" (Stagonospora curtisii).

The University of Florida's Extension web-site lays it out: "red blotch" is more than not good; it's very, very bad.

The fungus and spores of red blotch are carried on the bulbs . . . Red blotch is difficult to control; disease-infected bulbs, plants or seedlings should be destroyed. Prevent disease by using sterilized potting soil when propagating and providing plants with the right growing conditions. Fungicides (like thiophanate methyl) can be applied, but they are expensive and hard to find. A hot water treatment is sometimes suggested. Dig up the bulbs, remove excess soil and soak them for 30 minutes in water kept at a constant temperature of 104-114°F (40-46°C).

I was pretty conscientious this past year about plant hygiene by bottom-watering all amaryllises and by quarantining and then destroying one bulb with mosaic virus. Dang!

GardenWeb discussants have proposed that many bulbs diseased with red blotch are being shipped into the country from the Netherlands. However, customers who discard the bulbs after blooming likely never realize that their plants carried red blotch. It's just those gardeners who season over their amaryllises that come to discover they've harbored infected plants. Double dang!



So perhaps I should not have been surprised to see small red spots nestled deep down among the dried leaves of this year's super fabulous "Royal Velvet" amaryllis. Triple dang!