BASAL ROT OF NARCISSUS: TRIALS ON SOME PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF FUNGICIDE TREATMENT

Basal rot of narcissus (caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. narcissi) results in loss of yield and quality in the predominant but susceptible cultivars Golden Harvest and Carlton.
Trials were carried out using infested stocks of cv Golden Harvest, with the aim of optimising fungicide treatments for the management of the disease.
Thiabendazole was applied annually to bulbs as a post-lifting (PL) dip and (or) in hot-water treatment (HWT). Prompt PL treatment was more effective than application in HWT, while the ‘double’ treatment gave some additional control but more smaller bulbs were harvested.
Several other fungicides used in this way provided effective control.
In these trials, the improved health of ‘control’ bulbs, following the introduction of the most appropriate bulb drying and storage procedures, illustrated the importance of non-chemical aspects of treatment.
PL sprays of thiabendazole and of other fungicides were also effective.
Glutaraldehyde was evaluated as a substitute for formaldehyde in the HWT tank: it appeared to show no crop toxicity when used at appropriate concentrations.

VI International Symposium on Flower Bulbs

G.R. Hanks

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1992.325.111