Date: Tue, 9 Jun 1998 00:58:57 -0400 From: Tom Massey <massey@hal.fmhi.usf.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1962$foo@default> Subject: RE: S. flava rhizome rotting...
until about a month ago, when one by one, the
flower stalks began to shrivel and harden.
To my surprise, the roots
seemed quite healthy and the rhizome was all intact...until I actually
began
cutting away the dead material. The rhizome, it seems, has rotted from the
inside and the roots and the leaves are the last to suffer. That means
that
what may look like healthy material has already been infected and will
eventually join the rhizome in trash. I managed to save (I think) a couple
of healthy growth points, but am wondering how to treat these so the
infection doesn't spread.
PS: I'm bummed, man.
Your description is very consistent with my observations. The rhizome
dies, but the roots remain healthy - even to the point of having active
growing points. Flowers and pitchers die from the bottom up, and often
wilt without the loss of color. It appears to me that the rot usually
starts at the oldest end of the rhizome, but not always.
If you cut away all the rotten part of the rhizome and it still has an
active growth point, survival seems to me to be better than 50/50. I
usually replant in fresh material and treat the plant as I would a new
transplant.
I have not found it to be a particularly virulent fungus/virus/whatever as
it has always happened to a single plant, even when several where planted
together in one pot. Also, to my knowledge plants that survive do not seem
to be any more susceptible than others to repeat infection.
Good Luck,
Tom in Fl.
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