Fusarium oxysporum and pests

[Croquin]

Oh come on Lesley !!
You can be coined as "Trichoderma Expert" if you so wish since it is not an electrical thing!
 

Of course, using it with a sleeping vegetation is not giving you any clues about its activity/dormancy at low temperatures.
Don't you have plants like Crocus sativus, which have a reversed cycle of vegetation (growing in the fall/winter/spring and resting in summer), on which you used Trichoderma and you could see anything significant?

I will, whatever, give it a try - there is just a few dollars to lose and some peace of mind at stake...

[John85]

One of the suppliers says that the trichoderma  fungi grow between 10 and 34c and  pH 4 till 8,5.
Lesley have you used both granules and powder?

[Lesley Cox]

I mainly use Trichoderma in my potting/seed mixes as granules but also dig a little into the planting hole in cases where a plant is known to suffer from fungusd conditions, Clematis wilt being an example. I used to lose a lot of freshly planted clematis, especially from one source but have not lost a single plant since starting with the Trichoderma. I only use granules at this stage. When I used powder with water and applied it to freshly potted nursery plants, things grew at such a rate they became unmanageable in small nursery pots and I had to repot once or even twice into bigger pots making them uneconomic as well as taking far too much time in the propagation-to-selling process.

Not sure what you mean Croquin, by a reversed cycle of vegetation. My C. sativus is in the garden rather than in pots and at 15" depth and I haven't applied Trichoderma in that area.

[Janis Ruksans]

Leslie,

I have a question for you as you are THE Trichoderma expert here.

I have studied further this topic and it seems that the fungi is biologically active (growing and biocontrolling) in warmth (25-30°C).

I find that it would be worth trying a cure on my C. sativus bed infected with Fusarium oxysporum, but now, the ground temperature at the corm level must be below 15°C, and my best guess is that it is probably closer to 10 than to 15°C.

Did you observe any cure or improvement with your treated plants when the weather was fresh, if this happens where you live ?
What do you know about this temperature thing ?

Thanks in advance.

Usually soil is mixed with Trichoderma before planting. There are some reports that it prevents infection, but not in my experience, so personally I stopped its using. Gladiolus growers looks on Trichoderma very positively. I'm quite critical as I suppose that trichoderma brought some problems for my Fritillarias. But it is only my feeling, not scientifiical test.
Janis

[Croquin]

Thanks for all feedbacks guys 

Lesley, by "reversed" (sorry, I'm not that bilingual after all) I meant that the vegetative cycle occurs when other plants are resting, i.e. when temperatures get low (in temperate climates). This was just to know if you had any observation to report with using Trichodermas in lower temperature periods.

[Lesley Cox]

Not really Croquin, in that if I use it at lower temps for potting, I make the assumption - maybe not a good one - that it will wait around in the mix until the temp is up again so that it will then become active. As you see, I'm the least scientific gardener EVER.

So far as fritillarias are concerned, over some years I've had really bad botrytis in potted bulbs. It became evident just as the buds were maturing and while some flowers seemed OK, others collapsed and the leaves and stems were badly infected and then no seed was formed even on common species except meleagris which usually made seed. I now use the Trichoderma in the potting mix for frits and have had much less of a problem and am getting seed pods now as well but this could also be due to the fact I am including a little ordinary garden loam (broken down turf, about 10% of the mix and crumbled) in potting mixes for all my bulbs that I grow in pots. It seems to me that all such fungal problems began for me when I started using soil-less composts.

[Croquin]

OK, many thanks for sharing Lesley.
All these are pieces of a puzzle and although you deny your expertise level, your based-on-experience inputs are very very helpful and precious.
I need to add that you should not lower the value of your knowledge compared to that of scientific minds.
Sorry to say so (for the scientists), but I feel that most of the time these guys are dogmatic and it is such a pain to freely examine arguments with them without having them feel threatened by intellectual inquiries.
I wish we could ask any question without facing these religious walls around knowledge.

[Croquin]

Happy new (doomsday?) year to all of you, dear Croconuts 
May it bring you new wonders, discoveries and satisfaction with crocuses.

I am facing some confusion regarding a saffron crocus disease, called "tacon" in francophonie during the 19th century.
From a description found here (http://www.archive.org/stream/comptesrendusdes01soci/comptesrendusdes01soci_djvu.txt - look for : tacon), it seems that "tacon", attributed to Perisporium crocophilum, a synonym for Phoma crocophila and Sclerotium crocophilum, finally is a fusarium.

Does anyone of you know more about tacon/Perisporium crocophilum/Phoma crocophila/Sclerotium crocophilum ?
It seems that these are old names in the ancient taxonomic systems, and very little information can be found about it, especially the trace from there to modern days taxonomy.

I would like to know what is the current taxonomic name for these pathogens and if tacon is the same or a different disease as fusarium.
Thanks !