Crocus - November 2014

[ian mcenery]

This one was from yesterday but last nights rain has flattened most flowers. Looks like a few more to come on this late form of Niveus

[Tony Willis]

Ian

really lovely. The ones you gave me are just finishing,it is a really good form

Late blooming Crocus robertianus

[ian mcenery]

Ian

really lovely. The ones you gave me are just finishing,it is a really good form

Late blooming Crocus robertianus

Tony
Really love robertianus but it is not so keen on me. I lost most of mine last year after a good harvest the year before. There were just husks when I came to repot except for one and that has not yet appeared.  I am hoping that I have some seedlings from my own plant a couple of years ago though it will be some time before the leaves show so fingers crossed

Also here is a nice pulchellus raised from your seed

[udo]

What a sunday, 20 ° C in early November.
The last Crocus laevigatus in bloom. First, the Albus with the gold back outside. Through the many light not very yellow, later in the autumn, the buds are really golden.
This make also some spring flowering bulbs. Forms of Crocus sieberi also have a yellowish outside at early flowering, especially under cover.

The other is the dark form of Tony Goode.

[Janis Ruksans]

Tony
Really love robertianus but it is not so keen on me. I lost most of mine last year after a good harvest the year before. There were just husks when I came to repot except for one and that has not yet appeared.  I am hoping that I have some seedlings from my own plant a couple of years ago though it will be some time before the leaves show so fingers crossed

Also here is a nice pulchellus raised from your seed

Ian, the disappearing of robertianus can be great problem invaded many great collections in W Europe. It can be bulb mite, if I well understand symptoms - the nightmare of many bulb growers in districts with long mild weather. No real chemical usable for amateurs, hot water treatment very difficult but possible for crocuses. Fortunately here we have cold winters and quite short period in autumn and spring in which mite can develop. Temperatures in greenhouse are too high in summer and again it is not good for mite. One of great crocus-man almost stopped growing of crocuses in Germany as lost almost all collection.
What I can recommend - the first is sanitary. Always replant in fresh compost, always use fresh pot or sterilize used one in boiling water. To keep collection - always collect seeds, saw them in new pot, new compost. If your pots are plunged in sand - change the sand and sterilise bench before putting new sand on it. This could help but not always. One good way is to replant corms in new compost immediately after leaves die. Clean from old tissue, put in fresh soil and sterile/new pot. After that I keep most of them in greenhouse where temperature rise to +40 and even more in hot days. Of course some are brought outside - pelistericus, scardicus, scharojanii and few others.
I fortunately escaped this problem but always I'm replanting my crocuses with trembling heart. Some corms die every season but it is not more than 10-20 bulbs from several thousands of pots with 1-20 corms in each and even microscope didn't find any sign of mite, but I'm afraid, too, especially when I saw how this looks in Germany.

[ian mcenery]

Ian, the disappearing of robertianus can be great problem invaded many great collections in W Europe. It can be bulb mite, if I well understand symptoms - the nightmare of many bulb growers in districts with long mild weather. No real chemical usable for amateurs, hot water treatment very difficult but possible for crocuses. Fortunately here we have cold winters and quite short period in autumn and spring in which mite can develop. Temperatures in greenhouse are too high in summer and again it is not good for mite. One of great crocus-man almost stopped growing of crocuses in Germany as lost almost all collection.
What I can recommend - the first is sanitary. Always replant in fresh compost, always use fresh pot or sterilize used one in boiling water. To keep collection - always collect seeds, saw them in new pot, new compost. If your pots are plunged in sand - change the sand and sterilise bench before putting new sand on it. This could help but not always. One good way is to replant corms in new compost immediately after leaves die. Clean from old tissue, put in fresh soil and sterile/new pot. After that I keep most of them in greenhouse where temperature rise to +40 and even more in hot days. Of course some are brought outside - pelistericus, scardicus, scharojanii and few others.
I fortunately escaped this problem but always I'm replanting my crocuses with trembling heart. Some corms die every season but it is not more than 10-20 bulbs from several thousands of pots with 1-20 corms in each and even microscope didn't find any sign of mite, but I'm afraid, too, especially when I saw how this looks in Germany.

Janis thank you for your helpful comments I will add these to my list of critters not welcome. However as this was not widespread  I think that in my case I may have allowed the pot to stay too wet after dormancy. I do repot most each year in fresh compost though I am beginning to believe that some do not like this or at least the way I am doing it . For example I hardly ever repot pelistericus and am now giving cvijicii the same treatment as this seems to do better when not disturbed

[ruben]

Janis,

Bulb mites are a big problem! It lives in big populations and they are difficult to fight.
For several years I had problems with narcis fly (small and big) in my snowdrops. I searched long time and find that VYDATE is 99.9% effective. They use Vydate in Israėl where they breed narcissus.
I use vydate in the growing season of bulbs (narcis, crocus, galanthus...). Its works also good on bulb mites.

"Vydate® L is a broad-spectrum insecticide/nematicide for reliable systemic control of labeled above and below ground pests in many crops, including tomatoes, cucurbits and peppers.
It has shown effective, fast-acting control of aphids, mites, thrips, leafminers, weevils, leafhoppers and other yield-robbing pests across multiple life states. It also reduces nematode feeding, movement, reproduction and hatching. Vydate® L can be applied as a foliar spray at planting or via chemigation. Foliar applications can translocate downward to the root system, and soil applications can move upward through the roots throughout the plant canopy to protect both the root and canopy".

After the growing season i pick up all the bulbs. I use new soil and new pond baskets.
But i also use TOPSIN M.
I let the bulbs in a bath of this product and then the bulb is also protected when they are dormant.

Both product have got a good result.

I'm against the use of chemicals but sometimes its the only thing that rest to kill those pests.

[krisderaeymaeker]

Very nice plant that C. robertianus Tony ! Great that laevigatus Dirk and the next you wil recognise .... 

This weekend C cartwrightianus was stil in good condition. In the meanwhile the heavy rain has changed this situation... 

[krisderaeymaeker]

Third time flowering now : Crocus veneris .

[Jacek]

They use Vydate in Israėl where they breed narcissus.
I use vydate in the growing season of bulbs (narcis, crocus, galanthus...). Its works also good on bulb mites.

Hi Ruben,

I looked through the information on Vydate. It seems to be highly toxic to all insects including nectar and pollen feeders, ie the pollinators. The prevention period for bees is 14 days. I wonder if the remnants of the active ingredient present in the plants afterwards may be sublethal for bees and contribute to the bee plague. Using in open field may be risky, in the greenhouse risk is lower.

[ruben]

Hi Jacek,

Its indeed toxic for bees and pollen feeders.
The narcisfly is atrracted by the smell of decaying leaves of Narcis, galanthus, leucojum... . They put there eggs ONLY in decaying leaves and not in fresh green leaves.
The leaf starts to die of a long time AFTER the flowering time of the snowdrops, narcissus, ... .
So i use Vydate begin April (depending on the season), medio april (for narcissus),... . So as you can see pollen feeders do not feed anymore with pollen because the flowers are allready disappeared. (an average of 1 month).
For that reason I can't harm bees and other very useful creatures!!

[Luc Gilgemyn]

I'm very happy with this one from Janis :  Crocus wattiorum 

[Thomas Huber]

Unlike many of you I don't have much flowering in my garden after loads of rain here.

But here are some Crocus mazziaricus from the Athens area:

[Thomas Huber]

... and some hadriaticus from the Northern Peloponnese, not really showy on the last photo  :

[Thomas Huber]

...melantherus, a pure white laevigatus (019) and boryi (010):