I thought I would highlight the label of some G. elwesii I picked up at a local nursery, which I should have avoided as they were quite badly diseased on closer examination; possibly by Fusarium Basal Rot (or similar) and/ or Stagnospora curtisii. One showed some leaf tip damage and one had a diseased developing flower bud but everything else looked fine, albeit they were too shallowly planted and much root was on or above the surface.
Except the two bulbs noted above, there was no obvious outward sign of damage on any of the many other bulbs but on unearthing and examining them, it was clear that many had very few roots and some had some rusty streaking on the bulbs (despite otherwise looking ostensibly healthy).
Another (well regarded) independent nursery I went to also had a consignment from the same supplier (just my luck!) and they were likewise affected - the bulbs were again barely in the soil and some were loose as they had so little root - often a few roots from only one part of the basal plate that had not completely succumbed to necrosis.
Other suppliers (/lines) may be fine but the vast majority of bulbs from the pots concerned showed no obvious outward signs of disease but the root/ basal plates and, to a lesser extent, the bulbs themselves clearly indicated otherwise.
Note to self therefore: best look carefully and quarantine any interesting garden centre finds, even if they look fine (as I am sure most people here would do).
Photo 1: label from pots affected by Fusarium/ Stag
Photo 2: leaf tip damage
Photo 3: aborting flower bud
