Thanks, Mike. You're the second to suggest waterlogged bulbs. Bought some copper fungicide today: will treat the bulbs and plant in a better-drained location. Appreciate your thoughts. Marti On 5/9/2012 11:00 AM, Michael Mace wrote: > Hi, Marti. > > Welcome to the PBS list! > > I hope somebody with real lily expertise will have a thought for you. > Unfortunately, I am not that person; my climate in California is a bit dry > in the summer for lilies, and although I tried them a lot in the past, it > was too hard to keep them going over the years, so I moved on to other > things. > > So all I can do is give you general advice, and hope it helps a little. > > The symptoms you're having sound unusual. The most common diseases you read > about in lily websites like this > (http://lilyflowerstore.com/lily-care/… > ml ) are botrytis and basal rot. All the photos I've seen for botrytis > show attacks starting at the bottom of the plant (due to spores splashing up > from the soil?) or show the whole plant engulfed. And basal rot attacks the > bulb. I presume you've dug up the bulb when dormant and it's not damaged, > right? > > Based on your symptoms, I'd assume that the disease is happening at the tip > of the plant, but you can't be sure of that. I have seen cases in other > bulb species where the plant tips die or wither due to damage at the root > level (root damage = not enough water going into plant = parts of plant > furthest from roots die or are vulnerable to secondary infection). You'll > think the problem is at the tip, but actually it's underground. That could > be happening to you -- do the tips wilt first and then turn black, or do > they go straight from healthy to black? But even if root damage is the > cause, it could be due to either too much or too little water, or to some > pathogen in the soil. > > So who knows where this is coming from. If we don't get a lily expert > chiming in with a real diagnosis, I would be very tempted to treat the plant > now with one of the systemic fungicides you can get in a general nursery. > If this is a fungus, that treatment will hopefully protect both the roots > and stems. > > (Of course, a bottle of fungicide might cost more than the price of that > lily. Your call.) > > Good luck, and I'm sorry I don't have more specific advice. > > Mike > San Jose, CA > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/