Sparaxis and Gladiolus suffering

Michael Mace via pbs pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net
Tue, 28 Mar 2023 06:56:08 PDT
Gianni wrote: 

>> already during the winter the ends of the leaves have turned yellow and
then dried up and Sparaxis grandiflora and Gladiolus splendens have not
flowered

It's not unusual to get some leaf tip dieback on South African bulbs, but if
there's a lot more dieback than in the past and they're no longer flowering,
I agree that something went wrong.

It could be a disease, but I can't see the photos, so I can't help with
that.

Usually I interpret leaf dieback as a symptom that something went wrong
underground. Some of the roots have been killed, and the leaves die back
because the reduced roots can't support them. Potential causes of root
damage: 
--Too much water at some point in time (which caused some of the roots to
rot)
--Too little water at some time (which also causes roots to die back)
--Your soil has broken down and no longer drains well
--Bugs underground are eating roots
--Too much fertilizer damaged the roots
--The veranda got too hot at some point in the growing season and damaged
the roots

Note that too little fertilizer doesn't usually damage the roots -- the
plants just get stunted.

At this point, your best bet is to pay careful attention to watering (not
too much, not too little) until the bulbs are dormant, and then repot with
fresh soil in the summer. Hopefully it will just be a one year problem.

Mike
San Jose, CA



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