Here are the pot bottoms

Nothing to offer in terms of ideas but I am watching this thread as one of my bulbs is showing what I think is rot at the base!

Hi Joey,

Some of mine did the same thing, but I think they'll be fine. I would just cut back on watering and make sure it's in a warm and sunny spot. What I have done in the past and if rot is confirmed, I un-pot it, trim away the rotted section, dust it with fungicide/rooting powder and let it dry for a few days. To be sure it stays relatively dry, I set it in a pot of 50/50 perlite/vermiculite until new roots start showing. If you have clear beverage cups (Donna's Dunkin Donuts iced coffee cups) you'll be able to see the rooting progress easier. This has worked for me in the past and I'm sure there are other much more experienced growers out there that can hopefully help.

Thanks Jody, Fred, and Joy. For now, I am watching and waiting. If there seems to be any progression, I will unpot and treat. I do have plastic cups from a local café. Jody made a good point. It may be that there is too much moisture even if I am convincing myself there isn't.

Yes Joey, make sure that you stop watering it until it recovers! It is so difficult not to overwater them, I know :-)

I think the brown layers are not a problem if they are dry. I've had this from time to time too. Sometimes you can find the rest of a stalk that died there.

I had a severe case of rotting two days ago on my one and only Exotica bulb I was trying to save. It was on a heating pad and growing roots and a new leave when I noticed some rot on one side. The poor bulb was rotting from inside, the green tissue was dissolving and I could even smell the rot. It was really disgusting! I've never had something like this before.

Anja

Oh Anja, that poor bulb!! I think the best you can hope for is an offset or two but then again, you've got those healthy roots so who knows!! I sure do hope that we can find Exotica again and not end up with mislabels like I got 2 years in a row.

Good luck with this little project!! ;-))

Anja,

Why is it always that the ones you like the most or worst yet, not available anymore...that rot????? Good luck with yours, I hope it recovers and I have very high confidence in your recovery skills :-))))

Fred

Thank you, donna and Fred, this luck is needed...

Fred, I think the ones we worry about are the ones we over water, over fertilize and over everythng ! Jody

Ain't it the truth??????

Anja, insert this bad bulb to perlite or vermikulite. Insert to this soil only basal plate with roots. Can you get Previcur energy in your country? If yes, use this solution (spraying) as prevention for mold.

The classic substrate will not be good - bulb will be rot and eventually die.

Carefully with irrigation, rather less. Good luck.

Good luck, Anja! If it is possible, I am sure it will be you who can!

As pavel, I will advise you a treatment with a fungicide, then to plant it in perlite, then I water a little bit with this same fungicide, not much and then I place the little pot in a plastic bag, well lighted and heat. In general it works well.

Thank you, Béatrice and Pavel, for your advices! I don't have a fungicide because I couldn't find anything suitable in the garden centres when I looked for it two years ago. I tried sulfur but it didn't work. Previcur energy is only sold to professionals in Germany. But since I have all the bulbs in my home I prefer staying without fungicides anyway. I will use vermiculite and hope. I managed to get two bulblets from a nearly rotten bulb by twin scaling two years ago, maybe I'm lucky again.

Would you recommend hot water treatment before or is it too dangerous because the bulb is so small?

Hi Anja,

I think the hot water treatment may be a bit too much for such a small bulb and you may end up cooking the poor little thing. Instead of a chemical fungicide, you could always apply powdered cinnamon as an organic/natural fungicide.

Have you tried Cinnamon ?
The Cinnamon works good with some fungal problems

Thank you, Fred and Luca! I applied cinnamon on the bulb. It is now sitting in moist vermicultie on the heating pad.

I read somewhere that cinnamon may inhibit rooting, that's why I didn't apply it to the basal plate. Do you know something about it?

I know someone use cinnamon as as a rooting agent ....

turmeric also works in lieu of cinnamon

I have used cinnamon extensively, and although I can’t say anything either way on the rooting issue, it works very well as a fungicide. I had to aggressively cut back a couple bulbs that had red blotch starting to get into their necks. I spread a layer of cinnamon on all exposed cut tissue, and they survived and are doing well now. I use the cheap stuff from Walmart.

I had the same thing happen to me, Anja. I unfortunately lost the bulb. And of course, it was a rare one that I may not be able to replace! I’d do what Patel suggested - but don’t put it inside a bag where it will stay wet, because most likely the rot will continue if it is not allowed to dry out. I think it can still be saved at this point though, don’t give up!