There are still so many bulbs to peel, bleach and sous vide. The mealy bugs are funny... they're really visible on some plants and not visible at all on other plants. I assume all the bulbs have some hitchhikers, thus the hot water treatment.

Gosh, I can only imagine. Reading this makes me thankful for my one evergreen amaryllis who stays safely indoors. I wish you both the best of luck battling those bugs!

I wish you luck on the peeling, bleaching and sv'ing. The process didn’t work for me.

Jana, in what way did "the process" not work for you?

I decided to forgo peeling and sous viding all of the bulbs. Any bulbs that look healthy and don't show signs of critters are just being wrapped in paper and tucked into the garage. I'll peel them before planting them in spring.

Berkeleygr8, the blotch came back. I cut off every bit of it, to the point of throwing out most of my bulbs. I seemed to have it worse than before this summer. I decided to do nothing this year. My remaining bulbs were grown from seed by my beloved late MIL. It will break my heart to toss them. We’ll see what the look like come late winter, but I’m not hopeful

Jana, I had good results with using the sous vide (I think I did it at 112 degrees for 2 hours- but I'd have to check the tags on the plants) and soaking the bulbs in either bleach and water or hydrogen peroxide (the extra strong stuff that's made for hydroponics) and water. None of the Chico bulbs that were treated showed signs of red blotch this season.

Jana, I hope you can find something that is effective for treating your bulbs. Have you tried peeling the layers until NO red is showing and then soaking in a bleach solution? If I were facing the issues that you are, I'd also dust the bulbs and the top of the soil with Captan (an anti fungal powder) when I repotted the bulbs in fresh pots and soil. It sounds like you need a faster draining soil than what you're using. My plants with red blotch were definitely potted up in a soil that stayed too damp (a coir based seedling mix). I had better luck with plants that were in a coir, coco crouton, and chunky perlite mix with an osmocote type fertilizer. Most summer days here are in the mid 90's to 100+, so I need something that retains a decent amount of moisture, but allows good air flow to the roots. Every environment has different needs. Good luck!

Berkeleysgr8 I followed the same process. Sigh. I do think you’re right about the moisture, tho. I will continue trying!

Jana, even with Captan powder you didn't see a reduction in red blotch? I hope you can save the bulbs, especially because they have a sentimental value!

Hi Jana,

When I have a very bad red blotch outbreak, I stop watering right away, let the mix dry out well and apply sulfer powder with a dedicated brush for that sole purpose. After a while, the dead tissue will turn brown and you can peel it away to reveal the nice bright white or green bulb below. I have heard folks using cinnamon to control red blotch but I've never tried it. I think I'll stick to tried and true sulfer.

Thanks, Fred.

cinnamon or turmeric works, although it's better as an anti fungal ... the bayer and captan products are good, although more 'chemical' than I like to go.

have had reasonable success with sous vide. I was using hotter (128-133 degrees) water.

Bragu, how long have you kept your bulbs in the sous vide at the higher temps? I prefer non-chemical choices, when possible. I've used cinnamon on orchids, but didn't find it particularly helpful. Fred mentioned sulfur... that might be something to add to my arsenal. I'm guessing it's good for a lot of things (not good for creating pleasant scents though!).