Great, something else now to watch for! I was just out cutting down some of my lily foliage because I thought a couple had botrytis, but now I'll have to keep an eye out for basal rot too. So is stunted growth the first sign of basal rot?

It's interesting that you both had problems with Heather's Promise. I wonder if some varieties are more susceptible than others? And I wonder if certain lily growers are more careful than others is controlling it? Boy, it sure opens up a whole can of worms, doesn't it?

What are the signs of botrytis? I've mentioned here that i had some lilies whose foliage went black and African Queen's roots had rotted. I thought maybe it was due to our wet June and July. To dig an 18" cube out of the bed African Queen was in would pretty much be the whole bed!

My iris' foliage is okay, but there were a few daylilies with brown foliage.

Come to think of it, the wetness would create a good habitat for fungus. I really won't have the time for new beds this fall - maybe i should hope for another drought?

Stunted growth is a sign. As well as a bulb failing to come up at all. It was suggested to me that possibly the bulbs were infected when we received them. Since two of us had problems with the same variety. They both were bought from the same supplier last fall.
Both of us have received free replacements.
As in the case of my other bulb that was also infected, it bloomed, but the last flowers dried up rather opening.

I planted my Pink Hawaiian Coral Peony right beside this area. I dug it out and it is now soaking in bleach water.
I'll replant it in a different area.

Shelley

Oh boy, that's not good Shelley, my Heathers' Promise did good this year, knock on wood that it doesn't get BR.

The only lily I have some worries with is

I hope it doesn't have any virus disease and only stressed due to the hot dry July we had this summer and return to normal next year.

The Lily Nook has a good article on diseases and pests.

Sharon

Here is a link that might be useful: Diseases and Pests:

Sharon, I had a lily with broken coloring as well. My supplier told me his was all fine so mine must have been weather related. I still am leary and found out that I did the right thing which was to cut the foilage off really early so the aphids couldn't transfer a possible virus to another plant.
If it blooms broken again, it is out of there.

Shelley

I also had a broken coloured bloom on a new lily this spring. It was ummmmmm ummmmmm oh yeah Moneymaker. It got cut off for a bouquet and the bulb is fairly isolated so I'm not too worried about it.

Botrytis rot usually shows up in wet conditions. I had one case of it once, and it never showed up again and I practice terrible gardening hygiene. Which makes me think it's more of a wildcard issue than an epidemic.

Basal rot has me a little worried because three of the bulbs I got from one supplier in the past two years have either not come up at all, or came up wiht a puny stunted stem which then turned red and died. Those bulbs are all in the main garden. >:0( We shall see.

I dug up Megan just to see if I can see any disease and all look healthy, so will see what happens next year.

Another new bulb that I planted early in the season that had stunted growth was Coral Sunrise, lo and behold I found slugs! They sure chewed them up and one bulb I can't even find... but I think I can save the other 2 bulbs. I squished the buggers off and rinse the eggs off well, I also had these growing in too much moist/shade and moved them over to the field project garden, will see if these make it too.

Gil, check yours for slugs too ;)

Sharon

Sharon, I'll check but honestly I have never seen a slug in this yard - it's very sandy and tends to be dry.

I got some good news today, Lynette from Valley K just wrote me back an email and said that my Megan does not have a virus.....a virus lily looks very very distinct and has distinct lines of color to go with it, more like vivid blotches than color blending.

She also stated that her Megan bulbs all bloomed late and stunted, she thinks the company that she got them from had them stored an entire year in coolers before shipping them to us, as the growth on them is typical of this kind of storage. Everything they received from this company that was planted this spring behaved the same way. There was another company who used to do the same thing all the time years ago and then she finally figured out what the problem was. Those plants always grew normally the second year.

She is sure by next year that mine will too grow normally and the colors may blend into each other again even if it's very hot when they bloom.

Sharon