Anna,

It would be best if you could post a picture.

Wildcat

Okay - here are a couple of pictures of the red spot/blotch:
{{gwi:442428}}
{{gwi:442429}}

Hmmm...I know nothing about red splotch. Hopefully someone who does will chime in.

However, whatever it is, it looks to be showing only where the previous old flakey leaf sheet peeled off. I wonder if it is only superficial damage due to the "onion skin" coming off to early?

I found this online, "Note: amaryllis bulbs will get red scars at any point that is damaged (scales, leaves, bulb) and that is not sign of red blotch".

Otherwise, your bulb looks very healthy and firm.

Wildcat

Wildcat - thanks so much for that bit of information - that makes me a little less worried. Aren't digital pictures and the internet great!

Cheers,
Anna

This kind of red discoloration is diffuse and nothing to worry about. I assume that it issues from a lesion by rubbing or compressing the surface.

What should be observed carefully is dark red or brown spots, often ROUNDED spots - which might develop later (!)
These originate from infection with red blotch - and they tend to become soft and watery and to spread on the bulb surface.

Do not let ever get water in contact with the bulb surface.

Hans-Werner

Thanks Hans-Werner. Ok - this is what I don't understand. These plants grow in the wild as all plants do. So in the "real" world there is rain that falls on amaryllis, right? And we are even advised to put our amaryllis outside for the summer. One of mine spent the whole summer outside through rain and sun (as an experiment to see how it did as opposed to the ones I kept inside), and it seems fine (not the one with red spot). Hmmm???

Anna

Can anyone post a couple pictures from the Internet of true pictures of red splotch?

I have never see it and would like to be educated?

Thanks,
David

Yes that is exactly the question I am posing myself all the time.
A possible reason could be that the original hippeastrum species are not so prone to pests and diseases.
But concluding from my observations with H.papilio, H.aulicum v.robustum and H.cybister "Chico" I can not confirm that.

May be that the tarsonemid mite (Steneotarsonemus laticeps) which is kindly and gratuitely delivered with every hippeastrum bulb from the commercial bulb producers is not a pest of amaryllogene bulbs in their original habitats.

The tarsonemid mite is responsible for the perdition of all the many hippeastrum bulbs which are supposed to be ill by "red blotch" (Stagonospora curtisii). Yes they die from red blotch but this fungal disease is only a consequence of the bulb material damage done by this critter of almost microscopic dimension (0.2 mm) thus being barely visible to the unarmed eye.
This animal implants the red blotch into the plant tissue and it is the insurance of a perpetuous commercial bulb flow at least from bulbs of the origin of the Nederlands - I regret to say that.

You are lucky IF you have not (yet) made these awfull observations. Others will very well agree that these bulbs which were in a prolonged manner exposed to rainfalls emerged to be completely damaged in fall - just transforming into a red pulp and at best to be trashed immediately before they might infect other bulbs which were not or not so seriously infected yet.
My background IS my serious own experiences - as I lost my first collection - including the first blooming seedlings from own crossings - for example a wonderfull triploid seedling from H.aulixcum v.robustum x "Appleblossom" when I was 19.

I still experience a very threatening infection pressure on my bulbs from those mites which inevitabely remain in the soil, and I had some occurence of serious damage in some plants which stood under a leaking part of my polyethylene foil this season.

Hans-Werner

Anna, Thanks for starting this thread and posting the pics.......I have two bulbs with what you have......so I was very relieved to find out that wasn't red blotch.

When I bought my first 3 bulbs a while back....I didn't know about red blotch until it was mentioned on this forum. Now last night when I was purchasing 3 more...I was more informed and looked for such evidence. I passed by a couple that I may have bought because it was a possiblity that they had it. Hopefully I chose well.

Sierra

Hello all
I would also like to be educated on the red blotch.
A few pictures would help.
Hans you remember this plant of mine.

{{gwi:372850}}

It is doing well with its offsprings.
Some of my bulbs are effected mostly it effects the flower stalk, which gets deformed, But as yet I have not lost a bulb. May be the summer heat kills the mite.

As for water touching the bulbs.
I grow them out doors so they are exposed to rain.As the leaves get coated with dust I frequently use spray to wash them and I surface water them too,apparently without any ill effect.

HANS can these mites be seen with a lens? if so where to look for them.

Hope to hear more about it.
ARIF

Well I think I may have found out what red blotch looks like.

On one of the cheap bargain bulbs I bought...I noticed yesterday that there was rounded red blotches on the one side of the bulb.....on closer inspection it was eating away at the bulb. This bulb has a flower stem about 10 inches high..........so what I did was remove it from its pot, chop off the part that was infected.....removed some of the mushy roots. I then dipped in a solution of bleach and water. The soil was also disgarded and the pot bleached. Put new soil in pot and replanted. Now hopeing for the best. The bulb had two solid good sized roots still attached.

Its a matter now will this bulb survive or not. The flower stem looks like it grew taller over night? Will it actually flower?

I may have over watered this pot and it was kept cooler in the window as well.....could that have caused this?

Sierra

Boys !!!! bleach on a bulb???
Me thinks maybe garden sulphur might have been better.
These mites,might they be spider mites, that occur on roses, or a relative??? I use Kelthane, in Canada a restricted chemical, to kill spider mites, but another
chemical is End All by Safers that will kill spider mites,
may be a help for this problem..Just a thought..Jack

I am thrilled to report that the said bulb is at last showing a sign of a flower stalk, which is an especially thrilling sight for me, as it is the first of last year's amaryllis which I have successfully "reawakened". It is a Red Peacock. What alarms me is that it seems the reawakened bulbs will not rebloom for the holidays as when they were purchased. I fear I may be buying fresh ones each year for holiday blooms, thereby increasing my stock annually!! Yikes!

Anna

Hee hee Jack, I first heard of using bleach on a tv gardening show.....He said to dip your glad bulbs in bleach duluted with water.....to get rid of thrips. I have dipped the glad bulbs every year since then. That is why I thought to try it with this amaryllis. My concern is that I had to cut a chunk off of this bulb.....so it had an open wound......the cut part looks dried now...but the flower stem still looks ok. I keep expecting it to just keel over....and who knows it might yet. But if it works and this happens again....then I will know.

anna...this red blotch on the above mentioned bulb didn't look anything like your pics. Congrats on the bloom stem...its so exciting when they start, and it seems to take forever for the flowers to appear when you are watching and waiting. My red lion is just about ready to open...so in the next few days......

Next year will be the first year for me to see if they rebloom....I had one bloom on Christmas day for me, this year........how perfect was that....

Sierra

Bleach water...hmmmmm...sounds interesting. How much bleach on how much water Sierra? I've always used dish liquid soap and warm water if I get a case of mites. I just submerge the whole plant in this solution for about 30 minutes and it takes care of it.
About sealing wounds, I used to apply or dust a certain kind of fungicide to seal the wound and prevent rot on my plant divisions way back when I still had a nursery and it worked great. I just can't remember if it was Benlate or Captan. I guess dusting the wound with any kind of powder form of fungicide might help save the bulb too.
Rosegrower, I've been looking for Kelthane but can't find it here. Where do u get yours?

I used 1 part bleach to 10 parts water.....approx....on the glad bulbs. So that is what I tried with the amaryllis bulb.

I don't use any harsh chemicals...if I absolutely have to use anything its safers soap.

Sierra

Hi Sierra:
Ohhh did I boo boo, my sincere apologies, one should keep ones mouth shut if one is not sure of what they speak.
My friend who grows and shows wonderful dahlias,I called and mentioned about soaking the
Amaryllis in bleach ,gave me a awful going over.
He said that its done for thrips on glads, as you rightfully
say in your post above....blush... I learned something
new,,,So again my apologies :>))))) Jack

Jack...no need to apologize! I don't know if the bleach will work for the amaryllis or not.....have to wait and see what happens.

Sierra :-)

I think my flower is sick... is this what red patch is? Is there anything I can do to save him?

{{gwi:442430}}
{{gwi:442431}}

Too much or too little water? Checked the roots? Temperature? I bought a little cheap buld I liked but when I came home it was mould on the roots and half the bulb was in some strange mould/rottening-stage. But i took away all these parts (with my hands and a lot of water!), I let it dry in a dark and warm place for some days and planted it in fresh soil in a small clay pot. Now it's doing fine and have a flower stalk. I have heard there sre two sorts of reed blotch, one caused by a disease, virus, and one caused by too much water. I do not think you can save the flowers and leaves, but I'm sure you can save the bulb.

Hi annamika,

I am not sure what that is....I have seen pics of that elsewhere though....and that bulb pic that I saw still bloomed although the flowers were deformed. Sorry don't remember where I saw that pic now.

What the amaryllis bulb had that I have, looked more like something had been eating away at the bulb, or maybe a better discription would be it looked like it was starting to rot on the side.....and the area had turned red in only a few days. I didn't take pics....I know I should have.

I want to make clear that I only dipped the bulb part in bleach and water......not the flower stem. Checking this morning.....the flower stem still looks ok and has grown a bit taller....

Sierra

Hay. I do believe this is what 'Red Blotch' looks like. If so, one of mine has it. Any ideas if it is savagable? Or if I should move it outside to spare the other one? Althought the other one is on the other side of the room...

Link to my photo site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39323697@N00/103724707/

The macroscopically visible damage from Red Blotch is watery spots which progessively subside into the tissue and ending up with black, crispy material after drying up - or even with holes.

The damage presented in the photo origines from tarsonemid mite infection (bulb scale mite, Steneotarsonemus laticeps).
Transfer your plant into the greenhouse and spray with a systemic acaricidal between the leaves to rescue it.
Sometimes there might occur a spontaneous remission too, if the plant has been freshly bought and was already infected (very likely) - but the mites do not feel "so well" in your environment.

The following kind of damage is typical for the presence of the bulb scale mite, too:

{{gwi:389563}}

The lower leaf is seriously affected (sawtooth shape), the lower margin of the upper leaf reveals a milder form (zipper shape, red streaks which are regularly disrupted by cracked tissue) or better the initial signs of bulb scale mites which have invaded into the plant's heart, using the minimal interstitial spaces at the leaf margins.

Hans-Werner

Just as a postscript, since I started this thread: what I had feared to be red blotch, most certainly was not. Red Peacock is my very first reawakened bulb - it has produced 2 gigantic scapes simultaneously (very fat too) reaching close to 2.5 feet - just starting to bloom - utterly beautiful. Also, it seems to me it is slightly more orange this year than last. This one holds a spcial place for me, as so often people would say how hard it is to get an amaryllis to rebloom the following year, and I feel proud to have done so.

The folks here have helped enormously with advice, tips etc. One that was especially helpful was putting some bottom heat to help the reawakening process - it really worked! Thanks!

Anna

Hello
Hans-Werner
I spotted this saw tooth leaf margin in one of your flower group photo and been wanting to ask you about it.In my case it is usualy the flower stalk which is affected. As all my plants are out door I have started insecticide sprays as the scapes have started to emerge.How often should I be spraying.
ARIF

I spotted this saw tooth leaf margin in one of your flower group photo

I tend to believe that you discovered an artifact originating from photo edition (resharpening by my cheap XP home software). However, can you link the image, please?

Hans-Werner

Hello
Hans-Werner
No it was photo of your garden in bloom. So it was also an art effect as I then thought.
ARIF

Since Soultan is not here, I thought I would help him out and bump one of the older threads before it is lost.

In my gardens and outside, it is not unusual to see a superficial red mark here and there. There is a big difference between 'Red Blotch' and the marks made my a slight bruise or a bug of some sort.

Most of the year, my amaryllis are outside. They get watered from above (yes, rain and sometimes a sprinkler). Perhaps, this is possible because our spring/fall/summer temps are high enough that the bright sun quickly causes the leaves to dry. This is true despite the fact that, being on the Gulf Coast, the humidity is tremendously high.

You should see the red marks after a hurricane or tropical storm. I suppose I have become accustomed to that, especially during recent years.

Fortunately, I have never had problem with mites (knock on wood), and I read somewhere recently that this may be due to our warm/hot temps.

BTW, after getting down to 20 degrees last week, we are now experiencing a heat wave with highs of above 70 degrees.

NICE! But awfully confusing to plants...

Anyway, consider this thread bumped! Good pics, Anna!