Some of the important viral diseases which infect the flowers are mentioned here.

a.Cucumber mosaic virus (Amaryllis mosaic)

The main symptioms and control measures of this disease are described here.

Symptoms: Large yellowish green patches appear at random over the leaf surface.

Control: The vedor can be controlled by spraying 0.2% malathion regularly at 15-day interval. Sometimes, this disease also spreads through weeds and these should be eradicated from the amaryllis plots. CMV can also be controlled by treating bulbs at temperature of 25°C and light intensity of 1000 ft candles. Asceptic shoot-apex culture was employed in an attempt to recover virus-free plant material from the infected bulbs. Bulb-cottage was a source of shoot-apices which subsequently were cultured on liquid nutrient medium at a temperature of 25°C and light intensity of 1000 ft-candles.

b. Tomato spotted wilt

The symptoms and control of the disease are mentioned here.

Symptoms: The leaves of the affected plants showed numerous yellow spots and the plants ultimately died. The symptoms are similar to amaryllis mosaic virus but are more coarse.



Control measures: This disease is spread by thrips may affect many other plants of Amaryllidacae. The thrips can be controlled by spraying 0.2% Rogor or Malathion. The antibiotics streptothriein and Terramycin suppress two of the virus diseases, tobacco ring spot and tobacco mosaic. All mosaic-infected plants should be burnt as soon as identified. The control of possible insect or mite carriers is particularly important under outdoor amaryllis culture; nearly weeds that might harbour virus diseases should also be eradicated.



Next : Pests attacking Amaryllis and Hippeastrum