Rotten Mites

[George R Stilwell, Jr.]

Robin,

I haven't heard anything about mites being a cause for rotting tubers.
The rot is usually
caused by too wet conditions during dormancy and is exacerbated by overly
zealous
cleaning of the tubers which removes their protective outer layer.

In fact, I've not heard or read of mite infections in Arisaema at all.
Most of my nursery stock
grows in media that is full of fungus mites and they never hurt a single
plant.

I have planted new Arisaema in the same location where one rotted, but
only after improving the drainage.
So far there's been no problem. I don't store tubers. except to force new
tuberlets into an
early second season, so I can't give advice on that. Seems to me some
people proposed
dusting them with Sulphur or Benomyl, but I don't know if it helped at
all. Keeping them
very well drained when dormant is the best advice.

Ray
GRSJr at Juno.com

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