OK<,this is our 4th season here. The 2nd year was my other bad year but that had the 2 heat domes and the early freeze on 25 September. The 3rd year was better. left them in the ground until early December when we had some very cold weather coming and I decided to dig them. So they had 5 to 6 weeks more in the ground then this year,
It is mostly my seedling tubers, 1st and 2nd year that I am concerned with. I guess I wonder whether it is something genetic or something cultural, and if it is cultural I need help identifying it. Remember, these plants grew very nicely, they looked healthy while growing and produced beautiful flowers. They probably would have been fine if I left them in the bed over the winter. I am wondering if they were just immature? I used the first raised bed to grow my first year seedlings. That bed does go into the shade in late afternoon as the sun gets lower in the sky with the start of autumn.
I have them in misted wood pet bedding well laced with cinnamon now and some are looking better. I don't know if it will keep mold at bay all winter. I do check them every few weeks. My other thoughts are to pot up some of the more vulnerable and grow them under lights through the winter to feed the tubers. I could even put up a tent type greenhouse in the garage. I was doing this the first couple of winters until the old pop up greenhouse got tossed.
I have seen no sign of disease with these ones and they were seedlings. I do believe the problem comes from the soil being too wet where they were grown. Maybe they need a few hard knocks in life earlier to toughen up the tubers? Note...they were too wet but not sitting in water. THe beds drain very well but I think I had the drip system on too long. DIsclaimer...Hubby is in charge of the drip system.
