Tulip breaking virus
Tulip breaking virus (TBV)
also called TBV, broken tulips, tulip break
Feathered and flamed streaks that break a tulip’s flower color into stripes; the famous “broken” tulips of tulip mania, but it steadily saps the bulb and there is no cure.
What you'll see
- Flowers show feathered or flamed streaks of a second color breaking the base petal color.
- Petal patterns are irregular and vary from bloom to bloom.
- Leaves may carry a faint pale mottle or mosaic.
- Bulbs grow weaker each year, with smaller flowers and thinner stems.
- Vigor declines until the bulb finally fails to bloom.
Why it happens
Tulip breaking virus is a potyvirus that disrupts the pigment in tulip and lily petals, producing the streaked blooms so prized during the Dutch tulip mania of the 1630s. It is carried between plants by aphids and on cutting tools, and the celebrated broken tulips were in truth diseased and short-lived.
It spreads in the growing season wherever aphids move between infected and healthy bulbs, and builds up in old collections kept year after year.
Treating it
- There is no cure; rogue out affected bulbs at once, digging up and destroying the whole plant.
- Do not replant or pass on broken bulbs, however pretty the flowers.
- Disinfect any tools used to lift or cut infected plants.
- Control aphids to slow spread to healthy stock.
Keeping it away
- Buy healthy, virus-free bulbs from a reputable supplier.
- Keep aphids in check through the growing season.
- Inspect blooms each spring and remove any showing color breaking.
- Keep tulips and lilies apart from suspect plants and clean tools between them.
See also
The Cottage Garden Companion — the gardener's apothecary at cottagegardencompanion.com