Biennial application for two years of nine commonly used turf and ornamental herbicides were evaluated for phytotoxicity to fourteen species of spring flowering bulbs. OH 2 significantly damaged foliage of Anemone ‘Rosea’, Crocus ‘Cream Beauty’, Endymion ‘Blue’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, Muscari armeniacum, Narcissus ‘Geranium’, Ornithogalum umbellatum, Scilla ‘Spring Beauty’, Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’, and the Tulipa ‘Golden Apeldoorn’, ‘Purissima’, and ‘Paul Richter’. Ronstar damaged the foliage of Crocus ‘Cream Beauty’, Crocus ‘Remembrance’, Endymion ‘Blue’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris ‘Harmony’, Muscari armeniacum, Narcissus ‘Geranium’, Ornithogalum umbellatum, Scilla ‘Spring Beauty’, Trietleia ‘Queen Fabiola’, and the Tulipa ‘Golden Apeldoorn’, ‘Purissima’, and ‘Paul Richter’. Muscari foliage was damaged by Balan, Dacthal, Devrinol, Fusilade and Poast. Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’ foliage was damaged by Balan. Anemone ‘Rosea’ foliage was injured by Betasan and Pennant. Tulipa ‘Paul Richter’ foliage was deformed by Devrinol and Fusilade damaged Endymion.

No flower injury was noted from use of Balan, Betasan, Dacthal, Devrinol, Pennant, Fusilade or Poast for two seasons on the 14 bulb species. OH 2 and Ronstardamaged flowers of Crocus ‘Remembrance’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris germanica and I. reticulata ‘Harmony’, Narcissus ‘Unsurpassable’, Ornithogalum umbellatum, Scilla ‘Spring Beauty’, Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’, and Tulipa ‘Purissima’ and ‘Paul Richter’. OH 2 damaged the flowers of Crocus ‘Cream Beauty’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris germanica, Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, Muscari armeniacum, Narcissus ‘Unsurpassable’, Ornithogalum umbellatum, Scilla ‘Spring Beauty’, Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’, and Tulipa ‘Golden Apeldoorn’, ‘Purissima’, and ‘Paul Richter’.

Bulb numbers harvested after two years were unaffected by Balan, Betasan, Devrinol, Pennant or Fusilade. Poast and Dacthal reduced bulb numbers of Muscari armeniacum. OH 2 reduced bulb numbers of Crocus ‘Cream Beauty’, Crocus ‘Remembrance’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, Muscari armeniacum, Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’, and ‘Paul Richter’ and ‘Purissima’ tulips. Ronstar reduced the number of bulbs harvested of Crocus ‘Cream Beauty’ and Crocus ‘Remembrance’, Hyacinthus ‘Ostara’, Iris reticulata ‘Harmony’, and Triteleia ‘Queen Fabiola’.

herbicide, weed control, perennial bulbs, flowering bulbs
Allium sphaerocephalon L., Anemone blanda Schott & Kotschy ‘Rosea’, Crocus chrysanthus Herb. ‘Cream Beauty’, Crocus vernus Hill ‘Remembrance’, Endymion hispanicus (Mill.) chouard ‘Blue’, Hyacinthus albulus Bak. orientalis ‘Ostara’, Iris reticulata Bieb. ‘Harmony’, Iris germanica Bieb., Muscari armeniacum Leichtl. ex Bak., Narcissus spp. ‘Carlton’, ‘Geranium’, and ‘Unsurpassable’, Ornithogalum umbellatum L., Scilla siberica Andr. ‘Spring Beauty’, Triteleia laxa Benth. ‘Queen Fabiola’, Tulipa spp. ‘Golden Apeldoom’, ‘Paul Richter’, and ‘Purissima’.
Balan (benefin) N-butyl-N-ethyl-2,6-dinitro-4-(trifluoromethyl)benzenamine, Betasan (bensulide) O,O-bis(1-methylethyl)S[2-[(phenylsulfonyl)amino]ethyl] phosphorodithioate, Dacthal (DCPA) dimethyl 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-l, 4-benzenedicarboxylate, Devrinol (napropamide) N,N-diethyl-2-(1-naphthalenyloxy)propanamide, Pennant (metolachlor) 2-chloro-N(2-ethyl-6-methylphenyl)-N-(2-methoxy-l-methylethyl)acetamide, Fusilade (fluazifop) (t)-2-[4[[5-(trifluoromethyl)-2-pyridinyl]oxy]phenoxy]propanoic acid, OH 2 (oxyfluorfen) 2-chloro-l-(3-ethoxy-4-nitrophenoxy)-4-(trifluoromethyl)benzene + (pendimethalin) N-(l-ethylpropyl)-3,4-dimethyl-2,6-dinitrobenzenamine, Poast (sethoxydim) 2-[1-(ethoxyimino)butyl]-5-[2-(ethylthio)propyl]3-hydroxy-2-cyclohexen-l-one, Ronstar (oxadiazon) 3-[2,4-dichloro-5-(1-methylethoxy)phenyl]-5-(1, 1-dimethylethyl)-1,3,4oxadiazol-2-(3H)-one.
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Author notes

Paper No. 11584 of the Journal Series of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service (NCARS), Raleigh, NC 27695-7601. The authors wish to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. C.O.N. de Vroomen of the Laboratory for Flower-Bulb Research, Lisse, The Netherlands, for data analyses. Partial support for this research was provided by the Dutch Bulb Exporters Association, Hillegom, The Netherlands.

2Professor, Assistant Professor and Professor, Dept. of Horticultural Science, NCSU, resp.

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1988