My Dear Agapanthe64.

Congratulations,OR NOT, You have the dreaded and bulb devastating Narcissus Bulb Fly larvae/maggot! (bad joke)
Most of us my self included, have lost many bulbs to this miserable creature.

The adult fly which looks somewhat like a bee drills a hole in or near the basal plate and lays it's egg. As the larvae grows it eats the inside of the bulb out.

If caught in time, you must scrape out all the dead tissue which in some cases is the entire center of the bulb and pour/powder captan on all the wounded surfaces and let dry thoroughly. In some cases I have been able to do this without removing the bulb from the pot and in others cases that went too far before I found it, you must take the bulb out and clean the basal plate too.

Don't despair though, most times the basal plate will regenerate and form multiple offsets around the remains of the mother bulb. As long as the mother bulb is no longer rotting and has been powdered well with captan all may not be lost.

Over the past 5 years I loose about 10 bulbs a year to this maggot. In the beginning I just threw them away but since learning that they will regenerate I have pretty good success with dealing with them now.

I have a few pictures I will post to show you results in another thread after I find them..Donna

Before and after Flamenco Queen second picture taken 1 yr later, this morning actually...

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One last thing, here is Aphrodite from about 4 years ago. This bulb was so far gone that I just put it under a coffee table and forgot about it. This bulb was so eaten you could see daylight out the neck of the bulb! It lay there for several months dry and unplanted and when I finally went to throw it away there were 3 or 4 small bulblets attached to the basal plate. I couldn't believe my eyes! This took place during the summer so perhaps the humidity in the air allowed it to live.

Today I have those 4 bulblets and 2 of them are quite large..not the same luck with a pot of 4 papilios though, I lost them all...

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I just noticed your picture of your bulb..I think you can save it...

When cleaning out the rotten part of the bulb, I have found a garden hose to be helpful. I block part of the end so that the water comes out under fairly high pressure and I use this "high pressure water jet" to remove any rotten flesh fairly easily. This method also minimizes what you have to touch of the rotten bulbs.

Dust the hollowed out parts liberally with Captan or flowers of sulfur and allow it to dry completely before replanting.

You can order yellow sticky cards that mount on sticks to physically trap these pests in your greenhouse.

GOOD LUCK!!
Kristi

Oh you poor thing I'm so sorry for you, but definitely do what Donna says and the bulb will regenerate from the basal plate. Believe or not, this miserable creature has a protein in it's saliva that helps the bulb from rotting completely and encourages offsetting.

I have had this happen to many of my other amaryllis relatives, including some rare South African bulbs and of course my more rare Clivia. Needless to say...I wasn't too thrilled. Good luck and have faith that yours will recover with a vengance.

Warm Regards,
Fred

Thank you for all your help , I realize now that I might have this problem with my Hipp psittacinum since many years : every year , the biggest bulbs always rot during winter , and as you all said many young bulbs develop around the rotten one. And I never get any flower , I was always throwing the bulbs, and never saw the worm !!You can see on the left the place of the rotten bulb and the many offsets from previous rotten bulbs !

Donna, for Flamenco Queen , how did you realize the bulb was infected ? I am very impressed the way you removed the worm by the top of the bulb !

I will try to save my bulb with your instructions.
Do you know if the bulb fly is seasonal ? Is it possible to use systemic insecticid for killing young maggots ?

Beatrice

would it help if your bulbs were completely covered by dirt? Donna you said

"The adult fly which looks somewhat like a bee drills a hole in or near the basal plate and lays it's egg. As the larvae grows it eats the inside of the bulb out."

so my thought pattern is if the a fly cannot get to the bulb or Basil plate because it's covered by dirt wouldn't that eliminate the chance of it laying its eggs and destroying your bulbs

Hi Beatrice,

The dreaded narcissus bulb fly will lay their eggs between the leaves and/or the side of the bulb, then the little sucker drills it's way down into the bulb. The fly will will do this when the soil is warm enough to keep the grub alive and they'll keep coming back until it's just right. If you put you plants in the shade or semi-shade, the soil temperature will stay cool and that'll help keep the little buggers away.

Two years ago I had a pot of Hymenocallis seedlings that I started by cutting the bulb into sections and they were doing wonderfully until these stinkers destroyed them. I blame myself because the pot was in full sun and the growing medium was very well draining, which allowed the soil to heat up in the summer. This year I plan on putting those pots in a more shady spot under my grapevine. I hope this helps.

Warm Regards,
Fred

Hi Bea,

I just took another look at your bulb and I didn't realize that I could so easily enlarge it. After a closer inspection I would say that that bulb is a goner. Clean it up as best you can and after you have treated and dried it replant it and hope for bulblets. I hope it was one you can replace if you wish. Sometimes it just better to buy a replacement. It looks to be as badly damaged as my Aphrodite was..

I buy a granular systemic product by Bayer and put a tsp or so on each pot when I put them out for the summer. I should probably give them another dose later in the summer but somehow I never seem to get around to it. I have too may pots! It may or may not work, I still get the NBF in some each year. My very special non replaceable bulbs I keep in my sunny bay window all year, they never go out.
Best of luck to you and your poor bulb...Donna

Hi Devon,

I really don't think that burying the bulb in dirt would help much as the flies lay their eggs in daffodils (their first choice I presume) and those are deep in the ground.

This post was edited by dondeldux on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 18:07

Hi all ,
general inspection of my bulbs today : I found 6 worms , now I know symptoms ! : leaves with less vigor for evergreen species , or no leaves developing , and if I press the to of the bulb I can see red rotten tissue.
I haven't many different varieties ( but since I read you I bought so many bulbs...)but they are very old plants with many bulbs , so I didn't loose too much.
I noticed I only founded worms on species : papilio, psittacinum , yugacensis and not on hybrids. Maybe hazard as Donna's got it on Flamenco Queen.
Thank you very much for your help.