Daffodils and the Narcissus Fly
I have a problem with daffodils, Narcissus species and varieties. The problem is this, Merodon equestris, the narcissus fly:
I carefully buy and plant daffodils in good soil in autumn and next season they come up beautifully, delighting Maria. The following year they're sparse, with few flowers. By season 3 they're gone. And the culprit is on the wing again.
Despite appearences they're hoverflies, not bees, though they mimic bees as protection against predators. And it's not the adults that are the problem but the larvae. Eggs are laid at the base of the plants, they hatch, and the white larvae burrow down to the bulbs where they proceed to eat out the hearts, including the newly forming flower buds for next year. The result is that the bulbs come blind in the next season and then dwindle.
It's not just daffs they go for. Other bulbs in the Amaryllis family, including snowdrops, Galanthus, can also be affected. In fact I've given up trying to grow them except as disposable seasonal displays. I'd love to build a collection of the smaller Narcissus and a population of snowdrops but it's just money wasted. I use no pesticides in the garden so I've got no means of control other than natural predators - and, if they're around, they're not doing a good job. I'll have to dock their wages!
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