Large narcissus bulb fly (Merodon equestris)

Yuk. Only clicked like for the info not the critters...

strangely fascinating in a macabre way. :o)

Oh, nasty!

Not nice!

Yuk!!! thats the side of gardening I do not like, would never occur to me that a creature like that would be the cause of bulbs disappearing, thanks Seaburn, if I pluck up the courage I'll check my pots ,lol....

Hi Sbg, I agree with Stera and Lincslass, YUK, Derek.

They are nasty little "critters", aren't they? The smaller variety of this fly was responsible for my chucking away a good few of my Amaryllis bulbs I had grown for the first time down on Gerry's allotment.

I thought during the summer some of the Amaryllis plants didn't look too good but being occupied with other tasks on the plot I didn't really give them a close look. When I dug them up to bring home at the end of September I found the poorly looking bulbs had a hole drilled into the bulbs. I had no idea what pest was responsible but the next year I left them in their pots up on a bench. I later discovered that the Narcissus Fly was the culprit! In fact I believe someone on GoY gave me the answer - without my asking I think! :-)) They were growing alongside some Daffodils Gerry grows for cut flowers.

Thanks for directing me to this blog Eileen. They are horrible :( I have never seen them but will keep an eye out in case they are lurking somewhere.

I never had any more problems with these flies since I put them on some shelving instead of in the ground.

On the balcony I have never had problems with these flies even though most years I grow Daffodils but perhaps in this case neither Daffodils nor Amaryllis coincide at the same time on the balcony.