Seedlings of Amaryllids, and their first leaf respectively, can actually be consumed "invisibly" namely close to the soil level by the tiny maggots of Fungus Gnats. No, I am not kidding. All of a sudden a leaf here and a leaf there will drop down. Apply an agent that contains Imidaclopride or Chlorpyrifos. > From: ksayce@willapabay.org > Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 13:14:15 -0700 > To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > Subject: [pbs] Rhodophialia ... ... ... > Steven, > I planted them on top of the soil in the pot with a layer of fine gravel on top of that. They germinated very well, and then, every few days, the sturdy little leaves were neatly nibbled off, clearly vole or mice-like rather than slug-like. I put one pot inside a mesh cover I use for 50 or so pots, to keep rodents off them, especially squirrels, and even so, that pot gets nibbled back down every so often. They are squeezing through gaps less than 1/2 inch wide to get inside. So I'm resorting to a finer mesh, complete inclosure. > I'll probably find that they shake the entire setup to get at the leaves. : -) > They leave the other leaves alone on pots in the present inclosure, which include Pacifica iris, narcissus, moraea, etc. The Rhodophialia leaves are their target, and must taste like candy to them. > > Kathleen