amarcrinum
B Spencer (Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:50:44 PST)

Two people stated they suspect narcissus fly, so I am seriously thinking
this is the problem as lots of symptoms would confirm this diagnosis, but...
I should think I would find a pupa (I know what it would look like since I
had that problem with the iris borer) and some fecal matter, but even on
close examination I could find none. The bottom four/five centimetres and
the top part of the basal plate are completely rotted except for the outside
wrapping leaves. Everything is soft watery and brown, but the rest of the
plant further up is healthy and upon slicing lengthwise looks rather like a
leek. Is there another possibility? Perhaps a fungus that was present in the
soil, which is a mixture of sand, dehydrated manure and bagged soil? Cannot
find any conclusive info on the net.

-----Original Message-----
From: Hans-Werner Hammen
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 7:22 PM
To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [pbs] amarcrinum

If there is a hole in the bulb, the diameter almost that of a pencil, at the
ring on the basal plate where the roots emerge from (thus not as easily to
be detected!), towards the growing point in the core of the bulb, then the
bulb had been infestated by the maggot of the Big Narcissus Bulb Fly. Your
depiction sounds pretty much like that. If so, then all your amaryligenous
crop outdoors/in the GreenHose is at risk, from next spring on, when the
temperatures will exceed 18°>