Thanks Lee Poulsen Do you have an alternative to imidacloprid? imidacloprid and other neonicotinoids are banned in the EU. https://ec.europa.eu/food/plants/… Il giorno lun 30 ago 2021 alle ore 23:20 Lee Poulsen via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> ha scritto: > I didn’t see that anyone had responded to this. When I first started > growing bulbs in pots (here in inland Southern California) I had never seen > a narcissus bulb fly nor had any bulbs eaten by the grubs. Then one year I > started seeing these giant bumblebee-looking insects flying around my yard. > Starting the next spring, I started not seeing some of my Narcissus > varieties never leaf out. When I dumped out the pots, I found husks of > bulbs in them. Then I started finding grubs inside bulbs when leaves > suddenly wilted during the growing season. I tried various non-insecticide > methods, but none of them ever worked. Finally I heard about imidacloprid > and found an insecticide that contained it. My grub problem instantly > vanished and has never returned. There are issues with using imidacloprid > and damaging honeybees. So I only use it on my amaryllid bulbs and a few > others that are prone to this kind of insect damage. I sprinkle a granule > form of them on my pots, never a spray that uses it. And I wait till after > the flowers are gone. (Because I worry that some of the insecticide might > get into the nectar or pollen of the flower. It is systemic, so it flows > through the plant and into the leaves and roots of the plant.) I also try > to switch to some other systemic insecticide granules from a different > class of insecticide every other year so as to not contribute to building > up resistance by the narcissus flies. (I do the same thing with flea drops > on our cats. One month an imidacloprid-based flea drop, the next month a > fipronil-based flea drop.) > > --Lee Poulsen > Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a > Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m > > > On Aug 29, 2021, at 5:42 PM, Danny Wylie via pbs < > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > > > > Hey all, > > > > I've been in for a nasty surprise this growing season in northeastern > Ohio > > as my bulbs have been hit hard by the fly. So far every 2 year old > > Hippeastrum bulb has them. After I discovered them attacking most of my > > large bulbs I wanted to try keeping the bulbs in my hot greenhouse > thinking > > it would maybe deter them, but I was not successful. They will gladly go > > after any amaryllid about the size of a quarter. I would do the hot water > > method but my bulbs get attacked so young that I fear I would never see > > them flower again. I'm researching insecticides for control and the wiki > > suggests dylox. I've also read that a daffodil grower found Imidacloprid > > highly effective. Has anyone used these for containers and found them > > helpful? > > > > Big thanks! > > > > Danny W > > _______________________________________________ > > pbs mailing list > > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>