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daffodil bulbs
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Posts: 99
I was about to plant some new daffodil bulbs in my raised bed, when I discovered that the 'jetfire' bulbs already in there, were infested with incredibly tiny worms. All the bulb had been eaten away. I also have tulip bulbs in the bed and muscari, but I haven't checked on those. Does anyone know what the worms are, and how to deal with the problem? I'm reluctant to plant the new bulbs - more 'jetfire' and a mix of tulips.
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Eel worm probably. They will have been infected when you bought them. Take them back or get new they won't flower so bin them and buy some new ones.
Thanks Dave, I've already binned them, but I can't take them back as they were planted this time last year. I've got new daffodil and tulip bulbs to go in, but I don't know if this pest stays in the soil and is likely to infest the new ones. The year is getting on, so I think I'll just have to plant the new ones and see what happens in the spring.
They always advise crop rotation with vegetables as worms can live a long time.but that wont help your flower bed. Organically - Tagetes Patula "Single Gold" Marigold will cure it but may mess with your colour pallet. you could try soil solarization for 4 to 6 weeks in mid summer but its only really affective to a foot deep and again a flower border should be in full bloom. you could consider changing the soil depending on how big the raised bed is or just treat your bulbs as annuals. dig up and store over the summer months when they have died back.
More likely to be Narcissus bulb fly , a hoverfly that mimics a bumble bee. The larvae are very fond of narcissus and snowdrop bulbs.
There have been some very interesting and knowledgeable replies, and I'm very grateful. I'll certainly research eel worms and narcissus bulb fly. I dug up a group of tulip bulbs from the bed this morning and they are so far unaffected, so it might just be a problem with daffodils and narcissus. The bed is quite large and filled with long standing evergreen shrubs, so it's not really an option to empty it and start again. It's a good idea to treat them as annuals, or grow them in pots. Whatever I do I must have daffodils - I live in Wales, it's the law.